Icebreaker Music Games for Groups

Regardless of whether you are a music therapist or not, at some point in time you’ve likely found yourself participating in a group activity where you didn’t know most of the people in the group. Sometimes you’re even the one leading the group. So what can you do to bring this group of strangers together in a quick and fun manner? A common answer is to do some sort of icebreaker activity, maybe even a game. As a music therapist, you probably want to keep this music related. Even as a non-music therapist, having a music related icebreaker activity can bring a fun dynamic that would allow group members to open up a bit more easily. What follows are a few of my favorite music-related quick icebreaker activities to do with groups. 

A Variation on Hot Potato 

This is one that most people know. You pass around an object and when the music stops, the person holding the object is out. In this variation though, the person holding the object when the music stops has to answer a predetermined question about themselves. I prefer to make this question related to the day’s topic, but it could even be a sillier question for a more fun variation. Kids seem to enjoy this one the most, but adolescents and adults alike have been known to get into the competitive spirit of this game. 

Since no one ever gets “out” there is a chance that the same person will end up with the object more than once. If this happens, the easiest solution is just to have them pass it to the person next to them and that person has to answer the question in the original person’s place. This game can be played with either live or prerecorded music, depending on the group leader’s choice. Regardless of if using live or prerecorded music, the group leader needs to look away from the group when preparing to pause the music. This is so there is no way the leader is purposefully stopping the music on a specific person..

Group Juggling

This is one that starts out deceptively simple, especially if you don’t fully explain the intended endgame of the activity at the start. The goal is to get the group to “juggle” four to six (or even more than that if you prefer) bean bags or soft, plush balls amongst themselves. The catch is that they must toss the balls in the exact same order every time. With this one, the music serves more as an unconscious influence on the activity rather than an overt force. 

You begin this activity by having everyone in the room gather in a circle. It doesn’t matter if they are sitting down or standing up, but they should all be doing the same thing if possible. Toss the object to someone across the circle from you, then instruct them to toss it to someone else and remember who they tossed it to. *It might be prudent to make it clear to everyone in the group that the object is to be lightly tossed- not thrown.* Instruct the next person to do the same until everyone in the group has been tossed the object. No one should receive the object more than once. The last person to receive the object should toss it back to you, the group leader. Before adding layers of difficulty, try tossing the object through the group once again in the exact same order to make sure everyone remembers who they are receiving the object from and who they are tossing it to. 

Now is where it starts to get fun. Tell the group you are going to be adding in a second object that will be tossed in the exact same order as the first one. Take another practice run by starting the first object through the group again, and then introducing the second object a few moments after you have tossed the first one. However, this time when the objects get back to you don’t stop the activity. Instead, continue to toss them to the person you have been tossing them to in order to create a never ending loop. You can end this practice run once it seems like everyone has gotten the hang of it. 

Then it’s time to introduce the final step- adding the music and more objects. The music actually plays a big role in how this activity will go. It sets clear parameters of when the activity will start and end as well as informing the mood of the activity, (a heavier song will bog down the atmosphere, but a light and airy song will encourage laughter,) and setting an approximate speed for how quickly the objects will be tossed from person to person. That being said, the best music for this is likely a lighthearted and playful moderately quick instrumental track. Let the group know that more than two objects will be introduced this time and start the music. Begin just like before- tossing the first object to the person you’ve always tossed it to, then adding in the second one a few moments later. But this time, continue to add more objects every few moments until you are up to the desired amount of objects being “juggled” by the group. Be aware that the more objects there are, the more chaotic it will be. The objects will definitely end up on the floor more than once as people lose track of where they are supposed to receive them from and where they are tossing them to. Remind the group that this is just a fun game and nothing to take seriously, and you and most group members will likely find it hard not to smile or laugh.

Guess the Leader

This game requires a group of at least five people sitting in a circle, you included.The group has to really focus in and pay attention to each other. The object of the game is for the entire group to copy a chosen person’s rhythm that they are tapping on their knees. The chosen person should change the rhythm every so often, and when they do change it, everyone else in the group should reflect the change as quickly as possible. The goal is for the person outside the group to guess who the “leader” is.

 Start off by choosing one person to be the “guesser.” The guesser’s role is to figure out who the leader of the group is- more on that in a moment. After the guesser has been chosen, have them either face the corner of the room or leave the room for a few moments. Instruct them not to turn around/come back into the room until you verbally signal for them to do so. After the guesser is not looking at the rest of the group, silently pick someone else from the group to be the “leader.” This can be done by having a group member raise their hand to volunteer or just by simply pointing to someone.

