This simple icebreaker is great for adults or students. You simply ask a question for them to discuss with their neighbor. I generally suggest they talk to someone other than the person they are sitting beside (across the aisle or behind or in front of them). Use only one question to get conversations going. Or give them 30 seconds for each question, then switch so the other person talks and then have another question (For those that are using your coach screens you could also put questions onboard the screen). If you would like you can ask the group if anyone had an answer they want to share with the group.

• They can range from the mundane to serious.
  
  • Why did you choose this tour in particular?
  • Would you rather live at the beach or in the mountains?
  • Who is your favorite singer?
  • If you could perpetually live in one decade which would it be?
  • If you could have coffee with anyone living or dead who would it be?
  • What are some ways that we can be an encouragement to people around us?
• They can be more of a teaching/processing tool
  
  • How has this trip impacted how you view of _______?
  • What is one thing that you found interesting in yesterday’s tour?
  • We visited the constitution center today and learned about how the delegates choose to leave slavery out of the constitution because it was so divisive and they could not agree on what to do with it. If you were one of the delegates how would you have responded to that?
  • At the Holocaust museum, we saw how some of the neighbors helped their Jewish neighbors hide and some of them turned them in and stole their stuff when they were taken. Why do you think that more people did not help their friends but turned on them?
    
    • Follow up: It is easy to look at history in hindsight and think how wrong people acted, are there things happening today that are similar and we are not being good neighbors?
  • For many of you, yesterday was your first time to stand on a glacier. Tell your neighbor what it was like for you?
• So many options for enhancing your tours with a little group conversation. It is nice to ask questions to the group as a whole, but often only extroverts will respond to you in front of the group. This allows everyone to participate in their own way.

You can start off each day with a topic to get them going or use this after you give a section of commentary so they process it together

This one can also be played with any age group and is a fun way to be a little active while seated. This is a great one to play when you are stuck in traffic for a little “pick me up” to break up the monotony.

1. Divide the left side and the right side of the coach into teams. Have each team choose a name.
2. Each team will search in their pockets and purses for each item that you call out. *If they want to get any bags from the overhead bins have them do that safely prior to the start of the game (offer to help). Once the game starts no one can go into the overhead bins. This is for safety more than anything else, if they are trying to win they are not going to be holding on, just grabbing at things and if the driver has to break that can be dangerous. 
   
   1. After each item is called they have 10 seconds (adjust time based of group’s needs, generally the older the group the more time they need) to try and find as many of the named items as they can.
   2. When they find the item they raise it in the air.
   3. At the end of the 10 seconds say “times up” and there is no more searching.
   4. Count how many items each side has raised up and mark it down one point for each.
3. Whichever side finds the most items from the list gets to exit the bus first for the next meal and has bragging rights.

Tips

• Adjust the list for each specific group, even throw in some very specific items that would just apply to your group.
  
  • Sheet music for a band group
  • Gloves for a winter tour
  • Betting ticket for a horse race tour
• Keep them updated on the score throughout the game to keep them engaged
• Walk through the coach to count occasionally, you can add some fun by “checking” items or asking follow up questions (who is the picture off, what is the receipt for, etc.)
• If they really enjoy it you can have a rematch later in the day.

Scavenger Hunt Suggestions (depending on how into the game they are, generally 10 items are plenty)

1. Dental Floss
2. Doctor’s appointment card 
3. Grocery List  
4. Tube of lipstick 
5. Picture of grandchild 
6. Library Card
7. Picture of a pet  
8. Nail clippers 
9. Penny from the 1900s  
10. Cell phone with a cracked screen
11. Sunglasses 
12. Gum 
13. Wedding ring 
14. Bookstore membership card  
15. Receipt  
16. Money Clip
17. Cell phone charger
18. Tickets to an event 
19. Compact mirror 
20. Tissue
21. Band-Aid
22. Driver’s license with a letter z on it

This classic road trip game can be played by all ages.

1. One player thinks of a famous person, place or thing.
2. Everyone else gets to ask the player 20 questions, which can only be answered as either “yes” or “no.”
   • For example, “Does it know how to walk?” is a valid question, but “What is his mother’s name?” is not.
3. If the player guesses correctly, the winning questioner now thinks of a new object. If the answer is incorrect, another person is allowed to ask a “yes” or “no” question. Sometimes the player will not be able to come up with a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because there isn’t a clear answer, in these cases, the player can answer ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I can’t answer’.
4. The object of the game is to stump the other players and to pick something hard enough that nobody will be able to guess it in under 20 questions.

