Page Updated on March 4, 2023

Another very popular icebreaker activity that gets great feedback that we want to tell you about, is the ‘Table Topics Game’. This is a FREE icebreaker activity that you can use in your training session to get participants relaxed.

Activity Timeframe and Cost

  • We recommend to use this as a 10 to 15 minute activity. It can be extended to 20 minutes though if you wish.
  • This is a free activity that you can use and implement into your own training planning.

Participant Numbers

This is an activity that is suitable for any numbers of participants.

They can interact in pairs, in small groups or with the whole class, depending on the size of the class.

Ice Breaker Purpose

Table topics are a set of cards, which you can find for sale online, on sites such as Amazon.

Each card has a question on it to start a conversation and every pack of cards contains just over one hundred questions.

They are a great way to start a conversation for participants to get to know each other or to start a discussion on a specific topic.

Some examples of questions include:

  • Is there such a thing as perfect?
  • Where would you most like to go and why?
  • Who’s the funniest person you know?
  • Would you rather live for a week in the past or the future?
  • What is the meaning of ‘peace’ to you?
  • Who do you trust and why?
  • How would you describe your future in three words?
  • If you can go back in time to your 15-year-old self, what advice would you give your 15-year-old self?
  • What is your definition of being wealthy and why?
  • What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

Ice Breaker Instructions

There are various ways to play this game. You can:

Step 1

Give each person a card. Then ask them to stand in two parallel rows facing each other and ask the question to the person in front of them.

They can then swap cards and ask each other their new question.

After each pair has asked a question to each other, they can move along the line to the next person.

Keep going until everyone has had a chance to ask a few different questions to a few different people

Step 2

Ask one participant to be the host and ask a group of volunteers to answer the questions.

Give each person 1 or 2 minutes to answer as many questions as they can.

Step 3

Ask participants to form small groups. Give each group one or two questions and let each person in the group answer.

Dr Paul Symonds