Fruit Salad (or Anyone Who?) is a great icebreaker game that needs minimal preparation and is easy to learn, so it is great to play with kids anywhere.
Features of Fruit Salad
| ★ Game Name | Fruit Salad |
| ★ Group size | medium to large |
| ★ Age | kids |
| ★ Type | active |
| ★ Skill | coordination |
| ★ Place | indoor and outdoor |
| ★ Time | up to 10 – 15 min |
| ★ Preparation | yes |
| ★ Materials | chairs |
Aim of the Game
In Fruit Salad, players move around the circle depending on the statement that has just been said. Don’t be the last one standing in the middle!
Group Size
This game is best played with groups of 6 to 20+ children. Any less than 6 players and there are not enough children for the game to work properly. Kids will especially love this game as it is easy to learn and is high energy.
Preparation and Materials
All you need to play Fruit Salad is:
- Chairs (1 less chair than the number of players)
To get ready to play the game, place all the chairs in a large circle facing inwards. Because chairs are needed, this game is often best played indoors.
How to Play Fruit Salad or Anyone Who
To play Fruit Salad, nominate one child to stand in the center of the circle of chairs, and have all the other kids take a seat. The person in the middle needs to say a statement that is true for at least two group members.
Examples could be:
- Anyone wearing something red
- Anyone who has a brother
- Anyone who is left-handed
- Anyone who has a pet dog
- Anyone with blonde hair
- Anyone whose name starts with T
- Anyone who is a girl
Anyone in the circle who the statement applies to needs to stand up from their chair and swap seats with someone else who has stood up. The kid in the middle can also yell the words “fruit salad” and everyone has to stand up and swap chairs!
You are not allowed to sit in the seat next to yours, but otherwise, you can sit in any empty seat. The kid in the middle also has to try to sit in an empty chair. At the end of the round, someone will be left without a chair in the middle. This is the loser for that round and they will be the next person to say a new statement.
The game continues for as long as you wish. There is no overall winner – the goal is just to never be left stuck in the middle! This is a great way to get the kids in your group to interact and learn more about each other by seeing who stands up each time.
Alternative Variations
If you don’t want to play this as a game but rather as a race, remove the child from the center. The group leader can call out statements instead and the kids just have to run and swap chairs as fast as possible.
You can also add extra actions in, such as everyone has to hop to their new seat instead of running, or that everyone has to run to the middle before sitting somewhere new.
This is one of the best group games for children that don’t know each other well yet to help spark conversation. With a minimal set up it is a great one to try with your group today!