To do this on the coach:

• If you have a cordless mic they can stay at their seat and you just pass the mic when a new person is “it”
• If not then it is best to make a seat available up front for the person that is it. Make sure they are holding on when they come up to use the mic.
• Also if you have a big group, it may be difficult to have so many people shouting out questions. You can either have the person who is “it” call on people who raised their hands (if you want more involvement you can say people can only ask one question per round). Or you could call on the people to give questions.
• Variations
  • To adjust the time frame or make it go quicker then shorten the number of questions that can be asked 5, 10, 15, etc.
  • You can choose a topic that relates to your trip or what you will be seeing
    • Historical characters (founding fathers and mothers of the country, presidents, etc.)
    • Famous locations in DC
    • Movie Stars
    • Songs from the 60s
    • Etc.
  • You can divide the coach into two teams (right and left, men vs. women) and one person from the other team will be “it” while the other team guesses. 

This old schoolhouse game still is fun.

1. Tell a statement to the first person (do not repeat, you can only say it once)
2. That person then tells the next person and so forth.
3. Pass it through the coach to the back and have the last person say what the statement has changed into.

Variations:

• Keep in mind that it is only funny if it makes it all the way to the end. If one person cannot hear it, then it dies there. It is important that you tell people to not let others overhear, but to speak clearly so the person can get it. If I am working with senior citizens who may have some hearing problems. I say that you can only say it once, but if you genuinely did not hear the person ask and they can say it again. Since most of the senior citizens played this growing up I have found they really enjoy it.
• Since the passengers on the other side of the coach will probably overhear the statement as it is being passed back, it may not work to have it go to the back and come back down the other side. It is fun to have the same statement going down both sides and see what comes out for each. You can also have two different statements, a question, and an answer.
• I love to do this with the meaning of place names, or what they are having for dinner, etc. It is a short fun way to get some information across.

These are fun quick games that get the group laughing.

1. Ask your group for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story. They do not know how the word will be used. You just ask for a noun, an adjective, a verb, etc. The more random the better.
2. As they give you the word you write it into the blank of the story.
3. When you are done you read it to the group. Generally, they are very funny and people love to hear their suggested word being read.

You can purchase books of them, but there are so many online it is easy to just to get them for free. You can even just pull up one of these websites and to the entire thing on your phone by typing in the words.

http://www.madtakes.com/

https://www.wordblanks.com/

* A note of caution, always check out the mad lib prior to using it to make sure it is appropriate for your group. And always read through your completed mad lib to see if there is anything that you need to change before reading it out loud, as randomly picking words can make for some dicey things. This is easy to do as you just tell them that you need a minute to plug the words into the story before you read it.

Variations:

• Make teams and have them each do one. It could be the same Mad Lib but have both teams give the words before reading them both so that one team has not heard the story before it is shared.
• Create your own Mad Libs that you can use over and over that fit with your tours. Simply go through and take out keywords, replacing them with the type of speech and a blank. You want to leave enough words so that the general structure is there but change enough to make it fun.
  • Historical documents
  • Songs (for each generation)
  • Write a story about being on coach tour and add your name and the driver’s names
  • History of a town

This is a great get-to-know-you icebreaker. It works for both for groups that are strangers and people who have known each other their whole lives.

1. Instruct each player to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be a lie.
2. The group votes on which one they feel is a lie (majority vote), and at the end of each round, the person reveals which one was the lie.

Tips and Variations:

• Make sure to give your passengers time to think of their three statements. If you rush them, they will be lame. Giving them time you get some great ones.
• There are several ways you can play this game.
  1. Pass the cordless mic and each person shares and you call a vote and then the person tells their lie. This can be intimidating for people who do not like to talk on the microphone, so it is good to give them the option of you reading theirs for them. If you do this toward the end of a trip and everyone knows everybody that is not as much an issue. The key here is how to politely keep people from hogging the microphone and telling long stories. Tell them the statements have to be one sentence and remind them that everyone needs to share so we need to move to the next person.
  2. Have them write them on an index card with their name, do not mark which one is the lie, and pass them up to you. This is my preferred method. This puts you in control and allows you to keep the game going. When there is an interesting story you can pull it out of someone, and you can banter with them. I then will randomly go through the cards, “Where is Sarah K? There you are, Sarah said….” Then you take a vote for each one and see what the group thinks is a lie. Then you can ask a follow-up question about any of the things she wrote.
  3. You also can do this spread throughout the tour. Each day you do the four seats (or however many you need to get everyone) that are upfront as a way to introduce them. The next day another group, if you are doing a rotation it is easy because you will get a new batch of people in the front.
• You can also make it game with a winner. Tell the passengers to keep their own score. 1 point for each lie that they personally correctly guess. 5 points if the group does not pick their lie.
• “Two Truths and a Dream Wish.” Instead of telling a lie, a person says a wish. That is, something that is not true — yet something that the person wishes to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Europe might say: “I often travel to Europe for vacation.” This interesting spin on the icebreaker can often lead to unexpected, fascinating results, as people often share touching wishes about themselves. Other variations:
  1. “Two Truths and a Nightmare”
  2. “Two Lies and One Truth”