The Crossword Names Game

Crossword Names is a fun group game to introduce the knowledge of the names of the people of the new groups in formation.

You’ll need to create or access a set of large alphabet letter cards. Collect or create a set of alphabet cards and place them on a flat surface, such as a table or the floor.

Then, as the first people begin to arrive, invite them to grab the letters of their first name from the pile and challenge them to add their letters to your name crossword-style, ie where common letters intersect and connect to one another.

Over the course of several minutes, as more and more people arrive, the task becomes bigger and sometimes more complex because opportunities for connections become scarce.

If you’re lucky, the names of everyone in your group will find a way to connect to the ever-expanding crossword. If not, then that’s okay – you will have engaged your group immediately as they arrived, enjoyed a few fun moments and possibly learned a few new names.

You can challenge your group to arrange all the letters in a way that connects everyone’s names to the group. In conclusion, invite your group to review all the names represented

Standing in a circle around the names of our crossword puzzles, I like to invite the group to think about why I am doing this activity. The most powerful answer is that everyone is connected to the group in some way.

The topics of this publication: integration, interactions