Having a new class and meeting new students is very exciting for teachers! The rush of wondering about all the new things you are going to learn together and all the fun you will have throughout the year is incomparable. But before you get to all of this, you need to get to know your students first.
Here are some fun icebreaker activities to do with your students on the first day of class.
This or that
Divide the class into two areas and then ask the children some fun questions with only two options for answers. They can choose their answer by standing in the section of the classroom assigned to that answer.
You can use Yes/No questions or Would You Rather questions. Examples:
Have you ever walked in your sleep?
Would you rather be able to fly or become invisible?
Can you speak a second language?
Would you rather only eat chocolate or potato chips for the rest of your life?
The purpose of this game is to get the children moving and know some fun facts about each other.
Classmate bingo
This one is a classic that never gets old. Write a selection of prompts on a paper and give each student a copy. What they need to do is go around the room asking each other questions and cross out the prompt when they find someone who matches it. The winner is the one who finishes all their prompts first.
Examples for prompts:
Someone who has travelled abroad.
Someone with more than 3 siblings.
Someone who doesn’t like chocolate.
Someone who has a dog at home.
The purpose of this game is for the children to talk to each other and get to know each other.
Marble bowl
Divide your class into small groups of five. Pass around a bowl of marbles and ask each child to take as much as they want without telling them why. After all the children have taken their marbles, tell them that the number of marbles they have is the number of questions their group gets to ask them.
Move around the class and remind everyone that all their questions must be nice and if the person doesn’t want to answer, they don’t have to.
This game will take the getting to know each other to a higher level as they get to ask direct questions to each other.
Choose three
Ask your students to choose any three items. The items don’t have to be around them or anything they own, just three random items. Now give them random scenarios and let them tell you how they would use these items in these particular situations.
Example:
The child chose: a baseball bat, ice cream and a teddy bear.
The scenario can be: You are alone on a deserted island and need to make a fire to stay warm. How would you do that with your items?
The purpose of this game is to let children be as creative as they like with their answers. There is no wrong answer as long as they can convince you.
Sit down if
Last but definitely not least. Make all the students stand up and then start telling them to sit down if (add a silly prompt) and the last person standing is the winner!
Example for ‘’Sit down if…’’ prompts:
Sit down if your last name starts with a B.
Sit down if your pencil case is red.
Sit down if you had eggs for breakfast.
This is a fun game to end your icebreaker session. By the end of the game, everyone will be seated in their place and ready to continue the day.
