Icebreaker: Spiderweb

We have had so many new members join the Brownie Guide unit over the past year that I been feeling out of touch with the girls. When the unit was smaller (years ago now!), I knew each birthday, joining dates, family members, interests etc. off the top of my head. Those girls are now Guides and I can still recall that information. However, with a bigger unit, it can be more difficult to get to know the girls and keep up to date with everything.

I felt that we needed a bonding game of sorts, so that we could all learn some new things about each other. Over the years, i've played many variations of the spiderweb, but this version I discovered at Great Training.

Image credit: Tried and True Teaching Tools

How to Play:

Everybody sits on the floor in a circle. One Guide holds a ball of wool. They begin by introducing themselves and then sharing something interesting or unusual about themselves.

eg. My name is Karen and I have a cluster of freckles on my arm that looks like the Southern Cross.

The girl keeps a hold of the end of the ball of wool and throws the remainder of the wool ball to another Guide across the circle. The game continues with each Guide stating their name and then something about themselves. Before throwing the ball of wool the player must hold onto the piece of wool, so that once everybody has had a turn and is holding wool, a sort-of spiderweb shape is formed.

Nobody wants to be stuck with a huge knot of wool at the end of the game, so now the game is reversed. Going in the opposite order, the Guides must now introduce the player before them and share the interesting or unusual fact they learnt about that girl.

eg. This is Melissa and she can play seven musical instruments.


Outcome:

The girls had so much fun playing this game, much more than I had anticipated, as we played for almost 40 minutes! The Brownies just loved telling everybody something special about themselves and often then demonstrating or elaborating on their stories! Some girls shared their language skills, another had double jointed fingers, one had new pet guinea pigs and another's Grandmother is a former Girl Guide Leader. So many wonderful things to learn and i'm so glad that I made time for us all to share with each other.

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What friendship games do you play in your unit?