1. Gather your group.
2. Instruct your group to form one straight line according to a particular sequence, eg alphabetical order by middle name.
3. Allow up to a minute for your group to complete the task.
4. Embrace this line in your next activity.

I think, like me, most group facilitators have a bunch of strategies they use to help their group arrange themselves in a straight line, eg according to your height, date of birth, etc.

That said, like me, your list of line-up ideas is probably pretty limited. Which is where the following list comes in.

Here are, quite simply, 101 novel line-up ideas you can use to arrange your group into a straight line according to a particular order. Note the categories to help you skim the list – Alphabetical, Random, Stories, Age, Deck of Cards, Numbers.

If you have an idea that does not appear on the list, don’t hold back – please add your idea in the Comments section of the activity.

Alphabetical

• First name
• Middle name
• Last name
• Last name spelt backwards, eg Smith would be htims
• Initials (of your full name)
• City or State or Country born
• Name of country by citizenship (passport holder)
• First name of a relative, eg sibling, mother, father, grandparent, favourite uncle, etc.
• High school or college attended
• Favourite pet
• Street name
• Family car
• Favourite book, by title
• Favourite book, by author
• Favourite song, by title
• Favourite song, by artist

Random

• Height
• Body Mass Index
• Colour of hair (lightest to darkest)
• Colour of shirt (lightest to darkest)
• Colour of shirt or top (according to rainbow spectrum)
• Shoe size (smallest to largest)
• Length of time at their job, organisation, school, team, etc
• Size of thumb
• Hand size
• Eye colour (lightest – darkest)
• Distance of home from this room (closest-furthest away)
• Length of hair (longest – shortest)
• Length of commute time, to arrive at school, office, etc.
• Straightest hair to curliest hair
• How high you can jump
• Width of out-stretched arms, tip to tip.
• Distance from thumb to pinky
• Size of big toe
• Size of ear (height)
• Average time getting ready
• Furthest distance you have travelled from home

Stories

• Date of most memorable adventure experience
• Alphabetical order of city/state/country in which your most memorable experience occurred
• Rank of most memorable adventure experience
• Date of your most embarrassing moment
• Rank of embarrassing moment (least to most)
• Date of a time you got really lost

Age

• Birthdate, from youngest to oldest
• Day & month of birth, from 1 January to 31 December
• Birth order (first, second, third, etc.)
• Age differential between oldest and youngest sibling (in your family)
• Age of oldest parent
• Age you wished you could have stopped aging

Deck of Cards

• Alphabetically using the entire deck of card, eg Ace of Clubs – 2 of Spades
• Deck order, eg 2 to Ace for each suit
• Alphabetical by suit, eg Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades
• Number of letters represented in nominal value of each card, 2 has three letters, so it will come before 5 which has four letters, etc.
• Number of letters represented in full value of each card, eg Two of Diamonds has 13 letters so it sits later in sequence than King of Hearts because it has 12 letters.
  Alphabetical by number only (not including suit,) eg 8 (eight) comes before 11 (eleven) followed by 5 (five) etc.

Numbers

• Cell or mobile phone number (all digits)?Last three digits of cell or mobile phone number
• Zip or postcode
• Street address number
• Area code of cell or landline phone number
• Letters in full name
• Aunts & Uncles (extended & blended families included)
• First cousins (extended & blended families included)
• Books read this year
• Countries or states visited
• Houses you have lived in (where mail could be delivered)
• Years you have owned favourite garment of clothing
• Pets you have owned or own
• Pieces of jewellery being worn now
• Roller coasters you have ridden
• Amusement parks visited
• Vehicles you have owned
• Pairs of shoes you currently own (have in your wardrobe)
• Siblings (halves & steps included)
• Times you have visited [enter name of an entity, eg shop, business, location…) this month
• Times you had eaten out last week
• Trash cans in your house
• Recycling containers in your house
• Total number of screens owned by your family
• Scars (or serious injuries)
• Piercings
• Tattoos
• Bones you have broken in your lifetime
• Jobs you have held over your lifetime (where you got paid by someone other than a parent)
• Keys on keychain
• Cards in wallet/purse
• Schools attended, eg preschool to college (and university if you wish)
• Speeding tickets received
• Number of TV shows watched consistently
• Movies watched in cinema this year
• Average hours of sleep per night (include minutes if necessary)
• Times you have checked Facebook today
• Text messages per day
• Coffee mugs owned
• Average steps per day
• Resting heart rate
• Heart rate measured right now (eg immediately after some form of exercise)
• Total Twitter messages sent
• Total Twitter followers
• Total Facebook likes
• Cash (notes & coins) on your person

