If you’re asking ‘What are some good icebreaker games for my students to play?’ then this post will give you a few more ideas to answer that question. I’ve already listed some examples of icebreaker games in my post on back to school activities. But I also wanted to show some classic games that you can get on Amazon* that would also make for great interaction games!
What are some fun icebreaker games to play with your students? Well here is my list and I’ll describe them in more detail below:
- Dilemmarama
- This or That
- Find Someone Who
- Four Corners
- Question cards with dice
What are good icebreaker games good at?
I think there’s a few things that icebreaker games should do:
- They should make participants talk! What are some good ice breaker questions that these games can ask to elicit a response? Questions that have to do with familiar things, like hobbies, family, friends, favorite foods, animals, etcetera, and school. Good questions may also ask for good arguments to answer them. The speaker should really think about their answer before they give it, and give a longer answer than just ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
- They should help participants get to know each other. What I mentioned in 1 does just that. Familiar topics help speakers learn about one another and answers that require arguments let you go even deeper into the mind of the other person.
What are some good icebreaker activities
So what are some good ice breakers? Here is my list of favorites!
Dilemmarama
This game gives the player a ridiculous dilemma to choose the best option from. And when I say ridiculous, I mean it. These are hilarious! Example: You can only type with your nose OR You always wear a sweater made out of bacon. Which one would you choose? Imagine how much fun your students would have with this game. Mine always have the funniest reasons to choose one of the other!
This or That
This or That is similar to Dilemmarama actually, in that there’s always a choice between two things, but the options in this game are a bit more normal. And less elaborate. There can be the choice between ‘Pizza or French fries’, ‘Cats or dogs’, or ‘Cake or Candy’. This game will keep your students slightly calmer, while also having them argue why they choose something over something else. I use this one when I have a more rowdy class on my hands.
Find Someone Who
One of my favorite back to school activities is Find Someone Who! It’s my favorite game because it helps students introduce themselves and get to know their classmates in a super casual way that even gets competitive. In this game, students have to find a number of names to match the prompts on the sheet. Example of a possible prompt: Find someone who… ‘has a dog’. Students will have to find the name of a classmate that actually has a dog and write that name down.
Four Corners
Four Corners the way I play it works like this: On the board, I put up a question to pose to students as a whole group and I give them four options to choose from. The options correspond with the corners of the room. When I ask a question, students must choose the answer that applies to them and stand in the corner that matches the answer. Then I ask specific students why they have chosen an answer. This helps students introduce themselves, share about their likes and dislikes, and learn a lot about each other fast. Example: What is your favorite food? a. pizza, b. french fries, c. sushi, d. pasta.
Question cards with dice
The last activity I love is just plain asking questions. But! It’s asking questions using dice! And we all know dice are amazing and fun and they create movement, so what’s not to like? This game has students roll the dice to pick a color out of the four possible ones. The other sides of the dice say ‘skip a turn’ and ‘pick a color’. They roll a color and then must read the question on the card they pull that matches that color. Then they must answer that question to the group. I love that it’s interactive and that there’s movement involved!
*This article contains affiliate links, but I own all of these products and I love them!
