Synonyms
Squeezer. Hands. Hands Up
Introduction
Everyone into a circle and join hands.
Description
One player in the circle will start by squeezing the hand of the player on her right. That player will squeeze the hand of the player on her right. So if someone squeezes your left hand you squeeze your right hand. This will create a series of squeezes that hurtle around the circle. This is the simplest form of hands.
If a player has their right hand squeezed they will squeeze their left hand. This will cause the squeezes to hurtle in the opposite direction of the paragraph above. So we can have a series of squeezes moving to the right or a series of squeezes moving to the left.
When a player squeezes their right hand they say “bing”. When they squeeze their left hand they say “bong.” One can listen to the wave binging and bonging it’s way around the circle
The leader can keep adding squeezes into the circle. There could be a squeeze heading to the right, with another squeeze following behind. There could be a squeeze going to the right and left at the same time. Usually the circle will keep binging and bonging until chaos reigns.
This is an ice breaker warm up that focuses on listening with out words and concentration. Since it usually ends in a chaotic squeezing of sweaty palms Hands also reminds players that failure is okay, and group failure is even more okay.
None.
Variations
- Gate Controlled – the player cannot start their squeeze until the hand squeezing theirs has completed. This can change the rate of the squeeze moving around the circle.
- Hands Up – Instead of holding hands the players put their palms up over their heads and push on their neighbour’s hand instead of squeezing. One can watch this push wave travel around the circle.
Credits
Learn Improv made this one up in the 1990s.