An ice breaker is a quick, fun activity that helps put students at ease and often helps them realize commonalities among their classmates.
The first week of school can cause anxiety for many children. They often worry if they will know anyone or make friends. Here are a few popular ice breakers to try in your classroom:
Quick Links
Animal Sounds Ice Breakers
Guaranteed giggles for K-1
Explain that each person will hear a whisper of an animal’s name. Move around the group, giving each person the name of an animal. This ice breaker will challenge students to find all other animals of one’s own kind. No one can talk – only animal sounds can be made. Depending on your class size, give 4-5 children the same animal. Choose animals that make sounds children will most likely be familiar with such as dogs, cats, cows, sheep, etc.
Colorful Corners Ice Breaker
Find classmates that share things in common for K-2
This can be done in a classroom but works better in a gym or multipurpose room where you have more space. Tape a different colored piece of construction paper to the wall in each corner of the room. Have all the students start out in the middle of the room. You will call out a thing that some might have in common and tell them if it is true for them to go to a certain color: If you have a cat – go to orange! If you have ever been on an airplane – go to blue! If you have a birthday in June – go to green!
If playing this ice breaker in a smaller space, avoid call-outs that are most likely to include larger groups such as: if you are a boy, if you like pizza, or if you have brothers or sisters.
Yarn Web Ice Breaker
Great for building teamwork in grades 1-2
Sit the group on the floor in a circle with everyone facing toward the center of the circle. Tell everyone you will be going around the circle and each telling their name and one favorite thing (decide ahead of time what the one thing will be: favorite animal, color, ice cream flavor, etc.) You will go first to demonstrate.
You begin this ice breaker by holding a ball of yarn. After sharing your own favorite, hold firmly to one end of the yarn and toss the ball of yarn to someone in the circle. That person repeats the process. Remind them not to let go of the yarn and hold it tightly. He or she tosses the yarn ball onto another person and so on until everyone has had a turn. They will be surprised to see they’ve created a giant web!
Changing Chairs Ice Breaker
A twist on musical chairs for grades 2-3
Arrange the chairs in the room in a large circle and have all your students take a seat. Tell the kids that you are going to ask a “Did you…” question. If they can answer yes to the question, they will need to get up and change chairs with someone. Tell them they cannot take the chair to their immediate left or right. Then ask a question you think is likely that most can answer yes to: Did you go swimming this summer? Did you watch TV yesterday?
Be prepared when the kids get up to quickly remove one chair. (This is the ONLY chair you will remove.) The child that ends up without a chair goes to the middle of the circle and gets to ask the next question. This ice breaker can be limited to a set number of questions or can just be assigned a time limit.
Word by Word Ice Breakers
Hide a little writing in the fun for grades 2-3
Divide students into groups of five. Give each group a sentence strip and a pencil. On your signal, the first person in the group writes one word at the beginning of the strip and passes it to the next person. The second person leaves one finger space and then writes one more word. The writing continues without any talking until each student has had a turn. (Do not tell them at the start of the ice breaker that they are working toward a joint goal.)
When everyone has had a turn, the first person reads the sentence to the group or class. The next time have a different student in the group begin. In the beginning, they are not likely to even have a sentence. After a couple of times, the kids will find that their sentences will greatly improve.
Choose your favorite ice breakers to try on the first day of school and see your students begin to make connections with one another.
Resource Ranch
Rhonda is the author of Resource Ranch. Most of her classroom experience has been in early elementary. She has also taught Title I Reading, ESL, and gifted students. She is certified as a Texas teacher in grades 1-8 and as a K-12 librarian.
