5 Best Training Energizer Activities for Workshops

It can be difficult to keep employees engaged throughout the entirety of a training session, especially if it’s long. Training energizer activities may be exactly what you need to overcome this challenge! If you need a way to keep your participants engaged, here are the five best energizer activities for workshops.

The Energizers Activity Book is perfect for waking up your team, promoting readiness for learning, and creating excitement for your training workshop. Shop Now!

What are Training Energizer Activities?

Have you ever noticed the energy level of employees coming back from a midday lunch? You might expect to see sleepy gazes, slouched postures, and general sluggishness. As you might imagine, it’s not ideal to teach new content to participants who are low on energy.

Training energizer activities, as the name suggests, are activities designed to boost your team’s energy level. If you’d like, they can be related to the content you’re teaching. Or, they can be entirely different to serve as a “palette cleanser” before diving back into the session. In either case, they’re always intended to be fun, simple, and engaging—which is perfect for reenergizing workshop participants before moving into the upcoming training material. When participants are alert, they’re more likely to retain the information you plan to teach, making energizers a valuable tool for workshop organizers.

Situations in which you likely need to use a training energizer activity include after a meal, after a break, and during a long training session. They’re also a great way to kickoff a workshop, bringing up the energy level from the beginning of the session!

Best Training Energizer Activities

Here are some of the best training energizer activities for workshops. Find the ones you like, and spread them throughout your training session:

Match the Fact

Match the Fact is all about getting to know a little bit more about your team members. To play, take the following steps:

• Pass each participant a sticky note and writing utensil.
• Ask them to write a fun fact about themselves that nobody in the office knows.
• Ask them to turn in their sticky notes with their responses back to you.
• Display the sticky notes with the responses for all the participants to see.
• Pick an employee to start, then go around the room asking participants to match which fun fact goes with which employee in the room.

This is a fast, interactive activity that can serve as an exciting change of pace!

Pass the Ball

Pass the Ball is a versatile game that can easily be incorporated into your training content. Whether you incorporate your training material or stick with something more lighthearted, here’s how to play:

• Decide the topic you want to focus on. For instance, you could use a training topic, such as “career development.” Or, if you want to keep it simple, select a topic like “traveling.”
• Gather your team to sit or stand in a circle.
• Tell them the topic to focus on.
• Give one of the participants a ball to start the game.
• Ask them to throw the ball to a participant of their choice. Whoever it’s thrown to must answer a question of the thrower’s choice. The question should be related to the topic.
• Have participants throw the ball throughout the group until each participant has answered a question.

If you prefer to have participants answer questions related to your training material, consider using a Thumball! On each panel of the ball, there’s a thoughtful prompt to get your employees talking. At HRDQ, we have Thumballs in a variety of topics, from leadership and ethics to team dynamics, stress management, and more!

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Continue the Story

Designed to add a little humor to your training session, Continue the Story is an energizer activity that asks employees to use their imagination. Here’s how to do it:

• Gather your group in a circle.
• Start the story off by saying, “It’s crazy that…”
• Going clockwise around the circle, ask each participant to add on to the story using only three words.
• Continue the story until it comes to an end.
• If the story ends and not all employees have participated, start again beginning with the person who ended the previous story.

This is a great energizer activity to lighten up the mood, ease tension surrounding difficult topics, and boost team morale.

Genie in a Bottle

Get to know your team better by using the energizer activity, Genie in a Bottle:

• Pass each participant three sticky notes and a writing utensil.
• Set the scene. Tell your participants to imagine that a genie in a bottle is granting them three wishes.
• Ask them to draw their wishes, each on a separate sticky note.
• One by one, ask each participant to display their sticky notes for the group to see.
• Ask the group to guess what each drawing represents until every employee has presented.

Genie in a Bottle is a great way to start a discussion about values, similarities, and differences between your employees!

Blast From the Past

Blast from the Past is another great energizer activity for workshops that’s a great way to break the ice and excite your team. Here’s how to play:

• Gather your group in a circle.
• Going clockwise around the circle, ask each participant what time period they would love to be transported back to, and why.
• Continue around the circle until each person has participated.
• Allow a free flow of discussion between responses. This energizer activity doesn’t have to be rushed and should encourage open communication!

After completing this energizer activity, your team will be refreshed and ready to dive back into your workshop.

More Training Energizer Activities from HRDQ!

We hope you enjoyed learning about the five best training energizer activities for workshops! Although you can try these activities on your own, it’s also helpful to have a guide to all of the best training energizer activities at your disposal. Consider the Energizer Activity Book from HRDQ! This book is filled with a wide range of trainer energizer activities to engage your team, and each activity includes a description of procedures, variations, and space to record your thoughts. Get your employees excited for the next workshop!

View the Energizer Activity Book

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