Break the Ice with these fun games to get campers moving!
Summertime is here - the sun is out and it’s time for fitness fun and new friends! As summer camps and youth programs launch, there are plenty of new faces and new names to learn. Icebreaker games are a great way to help the whole group feel comfortable and meet new people.
These movement-based games will help campers connect to new friends, camp counselors, and staff members. So, keep it cool with these fun, active icebreakers!
PowerUp Fitness offers evidence based-physical activity programs for before & afterschool, PE, summer camps and more! PowerUp programs are designed to provide children with the opportunity to become more active, physically and mentally. Use our bundle finder to find the best PowerUp bundle for your organization.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Have you ever played rock, paper, scissors? Instead of using our hands, participants will use their bodies!
If you want to play rock, you’ll get in a squat position, for scissors do jumping jacks, and for paper, get into a plank. Start with backs facing each other, count 1, 2, 3, go! Then turn around and make your move!
Rock (squat) beats scissors (jumping jack)
Scissors (jumping jack) beats paper (plank)
Paper (plank) beats rock (squat)
To play this game as an icebreaker - find the rock, paper, scissors camp champ! Losers of each mini-round cheer the remaining winners on!
How to Play
Ask everyone in the group to find one partner for the first round of rock, paper, scissors. If there is an odd number, add the odd person out to another pair and have them do a quick knock-out match to form a pair. Alternatively, you can ask for a volunteer to participate as a referee with you.
Everyone should be in pairs. Pairs should introduce themselves to one another before they play.
Ask them to play 3 games, and the best 2 out of 3 will be the winner. You should act as a referee during this time in case there are any disputes or confusion.
Instruct the losers of the first match to start cheering the name of the person who beat them and following that person around to their next game.
Have all the winners pair up and face off against each other while the ones they beat are cheering for them. When one winner beats the other, all the people behind the losing player should start cheering for the winning player.
Repeat this process in elimination, tournament style, until there are only two players left. Each should have a large group of people cheering them on from their previous wins. Let them play the final match. The game is over after one player wins the final match.
Connections - Fitness Favorites
1. Gather your group in a large open space.
2. The ultimate objective is to create one large circle in which every person is physically linked with two others.
3. Ask one volunteer to stand (where you’d like to start the circle) and then share one of their favorite physical activities while also demonstrating the activity to the group. For example, they might pretend to swim, ride a bike, run in place, do yoga, etc.
Add in more activity - ask the entire group to also demonstrate each volunteer’s activity for 15 seconds.
4. When someone from the rest of the group hears/sees an activity that they have in common with the first volunteer, they are invited to stand next to them and join the circle.
5. This second person then demonstrates a different physical activity they enjoy to the larger group, to attract a new person to join the circle, and so on.
6. This process of sharing and joining the circle continues one by one.
7. To complete the circle, invite the last person to join the long chain of connections to share and find an activity that will link with the very first volunteer.
Did you enjoy these activities? For 100’s of activities, games, and exercises aligned with state and national standards, shop our PowerUp programs!
Download the printable pdf version of PowerUp's Summer Camp Connections below.
PowerUp Fitness is an Advocate Member of the National Afterschool Association and a proud partner of Active Schools.
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