The first day of school is always one of the most fun days of the year because you will have an entire class full of fresh faces who are eager to learn what you have to teach. To create a collaborative and fun learning environment that will last the entire school year, all of your students will first need to grow acquainted with one another. Even if some students already know one another, there will always be some students who are new or simply aren’t familiar with others in the class. Here are some easy icebreaker activities that will be fun for your students and for you.
Play Detective
Hand out a Clue Sheet to each student and go over each statement so everyone understands what they are supposed to be writing. While the students are filling in the blanks, walk around and make sure their answers are legible and tell them that this is one of the few times when you do not want them to write their name on their paper. Then, collect all of the Clue Sheets, shuffle them around, and redistribute them so that each student ends up with an anonymous sheet that is not their own. Invite the students to walk around and question their classmates until they figure out whose Clue Sheet they have.
You can find the printable version of the Clue Sheet here.
Fun with Cliches
You’ll be sure to get some laughs with this fun game! Print out these cliches/common expressions and cut each expression in half (where the white space is). Give each student half of a cliche and instruct them to find the person with the matching strip.
You can find the printable version of this activity here.
The Friendship Tree
Print out one large copy of this tree graphic and hang it on the whiteboard in your classroom. Provide your students with finger paint and have them come up to the board, place their fingerprint on one of the branches, and tell one interesting fact about themselves to the class. Then, you can display the tree in your classroom for all to see.
You can find the printable version of this activity here.
