Playworks Playbook

Ice Breaker
Shape Shifter
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Group Size: 10 – 30
Age Group: preK – 5 th grades
Length of Activity: 5 minutes
Developmental Goal: To support group management, identify the components of shapes, and form
different types of shapes.
Skills Practiced: Listening, spatial awareness, and shape recognition.
Equipment Needed: None
Set-Up: Identify a space with safe boundaries that fits the entire group in the shape of a circle (this will
allow the group to morph into appropriate shapes throughout game).
Before You Start:
Use attention getters to initiate countdown for each round of game.
Talk about different shapes and the amount of sides each shape has.
Model with students the ways in which they move their bodies to create shape.
Students should not touch one another and should exhibit good listening skills.
The object of the game is to form the shape the leader identifies at the beginning of the round
within a specific amount of time.
Then every student in the class (100 % participation) should use their body to form the shape.
• Students should stand straight-up, side-by-side to form the shape.
• Students should form the sides and angles of the different shapes.
After each round debrief the shape making sure the shape has the right amount of sides and
the angles are approximately accurate.
Repeat and form different shapes.
Variations:
Make the students form the shape without speaking, therefore practicing their non-verbal
communication.
Make the students skip, hop, or act like their favorite animal while forming the shape in order
to encourage different types of movement.
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pK-5th C De L1