Toolbox — For Training and Youth Work
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Exercise, Ice-breaker, Group Building Activity, Name Game/Get to know each other
A free sequence of three low-pressure drama activities that helps youth workers, teachers, and facilitators build psychological safety, group connection, attentive listening, and active participation in quiet or hesitant groups.
Help facilitators lower the social risk of participation; build psychological safety and group connection; strengthen attentive listening, memory, empathy, and voluntary openness; and move quiet or hesitant groups toward safer, more active participation.
This free resource presents three practical drama activities in a deliberate progression.
1. Throwing Information: Each participant shares a brief detail about themselves. The group then passes or gently throws a soft ball without using names. To identify the receiver, each person uses information they remember about that participant. The activity develops listening, memory, recognition, and group connection.
2. If You Knew Me Better: Participants work in pairs. Every sentence begins with "If you knew me better, you would know that..." followed by a personal detail, habit, preference, or experience that the participant chooses to share. The exercise supports trust, voluntary openness, and deeper communication.
3. Find Your Pair: Each participant receives the name of one person from a well-known pair from film, literature, history, or popular culture. Without speaking, participants embody their character and look for the matching partner. Once pairs meet, they introduce themselves to the group. The activity develops non-verbal communication, deduction, teamwork, and playful social interaction.
The sequence begins with structured personal recognition, moves into paired communication, and finishes with active group movement and collaboration. Facilitators can use all three activities in one session or select one exercise according to the group's readiness. All personal sharing should remain voluntary, and activities should be adapted to the group's cultural context and accessibility needs.
Learning outcomes include attentive listening, recall, verbal and non-verbal communication, empathy, teamwork, and safer active participation.
Full instructions and public demonstration videos: https://drama-games.com/3-practical-activities-for-quiet-groups/
About the authors: https://drama-games.com/about-sonja-lestar-maja-grgic/
SALTO cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate use of these training tools. Always adapt training tools to your aims, context, target group and to your own skills! These tools have been used in a variety of formats and situations. Please notify SALTO should you know about the origin of or copyright on this tool.
http://toolbox.salto-youth.net/5912
This tool is for
Youth workers, trainers and facilitators, teachers and educators, and people leading quiet or hesitant groups. Recommended for groups of 8-24 participants in youth work, classroom, training, and community settings.
and addresses
Group Dynamics, Personal Development, Peer education, Youth Participation
It is recommended for use in:
Youth Exchanges
Training and Networking
Materials needed:
One soft ball; prepared slips of paper with famous pairs; pens and paper if participants will add their own pairs.
Duration:
35-60 minutes for the complete three-activity sequence. Each activity can also be used separately in approximately 10-20 minutes, followed by a short reflection.
The tool was created by
Sonja Leštar and Maja Grgić (222 Drama Games)
in the context of
Phase 1, Psychological Safety and Group Connection, in the 5+1 participation method developed for teachers and facilitators.
The tool has been experimented in
Drama education, theatre workshops, facilitated group sessions, and participation-focused learning settings.
The tool was published to the Toolbox by
Filip Lestar (on 3 August 2026)
and last modified
29 July 2026
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