Playworks Playbook

Ice Breaker
Name Touch
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Group Size: 5-30
Age Group: 3 rd -6 th + grades
Length of Activity: 10 minutes
Developmental Goal: To develop listening skills, memorization and learn everyone’s name
Skills Practiced: Listening, peripheral vision, reflexes and awareness
Equipment Needed: None
Set-Up: None
Before You Start:
Go around and say everyone’s name (if this is the first time playing, name tags help)
Demonstrate safe tagging/high fives
• Light touch, like butterfly wings
• Unsafe tags/high fives: hard contact that might hurt the person being tagged
Students form a close circle with one player in the middle.
Everyone except the player in the middle holds both hands out in front with their palms up.
How to Play:
The leader begins the game by loudly saying someone’s name that is standing in the circle.
The player in the middle then tries to tag that person whose name was called.
The player whose name was called must say another player’s name before s/he is tagged by the
person in the middle.
When a player gets tagged before s/he can say a name, s/he switches places and goes to the
middle.
The player who successfully tagged a person on the outside gets to call out a name to begin the
next round.
Variations:
Have the players standing in the circle close their eyes so they cannot see the person in the middle
coming towards them.
Have the circle take a few steps back so the person in the middle has to run towards the players.
3 rd -6 th + I N C L1