The following activities are designed to provide opportunities for meaningful youth-adult connections through problem-solving, trust, teamwork, leadership, and communication. They are designed to be interactive, safe and fun, and to appeal to a wide variety of learning styles. Most of us have heard the phrase "you learn by doing," and the following activities are a great way for everyone to learn, grow and connect with each other by doing just that.
Click on the title of an activity to download that activity's description and rules in pdf format. Please note that there is more than one page of activities, and you can move between pages using the links at the top of each activity list. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view these files, which is available for free by clicking here. Stay safe and have fun!
Page 1 - 2
Applauding Your Differences
In this game, participants will cheer wildly for each other as they discover things they have in common and things that make them different. This game is a great way to celebrate diversity, break down barriers of shyness, and boost everyone's self-esteem!
Atha-baska-ball
In this game, two teams try to score as many points as possible by throwing or bopping a large beach ball toward the opposing teams backboard.This activity provides the opportunity to increase levels of communication, planning, leadership, team work, social skills, and adult/youth collaboration.
Balloon Trolley
In this activity, participants must execute a challenging series of movements while holding balloons between their stomach and the back of the person in front of them. This activity focuses on teamwork and communication, but be advised that it does require participants to be physically close to one another.
The Color of Success
This game provides participants with the chance to illustrate and share with each other what success means to them. This helps everyone in a group think about and discuss what success means to different people, and how we all can use our individual strengths to reach our personal vision of success.
Commonalities
In this game, participants are asked to answer a list of questions about themselves and each other. By engaging in this activity, everyone gets to know each other in an active and low-risk way, celebrating both common interests and diverse ones!
Crazy Fish Camp
During the "crazy fish camp," participants attempt to open a very well wrapped “fish” while performing a variety of strange and silly tasks. This is a high-energy activity designed to get people working together quickly!
Do You Hear What I See?
In this activity, one partner describes an image, and the other, without seeing the image, attempts to draw it. This helps participants to focus on verbal communication, listening skills, and on how our different perspectives shape our reality.
Dreamcatcher Script
Here is the script for Alaska ICE's Dreamcatcher presentation, which has been delivered in communities all across Alaska. We encourage local community members to give this presentation in their community or school, and adapt this script to fit their needs. This presentation is a great way to introduce a group to asset building and community engagement.
Find Your Mother Like a Little Penguin
In this activity, blindfolded adults and youth try to locate each other by making sounds and listening. This helps youth and adults attempt to connect with each other, despite surrounding noise and chaos!
Follow the Leader
In this game, participants attempt to mirror a chosen leader’s actions. One participant, who does not know who the leader is, attempts to figure it out! This helps group members practice their powers of social observation. Are we picking up the clues that are around us?
Group Juggling
Using coordination, concentration, and teamwork, a series of tennis balls are passed around in an established pattern, resulting in the entire group juggling together. After this activity, participants are asked to think about who they can turn to in difficult times, and what they can do to support others in need.
Click here for more activities!
Associated Files
If you have trouble viewing a file, make sure you have the correct file viewer. If you have trouble downloading a file try right clicking on the link and selecting "Save Target As.."
View this page as an Adobe PDF file - Download
File Viewers
If you have trouble viewing any of our files, please make sure you've downloaded all the necessary media players and file viewers.
Adobe Acrobat Reader - View PDF documents with the free Acrobat Reader.
