Sorting and grouping your class efficiently is a vital part of any participative training. There are many interesting options which you can avail as well as innovate instead of allowing the participants choose groups or tally numbers. Moreover, trainers must be adept at varying the composition and size of the groups throughout the training session. You can start off with
Name Tags of different shapes and using colors to classify different groups. Even Birthdays can help you group your participants who can line up by birthdays and then break into the number of subgroups needed for a particular activity. You can break larger groups and form subgroups by birth months by composing groups of those born in January, February, March, and April; May, June, July, and August; and September, October, November, and December.
Playing Cards and Grouping Cards are great ways to designate groups and you can do so by shuffling the cards and dealing one to each participant and then directing them to locate others and form a group. Cards of the same or different rank, cards of similar or dissimilar suits, a “poker hand,†cards in a numerical sequence, even or odd numbers and red versus black suit cards can be used extensively to form the groups and you can resort to Grouping Cards if you have a large group of say twenty participants where one activity may call for four groups of five; another, five groups of four; still another, six groups of three with two observers. Groups can be coded with various colored dots (red, blue, green, and yellow for four groups), decorative stickers (different stickers in a common theme for five groups, such as lions, monkeys, tigers, giraffes, and elephants), and a number (1 through 6 for six groups). You must be well aware of the codes so that you can direct the grouping smoothly saving time and eliminating confusion. You may want to post signs indicating group meeting areas to make the process even more efficient. Creating Famous Fictional Friends and Families will help you to group your participants in an interesting way e.g. Peter Pan, Tinker bell, Captain Hook, Wendy; Alice, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, Spiderman, Superman, Lois Lane, Prof. Calculus) Choose the same number of fictional characters as there are participants. Write one fictional name on each index card. Shuffle or mix up the cards and give each participant a card. When you are ready to form groups, ask the participants to find the other members of their “family.†Once the famous group is complete, they are to find a spot to congregate.
Puzzles are another interesting option and therefore, you can take the help of six-piece children's jigsaw puzzles or can create your own by cutting out pictures from magazines, pasting them on cardboard, and cutting them into your desired shape, size, and number of pieces. Select the number of puzzles according to the number of groups you want to create. Separate the puzzles, mix up the pieces, and give each participant a puzzle piece. When you are ready to form the participants into groups, instruct the participants to locate others with the pieces to complete a puzzle. As a trainer make your grouping fun by using Candy Flavors that is giving each participant a wrapped sugarless candy of a different flavor to indicate groups E.g. tag your groups as lemon, butterscotch, cherry, and mint or you can straightaway pick the option of Draw Numbers before using this method you need to determine the number and size of the groups you want to create, put numbers on individual slips of paper, and place them in a box. Participants then draw a number from the box indicating which group number they belong to. For example, if you want four groups of four, you would have sixteen slips of paper with four each of the numbers 1 through 4. You can also select Items like toys of a common theme to indicate groups. For example, you might choose transportation and use cars, airplanes, boats, and trains. Each participant would draw a toy from a box and locate others with the same toy to form a group. Otherwise you can also code Participant Materials using colored paper clips, colored handouts, or stickers on folders or tent cards to predetermine groupings.