• Churches are a place where everybody knows your name.Country church image by CSimmins from Fotolia.com
  
  Church events focused on the fellowship of the community are a necessary part of life together. Planning these events so that people have a way to get to know each other is important; church should be one place where everybody knows your name. Ice breakers are a great way to start an event in a fun, non-threatening way that helps church members move from being strangers and acquaintances to becoming friends.
  
  

YuMMy Game

• Start with a yuMMy game.Chocolate candies image by BerylM from Fotolia.com
  
  A bag of hard shell multi-color chocolate candies is passed around the group and everyone takes a small handful. Different meanings are assigned to each color; for example, red could be family, green could be work, yellow could be a fact from their childhood, orange could be hobbies. For children, green could be school, and yellow could be friends. Going around the circle, each person tells one thing about themselves per color and then eats the candy. A lot of information about each person is shared in a short and tasty game.
  
  

Balloon-Pop Relay

• Popping balloons on a chair is a fun ice breaker relay.balloons image by Vita Vanaga from Fotolia.com
  
  A balloon-pop relay is an appropriate active ice breaker for groups without mobility issues such as youth and young adults. Bags of blown up balloons are placed by hard chairs. Relay teams are randomly selected by having participants call off numbers from one to five (or more if the group is large). All the ones are team, all the twos, and so forth, so that friends are separated and interaction is assured. Each team lines up behind a taped line in the floor and at the word "go" the first player runs to the bag, pulls out a balloon and attempts to pop it by sitting on it on the chair. When the balloon pops, they run back to their team and tag the next runner. The first team to pop all the balloons in the bag is the winner. This ice breaker can be used at a program where the message focuses on issues of disappointment or change, when something happens in life that "pops your balloon."
  
  

Match-Up Game

• One word or name of a famous pair is written on each nametag.visiting card #11 image by Adam Borkowski from Fotolia.com
  
  The Match-Up game encourages people to get to know each other by finding the person in the room who matches the name or word that is written on their name tag. One name of a famous pair is written on the top of each stick-on name tag. Pairs might include things like "Eggs and Ham," "Salt and Pepper," "Brad and Angelina," or "Sarah and Abraham." People receive a name tag at random when they arrive and put their own name at the bottom of the tag. When they find their match, they sit down and get to know each other. After everyone has talked with their match, each pair introduces their partners to the large group and shares one thing they have learned about their match.