As teachers, our goal is to help our students. Sometimes they work independently; sometimes they work in groups. Each student has a different learning style, personality, and culture. I believe that using icebreakers can be a useful tool to not only get to know one another, but to also help students learn how to interact positively with one another. Icebreakers can also aid the teacher as a classroom management strategy and be a fun way to break up the monotony of everyday school routines.
There is an infinite supply of icebreakers to choose from, but here are a few that have worked well for me:
Here are some cooperative learning activities that can be used as icebreakers while also teaching students how to work together:
- Rainstorm
- Silent Birthday Line Up (by birth month or middle initial)
- Human Knot
Here are some ways teachers use technology to get to know their students:
- Make a Question Wheel on Wheel Decide
- Have students create their own questions on Kahoot!
- Create a fun review on Quizlet or Gimkit
- Throw a QBall (a throwable microphone ball) around the classroom in question/answer form so everyone can hear each other’s answers
Since I teach Spanish, I often have students try to do some icebreakers in the target language. You can change many of these to work with your specific curriculum. Choose one to try with your students today!
- Students won’t remember every lesson, but here’s what’ll stick - August 27, 2026
- Building inclusive school communities through integrated digital strategy - August 26, 2026
- Beyond spotting deepfakes: Teaching multilingual learners to interrogate AI - August 25, 2026