Instruct the leader before starting the round that they may change the rhythm whenever they see fit, but you will always be the one to start the group off. Start the group by tapping a simple steady beat with your hands on your knees and instruct the rest of the group to follow you. Call the guesser over and instruct them to stand in the middle of the circle. They get 1 to 3 tries at guessing who the leader is and may guess at any time during the round. As the leader tries to sneakily change the rhythmic patterns while avoiding the guesser seeing, all the other group members are to try making the transitions between the copied rhythmic patterns as seamless as possible without giving away who the leader is. Once the guesser chooses correctly or exceeds the guess limit, the round is over. The leader becomes the next guesser and another leader is chosen to begin the next round.

Mirroring with Music

Mirroring is a common activity that most people are familiar with, but music adds another dynamic to it. This activity requires group members to split into dyads. Triads may also work. Once the music begins, each dyad/triad should begin to mirror each other’s movements. This works best when everyone is standing up, but can also be done sitting down. In order to successfully mirror each other’s movements, the groups will need to remain focused and open with each other while making deliberate actions. The music informs the pace of the movements and inspires the actions themselves. Pick fast music, and the resulting mirrored movements will be more frantic and likely the activity will take on a lighter less-serious tone. Pick something slow and introspective, and the mirrored movements have a chance to foster a deeper connection between the group members. Either way, this task allows people to get out of their head and begin warming up to other group members.

Name Five Musical Trivia

Without the music adaptation, this is a fun game that tests quick thinking trivia knowledge on any conceivable topic. The music adaptation of this word game is done by limiting the prompts to music-only topics. This makes the game more accessible as not everyone just knows “5 sports teams named after birds” or “5 types of bushes” off the top of their head but most people can name “5 bands/singers whose name starts with an “R”” with some thought. 

The competitive nature of this game will likely open more people up to each other, and it will also inspire team bonding if you choose to divide the group into teams. To begin the game, it’s strongly recommended that you divide the groups into teams of 3-4, depending on group size. Have a way to time 30 seconds; the easiest way to do this is probably your phone’s timer. Write down some prompts on pieces of paper that you can fold up and put them in a pile for teams to draw from. The first team will draw a piece of paper and read the prompt allowed. Time starts the moment the team is finished reading the prompt. From here, all team members can shout out answers at will. They need five answers that fit the prompt in order to “win” the round. If they are able to supply all five answers, then that team gets a point and the next team begins their turn by drawing from the pile to receive a new prompt. The team with the highest score after 5 rounds (or however many rounds you choose) wins.

 If a team isn’t able to supply all five answers, the next team in line is given an option to take a turn with the same prompt. (Alternatively, they can choose just to draw a new prompt from the pile instead. It would only be possible for them to earn one point in this case.) They are not allowed to repeat any previous answers, but earn two points instead of one if they can supply five new answers to fulfill the prompt. Regardless of if the second attempt at the prompt is successful or not, the following team will pick a new prompt from the pile for the next round.

As for the prompts, the more concise they are, the better. The prompts ideally should be concrete questions with no room for an opinion to be the answer. Some example prompts are: “Name 5 songs that have a number in the title,” “Name 5 bands or artists with the word “red” in their name,” “Name 5 bands or artists that have more than 2 Grammys,” or “Name 5 songs named after a city.”

Singing Bee

This one falls in the same vein as the television show from several years ago, “The Singing Bee.” Once again, you will want to divide teams into groups of three or four. To prep for this game, create several different categories of music with 4 or 5 more or less well-known songs in each category. Be prepared to sing these songs live. These categories could be divided by genre, by theme, by decade, by alphabetical title, or by singer, to name a few. Be creative! You will also want to create a way to randomly pick a song from a category. You could do this by drawing from a hat or by printing all songs out on a list and then pointing at the list without looking- whatever way works best for you! Finally, you will want to decide which line from each song’s chorus you want to omit; this line will be what the teams are trying to fill in during the game.

To start the game, the first team will pick a category. You will then randomly select a song from that category. Provide them with the name of the song, the artist or band, and the year it was released. Begin singing the song as it would normally be presented, (i.e., sing the intro if it has one, the first verse, and begin the chorus,) and encourage the team to sing along if they want. Once you reach the line of the chorus that you have decided to omit, stop the music suddenly. It is up to the team to decide what the next line is. They must get the line 100% correct to receive a point, including words like “a” or “the.” If necessary, you could give each team a certain time limit to decide on an answer. After the team has answered, reveal whether they are correct or not. Then, the next team begins their turn by picking a category. Play continues like this for however many rounds you choose. The team with the most points wins.

This game, like some previously mentioned ones, adds a competitive team dynamic that will likely draw more people towards participating. It is also sure to draw some laughter. For an added competitive element, consider offering opportunities for double points or “double or nothing.”

Some of these games are more competitive while others are just fun activities. Regardless of which dynamic fits your group more, maybe give one of these games a try to help develop group cohesion the next time you find yourself leading a group!