"This project has been funded with support from the

European Commission. It was created during the EVS

Program "Be ready - Come as you" in Hodina H

(www.hodinah.cz) designed by Max Zaloudek.

This publication reflects the views only of the author,

and the Commission cannot be held responsible for

any use which may be made of the information

contained therein."

Why Energizer?

Cooperation, communication and getting along

with each other is not necessarily certain

among a group of young people, but

nevertheless they can be learned and

improved trough out short and easy practices.

Energizers support these attempts in a

playful and casual way. The rules are easy,

laughs are guaranteed, it offers a lot space

for being spontaneous and all are included.

The interaction between the young people is

in the centre of the activity. Energizers are

not mainly pedagogic methods to pass on

certain knowledge, topic or syllabus content

but they serve the purpose of…

Getting to know each other

Developing and improving a group spirit

relaxing

Freeing your mind

letting off steam

Waking up

Warming up

Stimulating discussions, debates

Improving the concentration of the

group

Training your memory

Cheering up after failure

Preparing or ceasing an activity

(Source: Carol Apacki: „Energize!“,)

Glossar

1) Crazy Cow

2) Sheriff

3) Okurky

4) Mixer

5) Blind Cow

6) Haha – Chain

7) Fruit-Salad

8) My place on the right hand side

9) Running in circles

10) Ping Pong

1. Crazy Cow

You need: nothing

Group Size: at least 8

Time: 10 to 15 mins

Step by Step:

1) build a circle

2) The group is now a group of cows on a

peacefully meadow. Participants should

behave and walk like cows. But x cows

have a disease and they act like crazy

(number of crazy cows depends on the

size of the group)

3) Diseases: craziness (act like crazy), missing leg, pretending to be a

bird/an angry bull, terribly screaming, turning in circles, Ballerina,…

4) Practice diseases with everyone

5) Crazy Cows can infect the others by hugging if so they have to act

accordingly. You can have more than one disease

You can be

as creative as you want with the

diseases, if you have an active

group you can also

let them

think about diseases.

Place for a picture

2. Sheriff

You need: nothing

Group Size: at least 5

Time: 10 to 15 mins

Step by Step:

1) We start standing in the circle and the group

leader is practicing different sounds of guns with

the group.

2) Than the game starts: The person in the middle points at someone, this

person has to go down, and the 2 people next to him have to “fight with a

gun”, by saying bäm/buff/...

3) The slowest in shooting, loses and goes down for the rest of the round. He

is "dead". The person in the middle is standing up again.

4) This is to continue till there are only two left. They will fight a duel.

5) They stand back to back, and step forward counting each 10 steps and in

the last step they have to “shoot”. The fastest one is the winner and the

new sheriff of the town.

Place for a picture

3. Okurky

You need: nothing

Group Size: two, but the whole group

can play at the same time

Time: 5 mins

Step by Step:

1) Divide the group in couples. They have to stay in front of

each other.

2) Participants have to clap their hands and they have two possibilities:

a. on their knees and then right

b. on their knees and then left.

3) Each time, they choose the same direction, they clap their hands

with the other person in the middle

4) You lose if you do a mistake.

5) After a while you can encourage them to speed up

The winners of the

particular couples can

built new ones and so

you can do a small

competition.

Place for a picture

4. Mixer

You need: nothing

Group Size: at least 3

Time: 10 to 15 mins

Step by Step:

1) Everybody is in a circle and there’s a person in the middle.

2) This person has to point at a person in the circle and say one of the following:

Mixer: the person pointed at has to raise arms and his

neighbors have to turn around themselves.

Washing machine: the person pointed at has to circle his head in circles

and his neighbors put their arms together simulating the

window.

James Bond,: the person pointed at has to hold the gun like JB and

his neighbors have to adore him.

Elephant, the person pointed at has to form the trunk (nose) of

the elephant with his arms and his neighbors imitating

his ears with their arms.

