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Each student writes down two truths and one lie about themselves on a piece of paper. Instead of immediately guessing, group members ask follow-up questions about each statement to try to determine which is the lie. This encourages deeper conversation and helps students develop questioning skills. Time: 15-20 minutes. Materials: Paper and pens.

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Create a bingo card with interesting characteristics or experiences (e.g., 'has traveled to another country', 'plays a musical instrument', 'has more than two siblings'). Students mingle and find classmates who match each description, signing their name in the corresponding box. First to complete a line wins! Time: 20-25 minutes. Materials: Pre-made bingo sheets.

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Arrange students in two circles (inner and outer). Students in the inner circle face outward, while those in the outer circle face inward, creating pairs. Give conversation prompts (e.g., 'What's your dream vacation?', 'What's your favorite memory from school?'). After 2 minutes, outer circle rotates one person to the right. Time: 15-20 minutes.

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Create a list of thought-provoking 'would you rather' questions that reveal values and preferences (e.g., 'Would you rather be able to speak every language or play every musical instrument?'). Students move to different sides of the room based on their choices and explain their reasoning. Time: 15-20 minutes.

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Students create their own personal flag that represents who they are. Divide the flag into 4 sections: hobbies, family, future goals, and favorite things. After creating, students present their flags to the group. This activity combines creativity with personal sharing. Time: 30 minutes. Materials: Paper, markers, colored pencils.

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Students share the story behind their name - its meaning, why their parents chose it, any nicknames they have, or how they feel about their name. This activity helps celebrate diversity and creates personal connections. For students who don't know their name's story, they can share what they would name themselves and why. Time: 15-20 minutes.

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Break students into groups of 4-5. Each group has 5 minutes to find as many things as possible that they ALL have in common (beyond the obvious like 'we're all students'). Groups then share their most interesting commonalities. This builds team spirit and helps find unexpected connections. Time: 15 minutes.

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Students write letters to themselves that will be opened at the end of the school year. Include current favorites, goals for the year, predictions, and hopes. Leaders can provide prompts to help guide the writing. This creates both self-reflection and anticipation for future sharing. Time: 20 minutes. Materials: Paper, envelopes, pens.

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Each student brings a meaningful object from home in a box or bag. Without showing the item, they give three clues about it. Others try to guess what it is before it's revealed. The student then explains why this object is significant to them. Time: 25-30 minutes. Materials: Boxes or bags to hide items.

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Create a large timeline on a wall or floor using string or tape. Students add important moments from their lives using sticky notes (color-coded by category - e.g., family, school, achievements). Everyone walks through the timeline together, sharing stories and finding connections between different events. Time: 30 minutes. Materials: String/tape, sticky notes, markers.

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Students sit in a circle. One person starts by giving a positive superlative to the person on their right (e.g., 'Most likely to become a famous artist'). That person must then connect their own superlative for the next person using the same first word (e.g., 'Most likely to write a bestselling book'). Continues around the circle. Time: 15-20 minutes.

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Ice Breakers: Getting to Know One Another - Transition Tennessee

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Ice breakers are a fun way to get to know your students and for your students to introduce themselves to each other. They also are a good way to build classroom culture. When picking an ice breaker to play, it is important to figure out how well the students know each other already. It’s possible that they’ve been in school together for a long time or this particular class may be a new grouping of students who don’t know each other very well. Ice breakers are a good way to build a positive classroom culture no matter how well the students know one another. Here are some examples of ice breakers you can use: Introductions Students introduce themselves with information based on preselcted categories Example categories: name, age, favorite movie, dream job, etc. Little-Known Facts Everyone writes a secret talent or fun fact down about themselves on notecards Shuffle the cards and hand one out to each student Everyone reads their card out loud one at a time and tries guessing who it belongs to Snowball Fight Similar to “Little Known Facts,” except the students crumple up the paper with their fact into a “snowball” and begin a snowball fight When the teacher says stop, each student will go pick up a “snowball,” read the fact out loud, and try to guess who it belongs to Two Truths and a Lie Students comes up with three facts about themselves Two of the facts they pick must be true and one of them must be a lie The student will read them out to the class in random order and the other students have to guess which fact is the lie This or That Have the students gather in the middle of the classroom Ask a question that only has two possible responses and assign each response to a side of the room (For example: “Are you a dog or cat person?”) Students will move to the side that corresponds to their answer Groups and Lines In this ice breaker, students are prompted to either line up in a certain order or form groups based on something they have in common “Line up in order of your birthdays” “Form groups based on your favorite TV show” BINGO Give each student a BINGO board filled with prompts like, “Find someone who has never left the country,” “Find someone wearing flip-flops,” etc. Students go around the room trying to find a different classmate to answer each prompt Squares get colored as classmates answer each prompt and sign off on the square. Whoever fills their board first, wins! Hidden Identity Have each student write down the name of someone famous on a sticky note and collect them Tape one sticky note on the back of each student without them seeing it The students must figure out their “Hidden Identity” by asking different classmates yes or no questions Beach Ball Game Blow up a beach ball and write various questions on it Play music and toss it around the room When the music stops, whoever is holding the beach ball must answer the question that their right hand is on Virtual Classroom Ice Breakers Ice breakers can also be played in a virtual classroom setting. These ice breakers can also be related to the transition topic being discussed. This information will help instructors learn more about students’ goals for after high school. Below are some examples of how to get introduced to your students virtually. Kahoot: https://kahoot.com/ A resource that allows you to create engaging and interactive games Questions are displayed on a shared screen while students answer on their personal devices To use this as an ice breaker, create multiple choice questions so that students can select the answer choice that applies most to themselves Once everyone has answered the question, a graph will pop up showing the distribution of the responses among the class Poll Everywhere: https://www.polleverywhere.com/ Similar to Kahoot, Poll Everywhere allows you to create a question or prompt and students use a code to respond on their own devices Polls can be in the form of written questions or graphics Students can either submit their response with their name or anonymously To use this for an ice breaker, create poll questions about student preferences and see answers to questions in real time Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/ A platform that allows you to create a question or prompt and students respond with a short video clip To use this as an ice breaker, ask students to introduce themselves with a list of prompts and questions The student will record a video of themselves responding to each of the prompts and questions Padlet: https://padlet.com/ An online resource that is described as an “online notice board” Instructors can pose questions on the board and students can post “notes” that can contain links, videos, images, and written descriptions To use this as an ice breaker, you can post basic introductory questions and students can respond using any of the media types listed above For additional resources on engaging virtual instruction tools: https://transitiontn.org/vr/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Resources-for-Engaging-Instruction-.pdf