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[In a Short Time] Icebreakers and Fun Games That Shine at Morning Meetings
Morning briefings at the start of a week or a day can catch people when they’re not fully alert or feeling sharp yet.
Here are some handy icebreakers and quick, fun games you can use during those meetings.
If your workplace relies on teamwork, it’s all the more important to boost the mood from the morning and approach work as one united team.
These ideas should help strengthen team cohesion.
They’re also great to use at companies with new hires—give them a try!
[In a short time] Icebreakers and fun games that shine in morning meetings (1–10)
Rock, paper (game of choosing ‘rock’ or ‘paper’)
A simple icebreaker where everyone stands in a circle and switches their hands between a fist and an open palm in front of their chest.
You gradually raise the difficulty by, for example, swapping which hand is a fist or an open palm, or adding a quick clap as a buffer in between.
Since it’s for a morning assembly, it should work well even for those who aren’t fully awake yet.
Shouting a loud ‘Yoisho!’ as a call-and-response boosts teamwork and helps fire everyone up.
No Katakana Game
It’s a game where you explain a given topic without using katakana words and have others guess it.
For example, if the topic is “baseball,” a direct translation like yakyuu is not allowed.
Normally you might say, “a sport where you throw a ball and hit it with a bat,” but in this game you’d avoid katakana and say something like, “you throw a round ball,” to guide people to the answer.
It makes you realize how often we rely on katakana and Japanese-made English without noticing.
It’s a surprisingly challenging, yet lively icebreaker that keeps everyone engaged while consciously avoiding katakana.
GOOD & NEW
This is an icebreaker called “GOOD & NEW” that you can present quickly during a short morning meeting to get into a positive mindset.
Allocate one minute per person, and have each person share something good that happened recently, something new they started, or something they noticed.
For some reason, the human brain tends to get dragged toward what went wrong and overthinking.
So let’s not only share our own positives, but also listen to others’ enjoyable moments and new insights, and draw positive energy from them to start the day!
1-minute timer
Let me introduce a simple one-minute icebreaker called the “One-Minute Clock.” The rules are simple: close your eyes, and when you think one minute has passed from the start cue, raise your hand.
It’s surprisingly difficult to measure exactly one minute, even if you’re counting in your head.
Record the order in which people raise their hands, and when the last person has raised theirs, the round ends.
Then announce how many seconds each person took.
Naturally, the person closest to one minute wins.
It’s an icebreaker that will make everyone want to try it again!
Karuta self-introduction
This is an icebreaker where you introduce yourself using karuta cards.
Even if you feel it’s a bit late for introductions, it’s a great chance to learn new sides of yourself and your colleagues, because you’ll talk about something that starts with the character you draw.
First, flip over one karuta card and begin your introduction with something that starts with the character that appears.
Decide in advance how many cards each person will flip—three per person, for example.
Things like your favorite interests or small curiosities can become great conversation starters.
Prince Shōtoku game
How about incorporating the popular “Prince Shōtoku Game,” often used in recreation games, as an icebreaker? It’s a game that becomes more difficult as the number of participants increases.
Everyone speaks different words at the same time, and the challenge is to listen carefully and distinguish what’s being said.
Each person can say a different word, or you can tailor it to the number of participants—for example, if there are four speakers, each person can say one sound from a four-syllable word, and the group guesses what the word is.
Introducing someone else
Self-introductions are common, but this is an icebreaker where you introduce someone else instead—called a “third-party introduction.” With self-introductions, many people tend to be modest and hold back on highlighting their strengths, worrying it might seem self-important.
But when it’s about someone else, you can praise and promote them to the fullest, right? Let’s go big with the compliments and showcase lots of their great qualities! The person being praised will surely feel good and have a great day at work.