Warm Up A Crowd With This Energizer Activity

A good energizer is easy-to-explain, gets people moving, and hopefully induces some laughter. Walk / Stop fits all of those criteria and serves as a great way to warm-up a crowd.

You can get an idea of the instructions from this video (and see it in action), or check the instructions below.

Walk Stop Energizer Instructions

1. Tell people they will be following simple commands. The first two: When you say “walk” they will start walking around the space. When you say “stop,” they will stop where they are.
2. Call out “Walk.” Then “stop.” And repeat as desired.
3. Next, tell everyone you are going to switch those two commands. Now when you say “stop” they should start walking and when you say “walk” they should stop walking.
4. Call out “Stop.” Then “Walk.” And repeat as desired.
5. Next, let them know you’re adding two more commands. When you say “Name” they say their name out loud, when you say “Clap” they clap once. The other two commands stay the same, so “Walk” means stop, “Stop” means walk, “Name” means say your name, and “Clap” means clap.
6. Call out a combination of “Walk,” “Stop,” “Name,” and “Clap.” Repeat as desired.
7. Finally, let them know you’re switching the last two commands. So “Walk” means stop, “Stop” means walk, “Name” means clap, and “Clap” means say your name. Repeat as desired.

Notes:

• You can also add other combinations. My favorite is “Jump” which means jump one time in the air and “Dance” which means dance for a moment in place.
• If you yell “Stop” while people are walking around, you’ll tend to get at least a few people who always stop, no matter how long you’re playing or how many times you tell them “Stop” means walk.