Workshop was a blast and very informative. The activities invite everybody to participate without feeling foolish even if you do something wrong. Thanks.

I attended a session you did at Licola a few years ago. It has proven to be one of the most useful training sessions I have ever done. I having applied your princicples to camps here in Australia and also spent a year in the US last year where your simple ideas came in very useful. Thanks for that Mark.

It was a great day and I thought the people I met were really nice. It was so helpful to see how your games could create such cohesion in a group. Thnaks…

I tried a few of the ice-breaker games and I think the most succesful was clumps – it was a riot. Never before i had seen my students join groups with different people so quickly and easily. thanks Mark

Mark, I have read your “No props” book and find the activities great. We had a wet day today at camp and without needing to reveiw managed to entertain 48 girls the entire morning till lunch time just running off your fantastic idea’s.

They are great because there is no setup required and you can jump from one activity to the next with continued enjoyment, fun and involvement by everyone in the group. We had a faboulous day, and I think the children and definately the teachers enjoyed the day more than the outside activities.

They had an absolute ball. I look foprward to your workshop on Sunday for more great idea’s.

Cheers, Shane.

This is a GREAT idea, Mark! Your energy and enthusiasm is infectious, keep up the good work!

I recently used some of the Group Splitting Exercises with my Yr 10 Religious Education class who I’ve been teaching for more than 10 weeks, so they actually know each other quite well. We had a short research task that I wanted them to do in small groups, but wanted them to engage with different students than they would traditionally sit next to and thus become obvious partners. We crossed arms, we held our hands clasped in front of us and checked thumbs, we lined up according to our birthdates (without speaking) and generally had some fun misxing the group. It was a fun way to start the lesson and they happily worked with different people, and did a great job. It achieved two outcomes; injected some fun into our Friday afternoon class aswell as encouraged them to renegotiate tasks/skills as they had to work in different groups. Simple yet so effective!

Mark, after seeing and participating at the ACHPER conference, Sure-fire ice-breakers is fantastic to get the students of any age up and moving to quick games. The energy levels lift 10 fold and they stay on task because it is so easy to move from one activity to the next. Thanks for the ideas and resources, they will be well used for years to come!!!

Many thanks for the GREAT tips and Ideas!

I will sometimes use the “DONUT” for generating prior and current knowlege information sharing at certain stages with the class.

Split the group into two even numbers and label one group A and B.( or 1 and 2). Get the A (or 1s) group to form a circle and face outward and then the B (or 2s) to stand directly in front of someone from the A group.

I then ask the A group to spend a couple of minutes revealing all they know about ..(any recently learned information) to their partner.

I then stop them, get the As to move clockwise three spaces and the Bs anticlockwise one space( this is great fun in itself!!!)…they have a new partner and then the Bs have a turn of information sharing.

make it short though…and its interesting to hear similar information repeated…but a good way to reinforce a topic

TIP: if there are uneven numbers, I get the spare person to walk around and observe/listen in on the information!

Hi Mark, In the last month i have been having lots of FUNN!!! The books have been out with me on all my trips and i have been using activities from them and also from the day you came to the factory to enhance my initiative sessions!!

The kids have also been enjoying the games and activities!! They were definately a great investment!!!!!

Thanks again and if ever i have any questions, i will be sure you contact you!!!
Thanks, Bec

Hi Mark, yes the book is going great!

Thanks for the session yesterday, you are a true artist in games!

Your session was one of the highlights of the day for me. I have already used some of your activities in the classroom. Awesome stuff. Seeing my students leave the classroom still laughing and having learned something was brilliant.

Hi Mark,
The front of the book was where I went to first, and have directed other staff towards it too. The activities are great. They really tie in with our philosophy towards Phys Ed that we follow as a result of training with the Bluearth Institute. I am on a Health and Phys Ed panel for the Sandhurst Diocese and I presented many activities from the book at a recent inservice and the response was most positive, especially from a Bluearth representative who was there.

A huge plus has been the way that the activities get rid of the chn’s habit of being picky about which partners or groups they end up with ( you know, boy/girl germs !!). I pointed this out to my group and they were blown away by the fact that the activities themselves become so much more fun when they don’t worry about social issues. The only other time I’ve experienced this was when I was teaching Preps. With a colleague I take 50 chn each Friday for a P.E. session and the kids beg for certain games. My colleague also is starting to lead the sessions as previously she was a little reluctant to do so.

Keep up the brilliant work!

