10 CLASSROOM ICEBREAKERS

 

10 CLASSROOM  ICEBREAKERS TO TRY

  Icebreakers will encourage bonding, participation, motivation, and allow students to relax both mentally and physically.

1. Blobs and lines

This activity is easy, quick, keeps students moving and talking, plus helps them discover what they have in common. The idea is for students to listen to their teacher’s prompts and organize themselves in a line (for example, in alphabetical order of last name) or in blobs according to something they have in common (birth month).

Try these prompts:

·        Line up in chronological order of your birthdays

·        Line up in order of how many siblings you have

·        Line up in alphabetical order of your fathers’ names

·        Gather in four blobs: those who travelled by car to class, those who travelled by bus, and those who traveled another way

2. Signatures

Ask the students to invent a “signature” movement or sound. It can be extremely simple: a clap, cough, turn in a circle, bow, word, mime, or gesture. Show yours first and go around the class (the students’ signatures shouldn’t repeat). Then it’s time to remember them, beginning with yours and going around  the circle again.

4. Classmate bingo

Create bingo cards with prompts for students to use to ask each other questions. The idea is to cross off all the squares. Use simple prompts like those below, or try more complicated ones for higher level classes:

·        Has been to Paris

·        Likes spiders

·        Is reading a book in English at the moment

·        Has more than four siblings

·        Does not have a middle name

·        Got up late yesterday

·        Is allergic to something

 

 

 

5. Who’s in your circle?

Ask your students to draw three cocentric circles on a piece of paper. Give them a topic (food, seasons, sports…) and ask them to write it in the center circle. In the second circle students write “love”, in the third “like”, and outside the circles “don’t like”. Under the topic, students individually choose a specific example to focus on (e.g., bananas, spring, tennis). Students then mingle and ask their classmates how they feel about the item they have chosen, writing the students’ names in the circles that correspond to their opinions. Repeat with another topic.

6. Two truths and a lie

Students write down three sentences with information about themselves, however, one must be a lie. Other students then ask them follow-up questions to discover which statement was a lie.

7. Three things in common

Small groups must identify three things that they have in common with each other – the stranger, the better. Put prompts on the board if you  like, then give students time to talk. Later, students report back and vote on which group has the strangest three things in common.

8. Time bomb name game

This is a fun, quick activity for students to remember each other’s name. Ask your class to form a circle and say their name. Then, throw a tennis ball to one of your students. They have two seconds to say some one else’s name and throw the ball to them, before it “explodes” and they are out of the game. Continue until only one student remains.

9. Beach ball toss

Before class, write icebreaker questions over a beach ball in permanent marker. Standing in a circle, students throw the ball to each other. When caught, or when the teacher says “stop”, the student with the ball must answer the question closest to their left thumb. Repeat until each student has answered at least one question.

10. Sit down if…

With the class in a circle the teacher asks a series of quirky yes/no questions.  Students sit down if they can answer “yes” and the last student standing is the winner.

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