ABSTRACT
This activity is an icebreaker to facilitate quick, initial, energetic interaction among all group members. It also helps group members learn to identify and recall one another’s names.
Rationale for Use This simple exercise facilitates the quick engagement of participants with one another. The
initial stages of a group are often fraught with caution and tentativeness (Wickham, 2003; Toseland & Rivas, 2005) or, as identified in Garland, Jones, and Kolodny’s (1973) well-known model of the stages of group development, approach-avoidance. New members are typically unsure about their commitment to the group. Issues of trust, safety, fit, and acceptance are all appropriate and anticipated considerations (Brandler & Roman, 1999). Even members who attend of their own volition experience the push-pull of whether to actually commit to the group. To decrease this natural ambivalence and encourage engagement, the inclusion of an easily mastered, low risk, participatory experience during the first session is often recommended. This activity fits these criteria.