Again, if you have an idea that does not appear on the list, please add your idea in the Comments section below.

Line-up ideas as an activity should match the mood of your group. If you need to elevate the energy of the group, then opt for something that is fast-paced and energetic. Or, to calm a group, employ a strategy that involves more thought and discussion.

Consider challenging your group to form the line using a non-native language, or without speaking, or without any forms of verbal communication, or blindfolded.

If your group is really large, you may want to divide your group into smaller groups first, before issuing instructions to form (similar) lines. You can learn tons of great ideas at Getting into Teams.

The key to creating any line-up is having sufficient room for the line to form. Mostly, I opt for straight lines, but if my space is not wide enough or if I would like people to be able to see each other (once the line is formed,) I invite my group to form a curved, horseshoe shape instead.

Consider using a quick line-up strategy before launching into your next exercise. For example, once the line is formed, fold it in half so that each person is facing directly opposite another person, and voila! You have produced random partners, ready for your next partner exercise. Or, perhaps you need your group to start in a straight line and you can see value in ‘manipulating’ the order of where people would ordinarily stand.

You could integrate any of these line-up strategies into a well-designed SEL program to help individual group members identify, acknowledge and appreciate the diverse attributes of other people.

Specifically, these line-up strategies offer opportunities to explore and practice the following social & interpersonal skills:

Self-Awareness

• Identifying Personal, Cultural & Linguistic Assets

Social-Awareness

• Appreciating Diversity
• Taking Other’s Perspective

Relationships Skills

• Communicate & Listen Effectively

Responsible Decision-Making

• Making Reasoned Judgements

You can learn more about SEL and how it can support character education here.

There is no specific health & wellness perspective to this activity other than promoting the benefits of randomly mixing the members of your group when they form lines, ie social interaction, cooperation, etc.

Certainly, there are methods you could use to form a straight line that are less positive than the strategies described here, eg line up according to your annual salary, or by virtue of your beauty, etc. But why bother when you have access to 100+ better ideas.

If you can think of more explicit ways in which 101+ Line-Up Ideas could be purposefully integrated into a health and wellness program, please leave a comment at the base of this page.

What, you need more? One hundred & one ideas are not enough? Here are five more:

• Smile: Ask everyone to produce a smile and line-up according to the widest, biggest, most cheery, etc.
• Random Object: Before issuing any hint that your group is about to line up, instruct them to pick up any object that can get their hands on and can carry. Then line up according to the size, height, or weight of these objects.
• Sticks: If you happen to be outdoors, instruct your group to pick up any stick lying on the ground. Then line up according to the size/height of the sticks, smallest to tallest.
• Relationships: Ask your group to think of a significant relationship, eg best friend, marriage, partner, etc. Instruct your group to form a line according to the number of years this relationship has existed.
• National ID: Form a line according to the last three or four digits of your Social Security or national identity number.
• Open the Virtual Adaptation tab to learn how to present this activity online.

• Ask your group to enter any number between 0 and 99 into the chatroom. In the space of a few seconds, your group will have randomly created a sequence or line-up according to the ascending or descending sequence of numbers.
• As above, invite your group to enter their choice of favourite foods, movies, people, names, animals, etc to determine a random line-up.

Unless you happen to be using one of these line-up ideas as part of a group initiative, most of these random line-up strategies need not be processed. However, the following questions may be useful for you:

• What did you notice as the line was forming?
• What was the most challenging part of the exercise? Why?
• What principles of effective communication were exhibited (or not) in this activity?
• What did you discover about others?