Break the ice

Creating the Cards

Prepare Bingo cards with a 5×5 grid, each square featuring an item, location, or situation to be photographed. Examples include:

• A tree
• A park bench
• A street art mural
• A pet
• A fountain
• A monument
• A flower, etc.

Each group has a set time (e.g., 1 to 2 hours) to explore the surroundings and take photos of the items on their card. As they capture an item, they mark the corresponding square on their Bingo card.

When a group completes a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) with photos, they return to the meeting point and shout “Bingo!”

• The first team to complete a row and confirm their photos wins a prize (optional).
• Other participants can continue until additional winners are found or time runs out.

To make the activity more engaging, consider adding challenges or themes, such as:

• “Most creative photo”
• “Best group photo”
• “Funniest caption”

Encourage participants to share their photos on social media using a specific hashtag, fostering interaction and community engagement.

• Bingo cards (5×5 grid with images or descriptions of locations/objects)
• Camera or smartphone for taking photos
• Pen or marker to mark completed squares
• Small prizes for winners (optional)

Place a large piece of material in the center of the room—this represents a raft. Participants walk around it, pretending to swim in the water.

• When the music stops, all players must fit onto the raft.
• Once the music starts again, players step off and continue “swimming.”
• While the music plays, the facilitator folds the material, reducing the available space on the raft.
• This process repeats until all players successfully fit on the shrinking raft.

1. Without Music: Instead of stopping music, the facilitator calls out “Sharks are coming!”, signaling danger in the water. Once the sharks “swim away,” players can step off, but the water washes away part of the raft (making it smaller).
2. Outdoor Version: Use hoops or ropes to mark “islands” instead of a raft. When the music stops (or sharks appear), all players must fit onto an island. With each round, one island is removed, increasing the challenge.

• Provide each participant with one A5 sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
• Each participant draws a clock on their paper and marks all 12 hours.

Part I: Setting up the meetings

• At each hour mark on the clock, participants write the name of another participant they will meet at that time. Meetings can be in pairs or groups of three.

Part II: Discussion rounds

• The facilitator announces a specific hour (e.g., “It’s 3 o’clock”) and gives a discussion topic or question.
• Topics can range from simple icebreakers to deeper conversations.
• Each conversation lasts 2 minutes (or longer if needed).
• After time is up, the next meeting hour is announced with a new question.
• This continues until all 12 “meetings” have taken place, covering 12 different topics.

Gather participants in a circle and discuss:

• What did you learn about each other?
• What common topics or interests did you discover?