An icebreaker is a facilitation exercise intended to help a group to begin the process of forming themselves into a team. Icebreakers are commonly presented as a game to "warm up" the group by helping the members to get to know each other. They often focus on sharing personal information such as names, hobbies, etc.
An icebreaker should be related to the subject or the purpose of the meeting. For example, if a collaborative learning environment is needed for a training project, then an icebreaker exercise that promotes collaboration could be chosen. If the subject of the meeting is reading books, then the subject of the meeting could be introduced through an exercise that revolves around participant's favorite books.
Icebreakers should be relaxing and non-threatening. For example, icebreakers in a professional setting should not require people to reveal personal information or to touch other people, as this may be stressful or culturally inappropriate. They should not embarrass the participants or make them feel compelled to participate. They should also not show disrespect for any social and professional hierarchies in the group, as this can be uncomfortable for participants.
At the end of a well-chosen icebreaker exercise, the facilitator should be able to summarize for the group what was learned during the exercise.
Source: https://youtu.be/gxzQI5_iKmc
Below is a link to ice breaker activities that you may want to try broken down by category. Go to this website and browse through at least 3 different categories you think you may use with your group.
1. OER Commons
http://www.oercommons.org/courses/teampedia-tools-...
Here was a big list of icebreakers that could be grouped according to size of audience I would deliver to or by content.
2. Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebreaker_(facilitation)
This link showed the different types of icebreakers and how to facilitate them (getting to know you vs. team building)
3. Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elmiracollege/280934...
Here is a picture of a group of people participating in an icebreaker that I cropped and changed to use in this tutorial
