The Name and Move Game

Name and Move is a fun and energetic game, useful for introducing the knowledge of people’s names to new groups that are forming.

Invite your group to stand in a circle facing each other. Form the circle, including yourself.

One person will kick-off by saying their name loud enough for the group to hear, and then follow it with a physical motion or movement that represents something about that person.

It is recommended to start by saying your own name, followed by a physical movement or gesture that represents something about you, for example, putting your hands together as if you were reading a book. Upon this introduction, the rest of the group – in unison – will repeat the name while, at the same time, mimic the movement.

Moving clockwise, the person to the left of the newly-introduced will repeat the process, upon which, the group will repeat their name and copy their movement. This process continues all the way around the circle, introducing the name and motion of each person.

Keep moving around the circle until everyone in your group has been introduced.

If you think your group can make this simple exercise challenging, add a variation to the exercise. As each new person is introduced, ask the group to repeat the name and movement of each person known up to that point.

They must repeat the names and movements in the same order in which they were known.

The topics of this publication: integration, interactions