Friday, August 2, 2019

Activity: Teeth, Teeth!


Activity Type:
Icebreaker, Amusement, Name Game,

Time:
5-10 minutes.

Goal:
Use this game to break the ice in a new group to help people loosen up a bit. You can also use it to help the group get familiar with the names of everyone in the group.  Of course you can always just use this game for a bit of fun and amusement.

Materials:
You and your teeth.

Instructions:
Organize your group into a cirlce either sitting or standing. If you have a very large group you can make smaller circles of 4-10 people but it can be fun with a very large group up to about 25 people. Pick your theme for the game such as vegetables, animals, fruit, etc. or have them say the name of the player next to them to make this a name game. Have each person chose their item. The goal of the game is to go around the circle and each player says their item twice without showing their teeth by keeping their lips over their teeth.  For example, player 1 says, "Hippo, Hippo" without showing their teeth, then the player to their right says their item, "Lion, lion" and this continues around the cirlce. If another player catches someone showing their teeth, they must shout, "teeth, teeth" and wave their arms at the offending player, but they must not show their own teeth in the process.

When one player is caught showing their teeth they can be eliminated until there is a winner. You can also play for points with some taken away for each offence. The player with the highest points at the end wins. Alternatively, you can time the group and when there is an offense the timer must start over.

To take this game to the next level, instead of going around the circle, have each player chose someone across the circle from them to pass off to. Instead of saying a vegetable or fruit, the player will say the name of the player they want to go next. That player can then chose anyone they want to go next and say their name twice. But if anyone shows teeth they loose.  To make this game even more challenging, have each player hold their tongue or stand on one leg or do some other challenge.