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| | I have seen smoke coming out of the ears
of a number of trainers over the challenge of getting a large group of
participants into smaller learning teams. The age-old, unoriginal, and boring
method of "...count to 5 successively, now all 1's form a group, all 2's
form a group, etc." holds about as much creativity and fun as a box of
hair. Here are some other ideas that are more fun, create energy, and set the
tone for a fun and relaxing training session. They are ideal for groups of 25-35
where a random team is desired and the participants don't know each other very well.
They are all adaptable and may spark additional ideas for you.
Favorite Meals
On index
cards write the following food items (one food item per card) and distribute
to participants. Ask each participant to walk around and find others who
belong in their food group. That will be their team. For extra fun, they can
name their team; such as Grand Slam Breakfast Team; or WonTon Express Team;
etc.
 | Eggs...........Bacon............Sausage..........Mushroom....Toast |
| Bun............Burger...........Gherkin..........Relish......Chips |
| Fried Rice.....Prawn toasts.....Spring Rolls.....Won
Ton..... Fortune Cookie |
| Ice cream......Fudge sauce......Chopped Nuts .....Whipped
Cream |
| Tomato
Sauce...Pepperoni....Cheese......Olives.....Anchovies |
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Koosh Balls
Get enough koosh balls for every participant in 5 sets of
color, (you can buy bags of 20 mini koosh balls for approximately USD $20).
Divide the balls into color sets based on the number of teams you have, and the
number of people that should be in each team (i.e. 5 blue, 6 red, 6 yellow, 5
green, 6 black). Hide the balls around the training venue and ask participants
to find them, those with the same color balls are on the same team.
Bonus: koosh ball purchases are not wasted, they can be used for
a variety of activities in a training session, like icebreakers, communication,
coaching, etc.
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Birthdays and Business Cards
| Collect
a business card from each participant and place in a bowl, or hat, or face
down on a table. The 4 or 5 people who have a birthday earliest in the year
are team captains. Each captain takes turns drawing business cards until the
required team size has been reached.
Bonus: each team can then make a photo copy of all their
team's business cards and distribute as a networking contact sheet.
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Puzzles
| Collect
4 or 5 small children’s jigsaw puzzles each with only 5 pieces. Separate the
pieces and mix them up all together. Distribute one puzzle piece to each
participant. The participants must find the others whose piece completes the
same puzzle. They become a team. |
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Circus Act
| Distribute
a post-it note to each participant. Ask the participant to answer the
question, "If you were going to join the circus, what act would you be
(or what job would you have)?" Ask participant to also write their name
at the bottom of the post-it note. Allow participants 2 minutes to complete.
Have the number of flipchart pages set up on the wall for
the number of groups you need and label each one with a typical, but broad,
circus category, such as: animal trainer/act; clown; trapeze artist; magician;
ring leader; etc.
When everyone has finished writing, announce each category
you have listed on the flip charts, and ask all
participants whose answer fit that category to post their notes on the chart.
Strangely enough, there is always a somewhat even distribution of preferred circus acts
among a group!
For extra fun they can name their team such as The Crazy Clowns;
the Flying Trapeze Artists; the Magical Magicians, etc.
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