The String Game is an introduction icebreaker and conversation starter that allows people to tell others about themselves. It's perfect for the first day back to class! It’s a simple game and can be adapted according to your needs. You can play this with teens and adults, but also easily adapted for children.

Instructions for The String Game

Purchase a big roll of yarn or string. You can buy any color, or multiple colours if you wish. Take a pair of scissors and cut strings of various different lengths — as short as 30 cm, and as long as 90cm. When you are finished cutting the string, bunch all the pieces up into one big lump of jumbled up string.

Ask the first volunteer to come to the front to choose any piece of string. Have the person slowly pull on it and separate it from the other pieces of string. Ask them to introduce themselves as they slowly wind the piece of string around their index finger.

The funny part of this icebreaker game is that some of the strings are extremely long, others are short, so students have no idea when it will stop!

Have a new student come up and start unravelling the string as they speak about themselves!

Give everyone a go!

This is a good way to get everyone to start talking. People might find out something interesting or new about each other! Feel free to adapt this game according to your needs. Have fun this week and please share this post if you found it fun and useful to you.

Teaching Children?

For lower levels and children, you can still play this by having them say vocabulary instead of sentences, for example, colours, animals, clothes, toys, or words from the unit they are on for review, whatever! You're the teacher: make it HAPPEN!