5 Exciting and Fun Ice Breakers for your Elementary Class to Warm Up the Room!

Elementary classes can sometimes be a tough crowd. Students can either feel nervous, anxious, excited, or scared because everything is all new to them. And it’s the teacher’s job to break the tension building up especially on the first day of school.

A new school year means a fresh new start for both students and teachers but the first day of school is always going to be nerve-wracking for everyone.

a teacher standing in front of her class

One fool-proof way you can do that is by doing fun ice breakers for your elementary class that will surely warm up the room and will change the whole mood of the class from uncomfortable to awesome in an instant! 

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5 Exciting and Fun Ice Breakers for your Elementary Class to Warm Up the Room!

Ice breakers have always been a good method to start a conversation, it not only meets its purpose of starting a conversation but also provides entertainment for elementary students to be more active and participate.

Most schools start the first week as orientation for students to get to know each other because school is not all about gaining knowledge; the school also presents an opportunity for students to have social connections that is why it is important to not skip the introductions. 

We all know that once school starts, almost all of the students tend to be shy and rarely approach their classmates because of the fear and nervousness that they feel. It’s only natural for students to not talk to anyone that they’re familiar with, and this is evident especially with elementary students. 

But don’t worry, once you have these fun ice breakers going you’ll have students warmed up and more comfortable with the class in no time! 

1.) 2 Truths and a Lie

This is a fun and classic icebreaker that you can try for your students. 

Tell your students to form a small group and from there, each student should construct three sentences: one of which is a lie.

The goal of this game is to try and guess which one is the lie from the three sentences that the students have provided, each student in the group will be able to vote off which they think is a lie and if the majority reaches the student that they guessed the “lie” from will reveal if it is true or not.

It is a simple, little game but it will make students interested in one another and they can learn about a few of their backgrounds without having to ask each other questions.

2.) Personality Charade

You can never go wrong with a classic game of charade, however, the personality charade has a little bit of twist to it.

Instead of trying to act out a random word, each student should act out a part of their personality and the whole class should guess what personality they have.

scrabble pieces forming the word "friends"

It is one way to show and tell what kind of person you are, also this is a good opportunity for other students to know whether you are the type of person that they can easily approach. There are many instances wherein students often have a bad impression of others just because of their appearance, but through this, it can easily be changed.

3.) Something’s Not Quite Right

Instead of sticking with some plain, old icebreakers that only quieten the room, try creating a fun activity for students to get moving. 

Group your students into small teams and hand each team a paper. The game “Something’s Not Quite Right” requires keen observation from your students, the goal of this game is for them to try and notice some things in the classroom that are not supposed to be like it is. 

An example would be if the name of the class is not written correctly, the date written is not true, things that are placed in abnormal spaces, and things like that. After giving them ample time to discuss and write these abnormalities, then it is time for them to present their findings.

This is a game about teamwork, it does not necessarily introduce themselves to one another but by working together the students will easily be able to form impressions of their classmates.

4.) Get To Know You Bingo

Even in party games, the “Get To Know You Bingo” is a popular icebreaker that everyone enjoys, of course, elementary students are no exception.

It is a fun take on the class game of Bingo. Teachers should provide a bingo template for each student to use, the contents of the bingo should be personal statements that can be applicable to elementary students. 

Some example statements that you can try are “have tried eating spicy food” or “went on vacation abroad”, just fun things that kids in elementary might have done already.

get to know bingo card

Students should then go around the classroom and ask each other if they have done something that is in the bingo template, if they managed to complete the bingo then the first one who will be done will then present and tell which students they found to have done said activity in the bingo. 

This is a good way to know a tidbit about their classmates, it may be simple personal statements but it can help students slowly picture out what kind of person they are.

5.) Write on my Back!

This icebreaker is a simple way for students to get each other’s impressions of themselves. 

Teachers should instruct their students to stick a piece of paper on their backs and go around the classroom to ask students for their impression of them. If there are 30 students in the room, there should be 30 words written on their paper by the end of the icebreaker. 

Students will be able to write what they think of that particular student, it can be just a simple word or a sentence, they can also indicate their name if they want it to be known that they have written that word or they can just remain to be anonymous. 

In the end, students will be able to read the impressions that their classmates have thought and from there the introductions can start off.

This icebreaker is to provide some insights into what the majority of their classmates think of them, and from there they will be able to express themselves more to their liking.

Conclusion

Remember that not all of your students are going to be active in participating in these icebreakers, there are students who are not much of a social butterfly and need a few more nudges to get them to speak. 

The purpose of icebreakers is to make introductions more fun and to avoid the difficulties of getting to know each other, as a teacher you should value the forming of connections between your students because for the whole year they will be the ones who are going to be together through thick and thin.