Its Super Smile Time Game

Its Super Smile Time is a lively game that will produce loads of laughter and fun.

Benefits of the Its Super Smile Time 

• Easy and fun to play
• Encourages laughter
• Promotes awareness
• No props needed

How To Play Its Super Smile Time Energizer Activity

The game can start with the group forming a circle, you as the facilitator can also join in the fun. This smile game is too much fun to just be a bystander.

Announce that soon you will be starting the stop-watch. Straight away produce a wide smile and make eye contact with one other member of the group, who is on the opposite side of the circle.

The person who receives your smile will make eye contact and smile back. You will begin to jump lightly up and down on the spot, to show your smile has been received.

Now, the one who received your smile must, in turn, send a smile to someone else on the opposite side of the circle, a person who is not jumping.  The passing of a smile then continues around the circle.        

Explain to the group that they are only allowed to send and receive a smile once. The one who sent the smile can only start jumping after the one who received their smile makes eye contact and smiles back.

As soon everybody in the circle has sent and received a smile and is jumping up and down, you can stop the clock.

The game can continue for as long as you like, with the group trying to better their time after each new round.  Try to see how fast you can send and receive a smile and just enjoy the fun and laughter.

Contextual Framing Ideas for Its Super Smile Time  Activity

A smile is a useful tool to use when you want to put others at ease and make them feel comfortable. In this game, we are going to try and prove this theory, that a smile just like a yawn is very contagious. Watch and see how smiles travel to the whole group around the circle very quickly.

It is a proven scientific fact, that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. We can now test this theory, let’s all make a frowning face. Let us now get everyone to smile for a short time. Did you feel the difference, did you feel like you were using more of your facial muscles to frown than to smile? This game is going to concentrate on smiling and will actually require less work than many of the other games we play…

Step-by-Step Instructions for facilitating Its Super Smile Time  Activity

• Get the group to form a circle, you as the facilitator can also join in.
• Encourage the group to see if they can produce the fastest infectious smile.
• Start your stopwatch and send a smile to someone on the opposite side of the circle. Make eye contact with them.
• That person must return the smile and then you begin to lightly jump up and down where you stand. This shows that the smile was sent and received.
• The one who received your smile must now send a smile to anyone else in the circle that is not jumping.
• This process of sending and receiving smiles can continue until every member in the circle is jumping.
• You can now stop the clock and record the time.
• Continue on with a few more rounds and try to improve on the time.    

Facilitators and Leadership Tips

You need to consider very carefully your order of events before you present this fun group game. The reason being, many people need to come to a particular degree of mental-preparedness before they can willingly smile and look someone else in the eye, just for fun.

However, if you are able to raise the level of enthusiasm and vigour when you present the game, then you can be assured that the group will join in for the fun.     

Inform the group that each person must make sure they catch the eye of the person opposite them in the circle. This could be made difficult by poor light or too large a circle. 

This fun group game can assist in building ‘Social-Emotional Awareness’.  This can help us to understand what makes us smile and how vital a smile is to our health and well-being.  When we ask questions like “what do you feel when you smile?” Or “what do you feel like when someone else smiles at you?” These questions are great to use in starting a conversation.    

If you are having trouble getting people to smile, suggest they fake one. Before long that fake smile will turn into a genuine one. Researches have proved the benefits of a smile to our well-being, whether it be fake or real is immaterial. This is the same with laughter.

Debriefing and Reflection Strategies for the Its Super Smile Time  Activity

• Did you find this challenge difficult? Why?
• Did you find that you made some mistakes during the process? How did you or the group respond to this?
• Did you and the group have some form of strategy in order to improve on your time after each round?
• Did you find that smiling was very contagious?
• Does a smile really matter?

Variations of Its Super Smile Time  Activity

• New Sequence: The game progresses, as above, but now you start a new sequence. This means that each member of the group must now send their smile to a new member.
• Unhappy to Happy: Begin by requesting that everyone in the group should make the unhappiest facial expression they can think of. Wait for the real smiles and laughter to emerge.
• Continuous Smiles: Make a new rule, if anyone stops smiling then they must also stop jumping until they receive another smile from someone in the circle.