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Icebreakers
Grade: K-12 •
Age: 4-18
1
First Day of School
For Kindergarten students, have each child draw a picture of their first day of school.
~Submitted by KinderArt®
2
Transportation Graph
Ask the children how they arrived at school (car, bus, walking, train, subway, etc.). Graph the results on the chalkboard.
~Submitted by KinderArt®
3
Shoe Match-Up
Ask students to take off one of their shoes and place it in front of them on their desk. Students then write a paragraph to describe the shoe (color, shape, material, etc.). Students might wish to draw a picture of the shoe as well or instead. Collect all the descriptions and have the students put their shoes back on.
Later in the day, ask students to take of a shoe again and place it in the center of the classroom for all to see. Then hand a description to each student (be sure students don't get their own descriptions back). One at a time, students read the description and then try to find the shoe that matches the description. When they get it right, the owner of the shoe puts up their hand and the student who matched the description with the shoe, hands it back to its owner.
~Submitted by KinderArt®
4
Name Puzzles
If your students can print their names this is a great activity:
- I give the students a piece of tagboard long enough to print their first names on.
- After they have printed their names I have them cut it into puzzle type pieces. (Not too small!!) I usually say 5 pieces are enough.
- The children then rotate around the room reconstructing each other's names.
This is a great activity to use to learn spelling or word wall words as well.
~Submitted by: Deanna
5
Cooperative Drawing
A pictorial version of consequences which helps students value one anothers artwork.
- Get large A3 paper and fold into 5 sections, label each section head, shoulders, arms, legs, shoes/feet - photocopy enough for everyone in the class.
- Then get each person to draw the relevant thing in the section, fold and pass it on.
- At the end post the results on the board and discuss the outcomes.
I always find that everyone ends up really laughing and relaxing with one another.
~Submitted by: Sue Bradshaw
6
All About Me Book
I ask my kids to fill out a mini "All about me" book.
- The front page has a birthday cake and they draw on the candles to represent their age.
- The next page is a a blank picture frame to draw a picture of their family in.
- Then in the bottom it says. I have ___ sisters and their name are___________ same for Brothers.
- My Dad's name is and my mom's name is.
- I have a pet, it is a ________ and it's name is____.
- The last page is a picture of a few crayons and I ask the kids to color them their two favorite colors.
It is a simple book for them to do and I can use it as a reference book for the first couple of weeks. The kids love it when you remember things about them so I can just read up on them and use my knowledge to talk to them about them and their families.
I am a preschool teacher to 3 and 4 year olds and this works great for me.
~Submitted by: Denise7
Do the Art Dance
- Hand each student a few scrap papers.
- Give each student different colors and media to choose from.
- Play a few seconds of strange sounds and music and keep switching the songs.
- Tell students they need to keep up with you and at the same time choose a color that reminds them of the sound they are hearing and draw a line to represent it as well.
- I demonstrate it first so they don't feel intimidated by the strangeness, and I tell them if they hear something funky they need to dance too, instead of using their bodies, dance with their hands!
I do this with every 1st class!
~Submitted by: Kellie Marz-Mele
8
Shoe Fun
- I make three shoe templates: high heel, cowboy boot and sneaker.
- Kids become shoe designers - they trace a shoe and decorate it with yarn, markers, etc.
- We look at the shoes and talk about fashion design.
- They LOVE it!
~Submitted by: Lisa
9
Pass Around
Pass Around is a great icebreaker. Students get in a circle around the art tables. Each has made a small 5X5 frame (or I make them before class. Each student has a piece of drawing paper with their name on the back of the paper. They have 10-15 seconds to make one type line on their paper (wavy, zig zag, curved). No line can go off the paper. After 10 seconds is up I yell, "pass." The student has 10 seconds to pass their paper to the student on their left and they again put one line of some type on the new piece of paper in front of them. Every 10 seconds the class says 'pass'. I usually count out loud for them. This keeps going until you see the page being covered fairly well. Say "stop" and each student has to retrieve their own paper. The student then takes their frame and finds the most interesting section out of their paper and crops it down to fit the frame. The design is then colored in and they have an instant, nonobjective, modern piece of artwork. They love the excitement and what they end up with. I have used this with 3rd grade to 8th. Always a hit!
~Submitted by: Janice Allen
10
Self Portraits
I have the students draw self portraits on the first day of class. Kids love to look in the mirror and they have fun trying to draw themselves. It is always a fun way to get to know each other and ourselves!
~Submitted by: Jennifer
We're looking for more clever ways for teachers to get to know their students... and help their students get to know one another.
Our goal is to have 100 great ideas, so submit yours today!
You might be interested in:
Books about the First Day of School
Click here to see a great list of books to help your children/students feel comfortable about the first day of school.
Do YOU have a lesson to share?
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