I say stop or walk, a icebreaker activity
I say stop or walk is a variation of the classic game Simon Says and is all about quick thinking and active listening. It’s the perfect game to include as an ice-breaker at the beginning of your team building event.
A good energizer is easy-to-explain, gets people moving, and hopefully induces some laughter. This activity fits all of those criteria and serves as a great way to warm-up a crowd.
You’ll need a large open space and one person appointed as the leader to play this game. To start, the leader will introduce the first two commands: walk and stop.
When the leader calls “walk!” the players begin to walk aimlessly around the room. When the leader calls “stop,” the players stop, and so on.
When the moment is right, the leader will announce that the meanings of these phrases are now reversed, so walk now means stop, and stop now means walk.
Over time, the leader can introduce more phrases such as clap or jump. Every time two new phrases are introduced, they begin normally, before becoming reversed.
When someone performs a wrong action, they are eliminated from the game. This game will test how well people actually listen to instructions!
Coupled with one or more reflection strategies, here are some sample questions you could use to process your group’s experience after playing this dynamic energising game:
- When the first switch of the commands occurred, what did you experience?
- How did you react when you made an error?
- How did others react, and what did you make this mean?
- What strategies did you employ to respond as quickly and accurately as possible?
- In what other areas of your life do you need to respond quickly and/or accurately?
The topics of this publication: integration, interactions, active listening
