Group games are often hailed as a great way to break the ice, especially among newer groups. Hence, a great icebreaker game that you’ll want to try is The Animal Game.
This is a game that will need all your players to remember everyone’s names, making it ideal if you’d like to have your friends know each other in a fun way.
Features of the Animal Sound Game
| ★ Game Name | Animal Sound Game |
| ★ Group size | medium to large |
| ★ Age | any (6+) |
| ★ Type | active |
| ★ Skill | acting |
| ★ Place | indoor |
| ★ Time | up to 10 – 20 min |
| ★ Preparation | no |
| ★ Materials | no (optional) |
The aim of the Animal Game
In The Animal Game, your goal will change depending on your role. If you’re the volunteer, you will have to pick an animal for the players and guess the name of the player who will make the animal sound.
As a player, your role is to make the sound of the animal that the volunteer has given without showing who you really are. You’ll want to try your best to change your voice so you can confuse the volunteer with your best efforts.
Ideal Age and Group Sizes
Ideally, you’ll want to have between 6 to 14 players to play The Animal Game. For larger groups, you may have to split everyone into smaller teams to play or ask some players to wait their turn. The Animal Game is a fun group game for anyone aged 6 and up.
Preparation and Needed Materials
The Animal Game is a simple game to play on a whim. You will only need a large space for all your players to stand in a circle comfortably and a blindfold (or simply close the eyes, no cheating!). You may use anything for the blindfold – from neckties to eye masks or even a shirt.
How to play The Animal Game
To play The Animal Game, you will first have to select a volunteer to be blindfolded (or with closed eyes). They will have to stand in the middle while being blindfolded, and the other players will stand in a large circle surrounding the volunteer.
Step 1: When the volunteer says, “Go,” the other players will begin to walk in a clockwise direction. This will help confuse the volunteer on the positions of the players.
Step 2: At any time of their liking, the volunteer will then say, “Stop!”. All the players must then stop walking. Bear in mind that their positions must have changed from their original spots.
Step 3: The volunteer remains blindfolded and will point at any random player in the circle. If they point in between 2 players, the players can pick who will play that round. Then, the volunteer must think of an animal – for example, a horse.
Step 4: The player that the volunteer has pointed to must make the sound that the animal makes. In this example, the player must then neigh like a horse. Once they have made the animal sound, the volunteer must guess the name of the player.
Step 5: If the volunteer guesses the name of the player right, they will switch places with the player. The game continues with the volunteer staying in the middle if they get the player’s name wrong.