Seven Things
OVERVIEW
Seven Things is a warm up or ice breaker improv exercise that is quick and fun to play, challenging players to quickly list seven things in randomly selected categories while their teammates or colleagues cheer them on! A good warmup to use in general, but particularly for times when you want to focus on:
Creativity
Confidence
Agility
REQUIREMENTS
Number of Participants:
Minimum: 2 participants / Maximum: 16 participants
Time Required:
Minimum: 5 minutes / Maximum: 10 minutes
Materials Needed:
None.
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS
Arrange the players in a circle and ask one player to select a category for another. That player will announce their selection by saying, "Juan, what are seven types of Household pets?"
Juan will then list off seven types of pets as fast as he can with the overall group counting as he goes. The group will also pat their legs rapidly as they count until Juan lists a seventh thing, at which point they will yell in a celebratory fashion, "These Are Seven Things!"
Juan then picks the next person to go, saying something like, "Carla, what seven types of sweaters?" and Carla begins rattling them off. The process continues until finally the person who first gave Juan his category goes.
Importantly, participants are told that it is not important that the things they list fit within their category or even that they exist at all. You might list a Mr Coffee as a household pet (or a leprechaun) and the answer will be accepted, even celebrated.
That is to say, there are no errors in Seven Things. The game asks for your rapid participation, not for your accuracy.
INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION POINTS / LEARNING TAKEAWAYS
CREATIVITY
Tell your team before you play that there are no mistakes in Seven Things and that they should simply blurt out the first things that cross their minds when it is their turn. Then, when the exercise is over, highlight answers that were given that were "wrong" but praise them as hilarious.
It takes a lot of repeating to truly convince people it is true, but the difference between creative and uncreative people is only that uncreative people censor themselves in an attempt to not make mistakes while creative people do no such thing. Trying to be right (or fearing to be wrong) is the enemy of creativity.
CONFIDENCE
Very related but slightly different to this exercise's application to creativity is its application to confidence.
Improv has a saying, Treat Your Teammate As Though They Are A Poet Or A Genius. It means that when your teammate makes a contribution you don't understand, instead of treating it as a mistake, assume the reason you don't understand it is because it is the work of a genius who is beyond you and find a way to support the contribution. Remind eveyone playing of this saying and twist it to apply to the individual, "Everyone will be treating your contributions as if they came from a geniues, so have confdence when it is your turn to list seven things that people will love your contributions!"
AGILITY
You can't know what category you will receive until the moment it comes, so don't spend your time worrying what the category will be. Instead, focus on enjoying your teammate's contributions and celebrating their contributions. When it is your turn stay in the moment and participate confidently. Don't worry about being right, worry about being you!