Name Ball

From Peacebuilding

To energise participants and help them get over the “post-lunch syndrome”

Contents 1 Time: 2 Participants: 3 Materials: 4 Procedure: 5 Source:

Time:

5-10 minutes

Participants:

Any number, although it works better with at least 7-8 participants

Materials:

Seven to fifteen (or more) paper balls, depending on the number of trainees. If you don’t have any balls, make them out of paper (10-15 cm in diameter) and cover each ball with lots of tape.

Procedure:

I) Get all the participants to stand in a circle.

II) Tell them you’re going to play a game that will help fight a terrible virus: the “post-lunch syndrome”. By passing a ball to another person, and saying their name as you do it, the participants can save themselves from this disease.

III) As the trainer, you show them how to do it: take a ball, focus on one person in the circle, call his/her name and throw the ball at him/her. Ask him/her to do the same with another person in the circle. And so on.

IV) Stat the game and let it build up speed.

IV) Introduce a second ball into the circle and follow the same procedure. Gradually introduce as many balls as possible into the circle. Allow confusion (many balls circulating fast, and everybody calling out names).

V) End the game when you feel that the trainees have recovered their energy and are ready to carry on with the sessions.

Source:

Zlatko Malic, a terrific trainer from Sarajevo, gave us the idea for this energiser.