Tired of all the boring Zoom games and icebreakers you’re forced to sit through during club meetings or classes? The Clog’s got your back! Here are a few tried and tested Zoom games and icebreaker ideas to make your next club meeting a success.
Lip-reading
Think of this as the Zoom version of the Whisper Challenge! Have someone volunteer to mute themselves. Then, the person who is muted has to say a sentence while everyone else has to try to guess what they said! With this game, you’re guaranteed a good laugh with all the lip-reading fails!
Speed dating
This game is perfect to use as an icebreaker when you’re leading a meeting with folks you haven’t met yet. It’s essentially breakout rooms, but make them 30 seconds! Everyone will be assigned randomly (via your Zoom controls), and remember to press the scramble button every 30 seconds. In the end, have everyone come back together in the main room, and allow each person to share who they got to know the best in 30 seconds (e.g., “I definitely got to know John the best because he was so busy laughing from his previous speed date that the entire 30 seconds consisted of him laughing,” or, “I got to know Sally the best because in under 10 seconds, without blinking or taking a breath, she told me about her family members, where she’s from and her major!”). If people love this activity, do it again the next time and say it’s only for 30 seconds, but make it a minute or longer! This is a foolproof game to get everyone to bond personally with one another, and they won’t just be a face behind the screen anymore.
Categories
This is a common game for in-person icebreakers, but here is an adapted version of the categories game to be played online! As fast as your participants can, each person has to name “a type of car” or another category of your choosing. Whoever doesn’t name one fast enough or repeats one is out! Do this with new categories each time (e.g., fruit, names that start with the letter “A” or sports), or let your friends pick the category themselves! This is a fun activity when you have a group of people who don’t know each other well because they have to pay attention to what everyone is saying. So, you’re secretly helping them learn each other’s names!
Make a shape
This game is great for when you have 10 minutes left and don’t know what to do with your time. Tell your friends that they have to make a heart with their Zoom screens. However, everyone’s Zoom order is different, so this will allow you to practice your leadership skills by guiding everyone on how to put their hands even though they can’t see the overall picture. Since this is an active game and you’ll be using names to give directions (e.g., “Noah, slant your arm so it’s cutting off your screen horizontally”), everyone will learn each other’s names in no time!
Skits
Assign everyone to different breakout rooms and tell them that they have 10 minutes to come up with a skit. With background screens that can make you appear in space or at a restaurant, you can have so much fun with this game! When you all come back to the main room, turn off gallery view so you can watch the skit on a big screen with whoever is talking. Even though the laughs will be silent with everyone being on mute, performing skits will be sure to put a smile on everyone’s faces!
So there you have it! I made up these games for my friend who was a Golden Bear Orientation leader this fall, and it was a great success among the new Golden Bears! So, next time you’re in a boring Zoom call looking for an activity to do, be sure to try some of these games!
Contact Natalia Brusco at [email protected].