How to play Mingle (Find Your Group)
- Clear the walkways and set two rules: walking only, and no pulling people into groups.
- Students walk around the room quietly saying "Mingle, mingle, mingle" (or you play music).
- Call a number: "Groups of 3!" Students quickly form groups of exactly that many and crouch down together.
- Students without a full group come to a "lost and found" spot by your desk. They are not out; they join the next round.
- Give groups a quick task before mingling again: say each other's names, answer a question together or share a favorite food.
- Finish with the group size you need for your next activity. Those groups become the work groups.
Variations
- Math version: call a problem instead of a number ("12 divided by 4!") and students form groups of the answer.
- Find your match: hand out cards (word and picture, question and answer, or synonym pairs). On "Mingle!", students find the person whose card matches theirs.
- Things in common: "Find people born in the same season" or "with the same number of siblings".
π‘ Teacher tips
- Do not eliminate students. Being left out of a group is hard enough. Join a group yourself to make the numbers work.
- Use one clear freeze signal, like a raised hand or stopping the music, and practice it once before you start.