No Props and Count Me In are two of my all time favourite games books. I attended one of your games workshops as part of the ACA conference last year and I can honestly say it was the best PD I’ve had since I graduated. And it was GREAT fun too! I’ve been able to put heaps of things I learnt to practical use since. Thanks so much.

I work for 3 and have been using some of your idea’s (games/ice-breakers) in my team warm ups when we have cold calling days, they have all been a massive success and I wanted to say thank you.

My team had lots of fun and laughter and I highly recommend this unique program to any team. I should tahnk you fro your professionalism and excellent facilitating skills.

So many of the activities support the development of team work, communication and goal setting – and they’re fun! A great way to introduce or reinforce skills developed through the Personal Development Skills (PDS) strand of VCAL. I also enjoyed the challenge of thinking of ways to use the activities with literacy students – and came up with a few. Thanks for the day.

Over the years I’ve always been able to refer to Mark for a new take on an old game, and in particular what can be done with the least number of props. Both of his most recent books have a ton of ideas about how to achieve the most with the least. Take a look, you’ll be pleased you did… Karl

Your books are amazing and i’ve been using the activities on a weekly basis!

Hi Mark, after introducing us to your books in 2009 orientation I did wanted to buy and eventually I have them now. I have used some of the games not only at social games but in church also for ‘ice-breaking’. They are awsome games and the good things about it is I don’t need space in my vehicle to carry equipments for games. Indeed, if Aboriginal kids in small Aboriginal communities loved and enjoyed the games I certainly recommend Mark Collard’s game books to every leader who likes to break ‘ice’ before commencing a program and especially ‘Youth Leaders”, “Kids Leaders”, and even adults – All my church members really enjoyed having ‘ice-break’ before I have my church programs started.

Mark your effort and your books have blessed not only my ministry but also the people who have enjoyed the games. God Bless You and Your Effort and Your Ministry Through These Books.

Lomani Uilou

Count Me In and No Props are MUST HAVE books for anyone wanting to create a positive atmosphere in the class. I can’t talk highly enough about Mark’s workshops…By FAR the best I have attended. I have attended two myself, and have recommended a heap of others to go too. Brilliant activities that are written so clearly and are easy to follow. My students love the variety and the fast paced changes of activities. Couldn’t be happier to leave a testimonial. Great books and great workshops from a great guy. Thanks Mark!

No props is an excellent idea for a group-book. It takes team building to a whole new level. My mates and I enjoyed it a lot and it did a great job for us to develop our team skills. Thank You!

No Props and Count Me In have been an essential part of my library since receiving them almost a year ago. I not only use it to run my own workshops within my small business but in lecturing within the swimming industry I work in. I feel that effective communication is one of the most important factors in our every day life and these books contain fantastic ideas that get your audience not only thinking but on their feet performing many ‘unnatural acts’ that stimulate all parts of the brain into effective action. Having these books in my library of resources means I dont have to come up with the ideas and games myself, its all done for me. Thanks so much Mark for great resources and your backup whenever I need it.

After attending a workshop with Mark, I tried some of the icebreaker activities with my 16 and 17 year old students. We played thumb wrestling, grab it and psychic handshakes and I even used Mark’s idea for creating different circles for activities. I was amazed at how enthusiastic the students were and how much fun they had. It was great to see them interacting so well and even LAUGHING!
I’ve bought the books and have already selected a range of activities to try out. Thanks Mark for such great, user friendly ideas.

No Props is one of the most useful books I own. I work in Outdoor Recreation/Education, and the principles of sequencing and FUNN I’ve learned from No Props have really helped to develop my soft skills and improved my instructional abilities. Cheers, Mark.

A few months ago, I participated in a ‘More Than Just Fun’ workshop and had a blast. I also purchased Mark’s books ‘No Props’ & ‘Count Me In’. After having a read, I found that they clarified many thoughts I’d had and things I’d learned from my own experiences in programming but they also gave me new ideas and ways to review on my previous programming failures. It helped me to understand why my previous programs had weak spots and how to improve my programs in the future.
I also found a lot of inspiration and excitement in the books, especially when reading through some of the games and recalling playing them as child. Many of the games I’d forgotten about and it was fun to remember the times, places and people I was with when I had played them in the past. It’s amazing how these games get passed down and stand the test of time with only a few minor alterations! Never stop playing!

Hi Mark, not long after purchasing your book I lent it to a student teacher that was doing a PE round at our school and I haven’t seen it since!
Regards, Anka

Hello Anka, what you describe is sadly (and happily?) a frequent occurrence. Many people report that someone nicks their copy of my books, and never return them – understandably, because it seems people like to use them.

All the best for the new year, Mark