Socially Distanced Ice Breakers

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Like many choirs, we’re back and singing in-person and indoors and it never felt so good! However, we’re still aware of the anxiety caused by Covid-19 and have taken steps to mitigate the impact of the virus on our rehearsals.

Back in August we shared a post on a Covid Safe Choir Life and continue to follow these rules where the rehearsal space allows. Ventilation, a clear risk assessment and a requirement for all our singers to test negative for Covid-19 on the day of attending are essential, even if they’ve been doubly vaccinated.

While many aspects of the rehearsal feel like old times, with our members spaced a little further apart than normal we’ve had to adapt some of our favourite ice breakers to accomodate this spacing.

Mindful of this, we’re sharing some of our favourite ice breakers for you to use with your groups once you’re back in the room. All of these can be facilitated with or without social distancing and mask wearing in place, so your group and any new members will get to know one another whilst feeling safe.

Cross the Line

Draw an imaginary line down the room. You’re going to ask your group a series of questions with a yes/no answer. One side of the line = yes, the other = no.

Start simple. “Do you have a sibling?” Those with siblings will head to the ‘Yes’ side of the line, anyone who is an only child will be on the ‘No’ side. “Do you like Marmite?” This one always splits the group!

Think up a series of questions with yes/no or binary answers (e.g. “Are you a cat or a dog person?”) and come up with imaginative ways of helping the group learn about each other in the process. Those commonalities will afford the group opportunities to start conversations based on the things they share.

One Truth, One Lie

Give everyone a minute to think up a truth and a lie they can tell about themselves. The more obscure (in both cases!) the better. Everyone goes around the room sharing their name, their truth and their lie. The rest of the group must guess which is which and, in doing so, learn something new and different about each other!

Name Forwards, Name Backwards

Do you ever find yourself going round the group sharing names and not really listening to what everyone says?! Name games work best when there’s another layer thrown into the mix.

Ask everyone to share their name and then say it backwards. If someone’s name is a palindrome (like our very own co-director Anna) then it’ll be the same both ways! But many people’s names sound a bit silly when said in reverse. This comedy element will reinforce what their name is when said the right way around, aiding everyone’s ability to remember them.

Line Up

To get the group moving and communicating with words and gesture, get them to arrange themselves into different orders. Ask them to line up (with your required social distancing, if applicable, in place!) in the following lines…

  • Alphabetical, by first name

  • By birth month

  • In height order

*You can decide if you give them guidance such as which end is A or Z, January or December, etc. You might decide to ask the group to complete their lines in silence, using only gestures to communicate. This makes for great team building!

Adjective Names

As previously mentioned, adding an extra layer to simply sharing names with the group aids the ability to remember them.

Give your participants a minute to think about a word that describes them that begins with the same letter as their first name. You could encourage them to chat about it with one or two people nearby, too.

As ever, the more comical or obscure, the better and the more likely you’ll be remembered; “Ageless Anna” or “Effervescent Emily” will say a lot more about someone than just their name on its own. As the facilitator, if you repeat people’s adjective name when addressing them throughout the rest of the session, you’ll continue to reinforce their name for the rest of the group.

While some of these exercises require the group to move around the space, if your rehearsal room allows for social distancing to be in place and everyone is aware of this requirement, you can easily adapt these ice breakers to work in a Covid safe environment.

Have fun breaking the ice and let us know your favourite games and activities in the comments below!