From trees to dogs to vacation spots, people have favorites. The purpose of this ice breaker is to quickly warm up your group with fun and laughter. This ice breaker is a winner because it makes everyone right. Every employee has favorites and so the topic is low stress. These ice breakers are slightly personal without being too personal.
And, if the topic of the favorite is selected carefully, the discussion can segue your group into the day's topic. This team building ice breaker is fast, easy, and fun. Like the Five of Anything Ice Breaker, you can customize this favorites ice breaker to your group's needs. It’s a good ice breaker for a meeting, too, because it takes so little time.
Steps in the Identify Favorites Ice Breaker
- Divide the meeting participants into groups of four or five people by having them number off. (You do this because people generally begin a meeting by sitting with the people they already know best.)
- Tell the newly formed groups that their assignment is to identify and share their favorite (insert object). I have used favorite trees, ice cream, vacation destination, animal, book, and dinner with success. If your goal is to stay more work focused, you can ask participants to identify their favorite work activity, favorite spot to sit in the company, or favorite current goal. Use your imagination and be creative. Ideas for the identification of favorites will follow.
- The second part of the assignment is to share "why" the selected item is their personal favorite.
- Debrief the activity in the large group by asking each individual to share their favorite, but not the "why" with the larger group. This moves quickly.
- As a final step, ask participants to share with the larger group what they learned about their coworkers during the small group discussion. Ask what insights they obtained about their small group members.
This team building ice breaker takes 10 – 15 minutes, depending on the number of groups.
