This first ice breaker is a FUN CHALLENGE to do with your students! The purpose of this activity is to have the students work together to untangle themselves!!!!
Adaptions:
- challenge the students to complete this task without talking! This is a great way to practice nonverbal communication
- have two smaller circle of students and see which group gets untangled first
- have one student volunteer to be the leader. Only that student can talk, everyone else must use nonverbal ques and follow the direction of the student leader. After 30 seconds call switch and the student directly to the left of the leader becomes the new leader and only they can talk. This is a great way to allow students to practice taking charge and work on following directions from a fellow classmate! Give every student a chance to lead!!!!
Summery of directions:
- students start out in a circle
- students reach out their left hand across the circle and grab another students hands
- repeat with their right hands (do not let go)
- challenge the students to untangle themselves while remaining hand holding
GUESS THAT OBJECT!
Purpose:
Students will work together to describe an unknown object for their classmate to guess what it is!
BC Curriculum- Core Competencies:
Communication: students will use descriptive language to engage with their
classmates
Collaboration: students work collectively towards a common goal
Materials:
Fill a bag full of common items that your students will recognize. Create a list of words that are not allowed to be used for each object in the bag!
The Activity:
- split the class into small groups 4-6 kids
- give each group a bag filled with everyday classroom objects
- have each group chose one student to be “it” and have them turn their chair around so they are facing away from the group
- have another student from each group pick on object from the bag
- instruct the students to describe the object word at a time without using any of the words on the no list
- tally how many words it takes for the student to guess the object
- SWITCH ROLES
What to be Aware of:
Ensure students know it is not a competition within their group. They are working as a team! At the end of the activity ask each group to share how many words it took the ENTIRE group to guess every object in the bag! No singling kids out!
Randomize the groups so students are working with students they may not normally team up with! Consider drawing straws or rolling a dice so the kids know the groups are 100% random.
Pick objects you know the students will be comfortable describing.
Adaptions of the senses:
**** See: have the students act out objects instead of describing them
*** Touch: have the students blindfolded and guess by using their hands to feel the object. Consider weight and texture
** Smell/taste: Use food items and have the students blindly smell and taste the object to try to guess what it is. Try using a candy with many flavors and then the students can guess which flavor it is!
COMBINE THESE ACTIVITIES FOR ULTIMATE GUESS THAT OBJECT
The first student in the group pulls an object from the bag and verbally describes it to the second student in the team
Once the second student guesses the object they are passed the bag with just the teams object in it. The second person then assists the third person in the team on guessing what the object is while blindfolded. The students can not talk to each other so they need to touch the object to guess what it is!
Once the third student guesses the object correctly they can take off the blindfold. They will then assist the last person in the team on guessing the object using taste! (Use a new piece of the food item that entire group has not been touching to reduce germs but make sure it is the same product everyone else guessed!)
You can have multiple groups in the classroom doing this relay activity and the first to have every station finished wins!
