When leading a group training session, what do you do to break the ice at the beginning of the day to get participants actively involved and in the right frame of mind for learning?
Tip 1: On the first day make sure your icebreaker activity involves self-introductions. A great question to ask is: Share a life experience relevant to the course.
Tip 2: At the beginning of each day start with asking each participant the following questions: ‘What was the most valuable thing you learnt yesterday?’ ‘What do you want to learn more about?’
My favorite icebreaker activity:
The objective of this small group exercise is to get participants to quickly meet the other participants in the class.
1. Split the participants into pairs.
2. Explain that you will call out a color. Each color called out relates to a different topic of discussion. When the color is called out, you have 30 seconds to answer the question, then you move on to a new partner and wait for the next color to be called.
Orange: The motivation color – Each participant will tell their partner what motivates them.
Yellow: The inspiration/creativity color – Each participant will tell their partner about the best idea they’ve had.
Green: The money color – Each participant will tell their partner what they plan to do for money, or the dumbest thing they ever did for money.
Blue: The sky’s the limit color – Each participant will tell their partner what is their heart’s desire for the future is.
Indigo: The odd/different color – Each participant will tell their partner what the most daring thing they ever did was.
Purple: The color of royalty – Each participant will tell their partner the first thing they would do if they were for the ruler of the universe for one day.
To access more free training resources CLICK HERE
To view our range of soft skills/health and safety training courseware CLICK HERE
Nice icebreaker …
Interesting ice breaker. I have a few that I use…will be happy to share it!
Hi Neelam this community is for you! Pls share away…
Hi Eva,
Interesting ideas. An icebreaker I usually do on the first day of our staff orientation programme is to have the participants draw something that represents themselves (a self-portrait, a symbol, or whatever) and something they do during their leisure time (pastime). They then use these pictures to introduce themselves to the team.
If your company has a specific set of values you wish to highlight, you can also do something similar to your call-out-a-colour activity, but instead of a theme, each colour represents a corporate value. The participant can then share their story around these values. Of course, the participants should be well aware of what these values are, otherwise this exercise may not be very effective.
Kind regards,
Kresna