Angel: similar to the

elephant. The person

in the middle is

folding his hands

while the two people

aside playing the

wings

Madonna (= person

in the middle) with

her skirt (=two

people aside)

Place for a picture

5. Blind Cow

You need: nothing

Group Size: >5

Time: 10 – 15 mins

Step by Step:

1) Everybody is sitting in a circle and one odd one is standing in the

middle

2) This person is blinded by a scarf around his head.

3) He is to sit one somebody´s knees. The person he is sitting on now

needs to utter a sound e.g. the Moo of a cow. “MOO”

4) According to the sound the blinded one needs to get who he is

sitting on

5) If he is right they are changing seats and the other one is blinded,

sits on somebody's lap and so on but if the person is mistaken he

needs to try some other`s lap.

Place for a picture

6. Haha Chain

You need: nothing

Group Size: open

Time: 10 min

Step by Step:

1) Participants have to lay down on the floor on their backs so that: the

first person lays on his back, and the second puts his head on the

belly of the first one. The third person lays the head on the belly of

the second one etc.

2) The task seems to be very easy: one after another says HAHA,

adding one Ha with every person, but nobody is allowed to laugh out

loud. If so start from the beginning.

HA … Haha…Hahaha….Hahahaha…

you can

easily do it outside, if

it is warm.

Make sure you

have enough

space on the floor

Place for a picture

7. Fruit Salad

You need: Chairs – (one chair less than the number of part.)

Group Size: >6

Time: 5 - 10 mins

Step by Step:

1) The Participants put their chairs in a circle in the middle.

2) The leader points one after another at participants giving them

names of fruits, for example: apple-strawberry-orange, apple-

strawberry-orange etc.

3) One volunteer stays in the middle of the circle.

4) The person in the middle has to say a name of a fruit. Those people, whose fruit

was named, change their places as fast as possible. The person in the middle has

now the chance to find their place on a chair. You cannot choose your own seat

again.

5) The person, who is the last one being without seat, needs to stay in the middle.

6) If the person in the middle says: fruit salad, everybody has to change their

places.

IKEA – version: the names

which will be given to the

participants are pieces of the

furniture. If the person in

the middle says: IKEA,

everybody has to move.

Place for a picture

8. Fruit Salad

You need: one chair for everyone

Group Size: >5

Time: open

Step by Step:

1) With the chairs we build one circle where as one odd one is standing in the middle so

that one chair is free.

2) The person sitting in the circle of chairs who has the free chair on their right hand

side says the name of someone sitting in the circle (except the name of the person

that is in the middle.)

3) Once this free chair has a "name" this person needs to run and sit on the chair as fast

as possible. So the chair where they have been before is now empty. This new person

with a free chair on the right hand has to call one new person to sit next them

4) The person in the middle has to sit in the empty chair before the person with the free

chair on the right hand can call someone else

5) If the person in the middle sits on a free chair, there are two options:

a. If they could sit because the other person was too slow, this person goes to

the middle.

b. If he/she sits before the person with the free chair on the right hand calls

someone else, this person who didn't call someone goes to the middle.

Works as well with other topics

like Christmas, Easter, furniture

Place for a picture

9. Running in circles

You need: nothing

Group Size: >5

Time: 5mins

Step by Step:

1) We make a circle standing up

2) the leader says: we have to think about one

person in the group but don't tell anybody

3) When the leader claps the hands we need to run

to this person, make a circle around them and go

back to our position in the circle

4) The follow up can be created up to the leader,

for example

a. Think about two people in the circle Run

around them

b. Run an eight

c. Jump over one’s back

d. Crawl through the leg

Place for a picture

10. Ping Pong

You need: stick or paper roll to point

Group Size: >6

Time: 10 mins

Step by Step:

1) Divide the group into two teams, each

standing in a line side by side.

2) They should hook each other in.

3) Practice with them jumping all at once

4) Rules:

a. by pointing left, the left team is supposed to jump and shout ping

b. by pointing right, the right team is supposed to jump and shout pong

c. when pointing in the middle nothing happens

5) Now play with them by pointing left, right or in the middle. You can use one

direction more than once

left-right-left-middle-right-

left-left-right-left-right-

middle-right-right-right-left

Place for a picture