Activities for Shy Members

Imagine looking at room of 10 or 20 excited club members who are painfully shy to get up and do Interview Bingo for a game. What do you do? How do you move to a different activity without losing face?

Here are a few activities to get shy yet adamant club members into activities.

1. Give or Take

On the board, create a 4×4 or 5×5 grid. Number each box.

Club members will be teams. Make sure to group each team by number (ex. Team 1, Team 2, etc.).

Each team will number off their teammates. #1 teammates will stand up. Ask a question anime related. Whichever team raises their hand fastest and gets the correct answer will have a chance to pick a number on the grid.

2. Hungry Monkey (adaption to Hungry Santa above)

Make teams of 4 or more and give them a team number. Write 1-6 on the board, or if you plan on using this game more times, make flashcards. Next to the odd numbers (1,3,5), draw pictures of monkeys. Next to the even numbers (2,4,6), draw bananas. On the side, number off by how many teams there are (ex. 5 teams means numbering 1 to 5). Give each team 5 points.

Each team will number off their teammates. #1 teammates will stand up. Ask a question anime related. Whichever team raises their hand fastest and gets the correct answer will have a chance to give points to a team or take points for themselves. Once that’s decided, the team rolls a die. If the die lands on an odd number (1,3,5), it means minus points. If the die lands on an even number (2,4,6), it means plus points.

If a team rolls a one (1), it means minus all that picked team’s points.

If a team rolls a six (6), it means either plus 6 points, a prize, or roll again for plus points–it’s up to you.

The team with the most points wins.

3. Karuta

Make many cards with Japan-related pictures (kimono, chopsticks, rice, sushi, sashimi). Put the members in small groups. Each group will get a set of the cards and they will spread them out evenly on the tables. The caller (whomever is calling out the Japanese words) will say the words in Japanese. The members must hit the correct picture card to get a point. The member with the most picture cards is the winner.

4. Pass the Present

Wrap a small present with 6 to 10 layers of wrapping paper or newspaper. Play a Japanese song as the members pass the present around. When the music stops, the member holding the present must answer a question before unwrapping a layer. The game ends when someone finally unwraps the last layer and claims the present.

5. Shiritori /Word Relay

One person says or writes a title or word from an anime, manga, Japanese video game, song, or movie. The next person will say or write a word starting with the last letter from the first person. For example, if Person A says “Dragon Ball”, Person B will say a word starting with L (Love Hina, Legal Drug, Loveless).

Do you have any activities or games for shy club members? Leave a comment!