Online energizers and games. Just in case.
ONLINE ENERGIZERS & GAMES
Profession
Write down a profession on a piece of paper. One player turns around, so he or she can’t see your piece of paper. Now show the profession to the rest of the players. The player who has to guess turns back to the computer and tries to guess which profession is acted out by all of the other players. Of course you can do the same thing with locations, animals, emotions, actions and so on.
Same colour
The players get 1 minute to go and get four big objects: a red, a blue, a yellow and a green one. In case they’re not able to find big objects, they will have to show their smaller objects closer to the camera. Now ask everyone to put their objects out of sight and count 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…… At 0 everyone shows one of their objects. Tell the players they will not only have to show their objects, but also have to look at the other colours at the same time. Now everyone hides their object again. Tell them that what they want as a group is to all show the same colour in as few rounds as possible, without any form of communication. Count again and everyone shows another or the same colour. Continue until the whole screen is red, blue, yellow or green.
Spell the word
First show a Banana, then an Apple, a Lemon and some Lemonade. Ask everyone which word you’ve just spelled: BELL, of course. Give the players a couple of minutes to find objects with which they can spell their own words. Who guesses the correct word first?
Get to know eachother better
Every round starts with all cameras switched off. To start with you are the only one with your camera turned on. Say something about yourself, like: “I was born in December.” Everyone who was also born in December, turns on their cameras. Pick one of these players to start the next round. Players can name their favourite food, last holiday destination, amount of brothers and so on. It might be interesting to ask a few questions about what was said once in a while.
Musical statues
Play some music and everyone dances/moves to the music. When you stop the music everyone has to stand still. Who doesn’t, stops playing.
Cooperation
This game is only possible if all players fit in 1 screen. Ask the players to complete these tasks as a group, as quickly as possible, without any communication or discussion:
- I can see only 8 people
- I can see 2 umbrella’s, 5 faces and 27 fingers
- I can see exactly 5 people who have their hands over their eyes
- I can see 3 players who are on holiday and 4 in a supermarket (change background)
And so on...
Draw
Draw a (simple) drawing before your meeting. Ask the players to get a piece of paper and a black/dark marker. Describe your drawing to the players and they will have to copy your drawing according to your clues. Once finished, everyone shows their drawing and compares theirs with the original and eachother's.
Proverbs
Act out a proverb and have the players guess which one it is. The player who is the first to guess the proverb correctly can act out the next proverb. If helpful or necessary, have the players first write down three proverbs for themselves. Of course this game can also be done with song titles, book titles, movies and so on.
Peter from Portugal
The boys against the girls. Ask a boy and a girl to unmute themselves and provide them with a letter. Now they have to say a name, a place and something to eat or to drink as quickly as possible. For example: P "My name is Peter, I live in Portugal and I sell pancakes." The first one to finish scores a point for their group. Keep score on a piece of paper and show it after each round.
Story eh….
Hold a competition who can tell the longest story without saying eh or erm. Time the storyteller.
Story present time
Hold a competition who can tell the longest story which happened in the past but is told in present time. Time the storyteller.
Simon Says
The game everyone knows: Simon Says. Everyone has three lives.
Count
Try to count as high as possible with the whole group. There are a few rules:
- Just one player speaks at the same time
- There are no patterns
- There are no agreements
Start over if the players break a rules. You are the one who starts with number 1. You could hold a competition between all the groups you teach: which group gets to the highest number?
Guess who?
You’re only able to play this game if all players fit into 1 screen. Ask player A and player B to play the game. All of the other players are characters in the wellknown game ‘Guess who?’ Write down the name of one of the characters. Player A and player B try to guess who you’ve chosen by alternating turns, asking one yes/no-question at a time. They're allowed to ask questions about physical appearance, but also about the character’s surroundings. Characters who appear to not be it switch off their cameras. Continue until player A or player B guesses the correct person.
Whose is it…?
Ask everyone to type their middle names to you in a direct message. Pick one of the middle names and ask everyone whose they think it is. You could also ask other questions like their ideal job, favourite subject, food they dislike and so on.
Rock scissors paper
Divide the players into pairs, say ‘rockscissors’ and on ‘paper’ everyone shows their gesture. People who lose turn off their cameras, winners go on to the next round. Continue until there’s one winner.
Two lies, one truth
Send three players in each breakout room and ask them to come up with three stories (one for each player) of which one is true and the other two are false. The rest has to guess which story is true.
Most
For this game you need to be able to see all players in 1 screen. Ask players to get something red, something blue and something yellow. Count 3,2,1 and on 0 the players all show one of their objects. Count which colour is represented most - that colour wins. Winners can stay, losers switch off their cameras. Players are not allowed to show the same colour in consecutive rounds. Go on until there are two players left.