Name Tag Trade
Objectives
Participants will learn names and quick facts about each other.
Group Size
Materials
Name tags of some kind.
Set Up
All participants must have a name tag already on, or a slip of paper that has their name on it. It should be removable.
Directions
Participants are to pair up. Once they have a partner they will trade name tags. Before they give someone else their name tag they will share 3 facts about themselves. For example: My name is Joe. I have a dog. I like vanilla ice cream. And I and from New York.
Once they share that information they trade tags and "become" the other person. They find a new partner and introduce themselves as the person whose name tag they have. For example: Whoever now has Joe's tag, introduces themeselves as Joe and repeats the same 3 facts.
You will always provide 3 facts about who you are, regardless of whether you remember the correct facts. For example: The person and ends the game with Joe's name tag may have 3 inaccurate facts.
This game can continue for as long as the facilitator would like (usually between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the group size). The hope is that they go around to at least 3 people. At the end of the game, they will scrabble to find the person whose name tag they are holding.
Debrief
Ask participants to share the name and facts of the last name tag they had to find out it they were accurate or not.
You can also prompt them to answer questions about communication among a large group of people. Another way to debrief is discuss active listening. How did some people manage to remember all the facts? Why did some people forget the facts immediately?