Blue activities are ready-to-go.

Red activities need some help fleshing out instructions, visual aids, etc.

You can search at the top right (look for the magnifying glass) for the following tags:

communication

cooperation

creativity

easy fun

leadership

low-stakes bonding

movement

profound bonding

vulnerability

Task: Mentor Teacher creates an image with AI using a secret prompt. Students attempt to recreate image with their own prompts.

Great for: creativity, easy fun

Task: Share a favorite food from your family. Include pictures, videos or recipes. Or you could even have a celebration where students bring a food to share!

Great for: low-stakes bonding

Task: Play these get-to-know you games with your CREW members

Great for: low-stakes bonding, easy fun

Task: Ask students to prompt AI to generate an image of a song based on title or lyrics. Other students guess.

Possible variations:

a. Correct individual guesses get candy.

b. Assign students to teams. Correct answers win a point. Winning team earns intangible things like glory and honor and gold stars.

(h/t Carl Hooker)

Great for: creativity, easy fun

Task: Ask students to vote on pairs of image to see which is real and which is AI-generated. Can you tell the difference?

Answers: A, A, A, B, B (real photos)

Great for: easy fun

Task: Students write their initials on the grid to show how they're feeling. Divide into groups according to quadrant. Students share individual feelings in small group.

Great for: profound bonding, communication, vulnerability

• People Hunt Activity Worksheet

• Classroom Activity Ideas

Task: Instruct students to line up in order of birthday, height, or number of siblings — but no talking allowed.

Afterwards, debrief how they managed the challenge.

Great for: communication, cooperation, leadership, movement

Task: In groups of 4–5, build the tallest paper tower using only paper and tape in 10 minutes.

Great for: teamwork, communication, leadership, movement

Task: Ask students to brainstorm ways to demonstrate leadership. Ex: helped someone without being asked, took responsibility for a mistake, encouraged someone. Students will fill their own BINGO card with ideas generated by the group, then try to mark them off throughout the week.

Great for: leadership

Task: Ask students to find their match without speaking. Then demonstrate to the Mentor Teacher they have found each other, also without words.

Great for: cooperation, communication

Task: One student starts a story with one sentence. Each person adds a sentence in turn. See where the creative story goes—it usually gets hilarious and brings out laughs. This can be done out loud or on paper.

Great for: creativity, easy fun

IMPORTANT: This game has the potential to venture towards inappropriate. Clear expectations can help encourage both creativity and decency.

Task:

1. Ask each student to create a would you rather question, e.g., “Would you rather have a superpower or be famous?”

2. Each student takes a turn writing their choices on the board.

3. Remaining students choose a choice and move to that side of the room.

4. If students are chatty, encourage discussion! If not, pick at least 2 students to explain their choice.

Great for: low-stakes bonding, creativity, movement

Task: Students write down a blessing in their life on a piece of paper, no names. Papers are shuffled and each person reads one aloud. The group guesses who it belongs to, then the person explains it a little. 

Great for: gratitude, profound bonding, vulnerability

Task:

1. Setup: All students sit at their desks with heads down and one thumb up.

2. Choose the "It"s: A teacher (or designated leader) selects about seven students to go to the front of the room.

3. Tap: The "It" students walk around and gently tap one person's raised thumb.

4. Heads Up!: The "It" students return to the front, and the teacher calls out, "Heads up, seven up!".

5. Guess: The students who were tapped stand up and guess who did not tap their thumb.

6. Switch: If they guess correctly, they switch places with the tapper; if wrong, they sit back down. 

Great for: easy fun, movement

Task: Divide CREW into 2 teams. Place jellybeans in container. Ask students one at a time alternating teams to close their eyes and taste a jellybean.

Points can be awarded for recognizing flavors, swallowing the gross flavor, etc.

Discuss how courage helped each person taste a jellybean.

Great for: low-stakes bonding, easy fun

IMPORTANT: Since a version of this game depends on choosing an option and defending it, set clear expectations. Demand judgment-free responses, "don't yuck someone's yum," be loving/respectful. Enforce these guidelines strictly so the end result is bonding, not heckling/bullying.

Task:

1. Label four corners of the room A, B, C, and D.

2. Ask students to brainstorm "hot take" questions (establishes buy-in and keeps game relevant) with four possible answers (labeled A-D).

3. Ask 1 question at a time and ask students to choose the answer that fits them best and move to the corresponding corner.

4a. Once there, allow 2 minutes for students to discuss their similarities and bond, even if the question is not that deep.

4b. OR, ask 2 students from each corner to explain their choice.

Rotate quickly through questions to keep the energy up.

Great for: low-stakes bonding, easy fun, creativity, movement

Task: Teams must build the highest free-standing tower that can hold one marshmallow on top.

Great for: easy fun, low-stakes bonding, cooperation, communication, leadership, movement

IMPORTANT: This activity must be closely monitored to avoid injury, i.e., one group at a time. Clear procedure is critical. Do a non-falling practice run to solidify expectations.

Group by gender to limit inappropriate contact. Group by body type to avoid a larger faller taking a smaller catcher by surprise.

Faller position: Feet together, legs stiff, arms folded across chest.

Catcher position: One leg back and straight, and one leg forward and bent, with both arms slightly bent in front of chest with palms facing outward.

Task:

1. Form a circle of five students, standing shoulder to shoulder in the catcher ready position.

2. Have one student in the center in the faller ready position. Variation: eyes closed to increase intensity.

3. Faller says, “Catchers ready?”

4. Catchers say, "Ready.”

5. Faller says, “Falling.”

6. Catchers say, “Fall on.”

7. The student in the center allows their body to fall in any direction around the inside of the circle while the catchers gently support them.

Great for: profound bonding, communication, cooperation

Task: Every student starts as an "egg." Their goal is to evolve into a "superhuman" by winning rounds of rock, paper, scissors.

Stages of evolution: egg --> chicken --> monkey --> human --> superhuman

1. Students find a partner at the same level and play Rock, paper, scissors.

2. Winner moves up a level. Loser moves down a level (or remains an egg).

3. Once a student becomes superhuman, they cheer others on.

4. Possible variations include rewarding the first 3 superhumans with candy.

   
   

Great for: easy fun, movement