THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FOR WOMEN'S LEADERS SINCE 2001

Printable Icebreakers and Games

for women's ministry

Julia Bettencourt

Icebreakers are a small thing that can get your ladies to laugh and talk a little with each other. Some groups enjoy more active things, while others just enjoy thinking type icebreakers such as solving puzzles or writing down responses. Other groups may just enjoy throwing out of a question to get everyone thinking on a particular topic.

I used to like to have a brain teaser type thing with pens at the tables of my ladies meetings. When my ladies would arrived, they would work on them if they chose, but it gave everyone a chance to chat. By the time the activity would start, everyone was already relaxed, talking, and interacting. Not much actual time was taken out of our meeting to do any type of games or icebreaker unless I ended up doing some discussion questions. I usually weaved discussion questions into the beginning of a lesson or something.

I think women’s leaders stress way too much over having an icebreaker or a skit, when really if you just leave a little time at the beginning of an event for everyone to mingle and talk, you won’t really need to loosen everyone up with an icebreaker. The women will already be a little relaxed and engaging together when they are given just a few minutes of downtime to just talk and mingle. Icebreakers are like anything else—if you overuse them or if your women expect them all the time, icebreakers can get a little boring or begin to delve into the lame side of things. We definitely don’t want that!

I am leaving some resources for icebreakers, games, and discussion starters below. I’ve never liked the active, move around ones, or ones that make people jump around and look silly, so these are mostly pretty passive things.

General Games

Bible Triva

Love me some Bible trivia!

Bible Trivia

Scrambles

Icebreakers where you need to unscramble the words.

Scramble Icebreakers

Crosswords and Wordsearches

A little bit of thinking in these icebreakers.

Crosswords and Wordsearches

Seasonal and Holiday Games

Seasons and holidays are a great time to have a party or event and throw in an icebreaker.

Seasonal and Holiday Icebreakers

Showers

Worksheets and Lesson Handouts

Sometimes I think using a little worksheet or lesson handout pertaining to a biblical truth works well as an icebreaker, so I'm leaving the link for those for you here, even though technically they might not always seem like an icebreaker. Sometimes for women's ministry we want something a little fun and interactive but not necessarily along that "game" vein.

Worksheets and Lesson Handouts

Conversation Starters/Discussion Questions

I think discussion questions make great icebreakers for women's ministry events. No prep or props involved! Just talking. I have quite a few on the blog. Most are downloadable, but some are just typed out into blog posts.

Conversation Starters/Table Talk Questions

Go to the Download Library.