Identity Crisis, a Group Activity to Get to Know Each Other

The clever Identity Crisis name game is another activity to introduce yourself and make it easier for people to get to know each other a little better.

Distribute a set of blank index cards to your group, one per person. Ask everyone to write their first name on a card, in large letters.

Pose three questions and invite everyone to consider their responses, for example:

• Favourite movie
• Ideal holiday location
• What they would do if they won the lottery

Having thought about this information, ask everyone to start mingling and greet one other person (to form a pair.) If you have an odd number of people, a group of three works fine.

Explain that you would now like each pair to get to know one another by sharing anything that is of interest, but at a minimum, they must cover the responses to the three questions you announced.

After this mutual exchange, instruct everyone to swap (name) cards and identities, ie each person assumes the identity of their partner, including the three bits of information they just learned about their partner.
Each person then seeks a new partner, and introduces themselves using their new identity.

Continue playing for 10 or more minutes, inviting each person to complete as many exchanges (and swaps of identity) as possible. To conclude, form a circle, and invite each person to introduce the person named on the card they are holding to the group.

The topics of this publication: integration, interactions, disinhibition, distension, energize