MSU Extension 4-H Leadership, Citizenship & Service

When you are meeting virtually, it is important to remain connected to each other’s lives. When meeting face-to-face, this often happens informally through chit chat before the meeting officially starts. This kind of conversation can be difficult in virtual meetings because you end up talking over each other. Below are some questions you can go through with your group, round-robin style, to have fun and learn more about each other. Be mindful of the time you have, the maturity of your group and potential issues that could arise when you select the questions.

Getting to know you questions:

• What is one thing you are thankful for that has happened since the last time the group met?
• Where is the furthest you have traveled from your hometown?
• What is your favorite food?
• If they made a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?
• If someone was going to visit your hometown for a week and would never be back ever in their life, what should they do in that week and what time of year should they visit?
• What is a dish you eat at any holiday that is special to your family?
• Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?
• What is one thing you’re afraid of?
• Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?
• Favorite age you’ve been so far?
• (For youth) What do you look forward to about being an adult? (For adults) What did you like most about being a kid?
• You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world but you have to leave immediately and cannot pack anything. Where are you going to go?
• If you were a type of animal, what would you be?
• (For youth) What do you want to be when you graduate? (For adults) When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Your house is on fire! You have just enough time to run in there and grab one inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. What’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?
• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
• If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?
• If you could send a message to yourself 10 years ago, what would you say?
• Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? If so, what for?
• What type of music do you like?
• What would be your dream car?
• Where is your favorite place to sing?
• How long could you go without talking?
• Who do you look up to as a hero and why?
• What parts of you do you think come from your parents? This can be either physical features or personality traits.
• What thing do you wish you knew how to do that you don’t understand?
• What is your favorite song? A group member could even ask each member this secretly ahead of time, put together a playlist and have participants try to guess which song goes with which person.

Silly questions

• What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?
• Would you rather be sticky forever or itchy forever, and why? After they answer, it can be fun to say two words: toilet paper.
• Would you rather be able to talk to plants or animals? Why?
• Would you rather have to be silent forever, or say every thought that came into your head?
• If you could be any kind of egg, what would you be? (Rotten, chicken, scrambled, Faberge, etc.)
• If you could have any super power, what would you pick and why?
• What is your favorite joke?
• If you had to have one song stuck in your head for the rest of your life, what would it be?
• If you could have any book or movie completely memorized, what would it be?
• Would you rather be able to control animals (but not humans) with your mind or control electronics with your mind? What would you do with this power?
• Would you rather wear a wedding dress/tuxedo every single day or wear a bathing suit every single day?
• If you could have a fictional person teach you something, who would it be and what would they teach you?
• Who was the best president and why?
• If you could pick any super hero to be president, who would it be and why?
• If you were president, what song would you want to play when you walked in the room?
• If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?
• Would you rather poop one day a year for 24 hours straight or poop at the exact same time every day for 1 minute each day and be unable to stop it.
• What fictional world would you like to live in and why? (Examples: Marvel Universe, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Mario World, etc.)

Deep and thoughtful questions

WARNING: Some of these questions are intense. Be mindful on whether or not your group has the maturity to get into these questions.

• If you had $1 billion to spend on yourself, how would you spend it?
• If you had $1 billion, how would you spend it to best improve the state of Michigan?
• If you had $50 billion, how would you spend it to end racism?
• If you could talk to any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?
• What subject isn’t normally taught in school but should be?
• How would your country change if everyone, regardless of age, could vote?
• If you didn’t need to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
• If you had unlimited courage, what would you do?
• Who is the one person you would never want to meet? Why?
• What do you think was the best time in United States history? Why? Would this change if you were a different gender or race?
• If you could change something about your parents, what would it be?
• What is one thing that is legal but should be illegal?
• You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?
• Would you want to live forever? Why or why not?
• When (if ever) should something be censored?
• If you had children, what would you want to pass on to them from yourself? What would you not want to pass on to them?
• If you could know the exact time of your death but couldn’t do anything to stop it, would you want to know?
• If you knew the exact time of your death but couldn’t do anything about it, how would you act differently?
• Who would you bring back from the dead if you could?
• If you could completely end world hunger and nutrition concerns but everyone would have to eat the same bland, tasteless food, would you do it?

Hopefully you will learn more about your group with these questions and they lead you to more discoveries in the future.

Getting the meeting started is a great first step. For tips on how to facilitate an online meeting read the article, “Host a virtual 4-H meeting.”

Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan 4-H Youth Development program help to prepare youth as positive and engaged leaders and global citizens by providing educational experiences and resources for youth interested in developing knowledge and skills in these areas. For more help with icebreakers or hosting a club meeting online, contact the leadership civic engagement work team at MSUE.DL.4HLeadership@msu.edu.