35 Best Icebreakers for High School Students in 2023 | Updated (2024)

Have you been in search of the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023? Well, search no more, we’ve got you covered.

This blog post reviews the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023.

It can be challenging to start a new year in high school, especially when there are so many new classmates and professors to get to know. But as long as you know how to take that first step to get to know each other, the first days of school don’t have to be uncomfortable.

The typical “getting-to-know-you” activities are evident to older children from a distance. Moreover, they don’t want to risk appearing foolish or awkward in front of their peers.

Therefore, you must select enjoyable and meaningful activities to get genuine buy-in.

Being dropped into a bunch of adolescents who are strangers? No matter if you’re a coach, teacher, or adolescent attempting to make friends, here are some of the best icebreakers for high school students.

Read More: 15+Best Budgeting Games for High School Students in 2023 | Updated!

35 Best Icebreakers for High School Students in 2023 | Updated

After thorough research, we have curated a list of the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023. Below are some of the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023.

• Flip-Book Intro
• Would You Rather
• Class Mate Bingo
• Blobs and Lines
• What Do you Meme
• Speed Meetings
• Safe Social Media
• Collaborative Playlist
• Word Clouds
• Two Truths and a Lie
• Blobs
• Line it Up
• Move if You
• Play Catch
• Giant Jenga
• Shuffle your Buns
• Giant Knots
• Race for Truth
• Seating Plan Spin
• Right or Wrong Skits
• Classroom Constitution
• Shared Goals
• Try a Blind Kahoot!
• This or That
• Pows and Wows
• Who am I?
• World’s Worst
• Scars
• Toilet Paper
• Autobiography
• Candy and Confessions
• Tap Flip Challenge
• Scavenger Hunt
• Classroom Escape Room
• Common Thread
• Stem Challenges
• Classification Challenges
• Perfect Square
• Follow the Leader

Getting Started

Ensure that you introduce yourself to children before asking them to tell you about themselves. You and your students can use many of the methods on this list to teach yourself and your students.

You can now invite children to share a little bit about themselves. It’s a chance to find ways to stay in touch with them in the coming months, and it’s also a chance for them to make new friends. Here are a few high school and middle school icebreakers that work to introduce teachers and pupils.

#1. Flip-Book Intro

Have you yet given Flipgrid a try with your pupils? It is free and allows teachers and students to shoot and publish short films securely. To introduce yourself to the class, make a Flipgrid video and then ask the students to do the same. We appreciate that this is a risk-free opportunity for children who are shy to speak in front of the class and make an introduction.

#2. Would You Rather

Would you instead do homework in algebra or a two-mile run? Watch a movie or read a book? Gorilla wrestling or alligator swimming? It doesn’t matter what you ask; this is such an excellent method for youngsters to interact with one another. Ask the question, then instruct the children to move to other parts of the room to demonstrate their responses. Before moving on to the next subject, give them time to discuss the current one.

#3. Class Mate Bingo

Create your own classmates’ bingo cards using this free bingo card maker. Each student should receive one, after which they should be free to search for another to initial each place. Make it a rule that pupils can only initial one slot on any card if there are enough children. Give small rewards to the first kid to finish their entire card and the first row of theirs.

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#4. Blobs and Lines

This is a favorite of Cult of Pedagogy teacher Jenn to utilize with her students. Students respond to instructions by either lining up (according to height, birthdate, middle names in alphabetical order, etc.) or forming “blobs” (according to shoe style, hair color, preferred ice cream flavor, etc.). It’s absurdly simple, low-risk, and lets youngsters discover what they have in common, which Jenn likes.

#5. What Do You Meme?

This concept was discovered on Mondays Made Easy. Search the internet for some popular meme pictures, print them out, and post them throughout your classroom. Ask students to choose the meme that best reflects their feelings about the topic you are teaching and stand by it before class even begins. Give them a minute or two to talk in small groups before asking them to form groups again to discuss a couple more icebreaker questions.

#6. Speed Meetings

The tired cliché of “interview each other and introduce them to the class” has seen better days. Instead, try this variation that is quite similar to speed dating. Place the students in two concentric circles facing each other after dividing the class in half. Set a timer for 60 seconds, pose an icebreaker question, and allow each pair of participants to talk. The outside ring shifts one seat to the left when the timer goes off. Set the timer once more and ask the new partners a fresh question. This can go on as long as you like. Have children assist you in coming up with the list of icebreaker questions before you begin to improve involvement.

#7. Safe Social Media

Your kids can all utilize this school-safe version of social networking, whether or not they use it outside the classroom. Use the free Fakebook Creator online, or try a printable template in its place. Kids can customize these in ways that are suitable for school. (This presents an excellent chance for a lecture on online safety and responsible use of social media.)

#8. Collaborative Playlist

Each of us has a special connection to music, and the songs we enjoy can reveal a lot about who we are. Request that each student add one piece to the playlist for the class, along with a justification for their pick. (You can limit lyrics and language according to audience age.) Make a Spotify playlist so all students can listen to each other’s tunes. Add this playlist to your collection if you allow music in the classroom.

#9. Word Clouds

Word clouds are a great way to show how the words we use to define ourselves can be quite telling. Kids can use one of these free online word cloud generators or draw word clouds by hand on paper.

#10. Two Truths and a Lie

This one’s a classic icebreaker and for good reason. Ask each student to share two facts about themselves and one lie, without identifying which one is untrue. Other students try to guess which one is the lie. Kids always have fun coming up with stuff to fool each other!

Keep It Moving

Keep everyone active and involved with these concepts because it’s simple for pupils to tune out or become bored while sitting still.

#11. Blobs

First, select a category (such as color) from a hat. Then, have students compete to see who can put four or five people together the quickest based on a characteristic that falls into that category (for example, they are all wearing blue).

#12. Line it Up

Test your group’s ability to quickly form an alphabetical line based on names. Better yet, divide the class into groups of boys and girls, or two randomly chosen groups, and see which group can get organized first.

#13. Move if You

Place one person in the center of a vast circle where pupils should sit. The person in the middle yells for certain people to relocate, such as “Move if you have brown hair” or “Move if you’ve been to another country.” Students must sprint to a new seat in the circle if they meet the requirements. The final student standing is in the center for the following round.

#14. Play Catch

Students should play catch with a giant beach ball while standing in a big circle. The secret? Whoever catches the beach ball must respond to the question that their hand rests on. Write icebreaker questions all over the beach ball.

#15. Giant Jenga

Invest in a huge Jenga set, then write a question on each block! There will be a lot of laughs as students attempt to prevent the tower from collapsing while they answer questions each time they pull a block.

#16. Shuffle Your Buns

With one vacant chair, form a circle. While the seated students collectively sag back, moving the empty seat down the line, one person in the circle’s center must attempt to sit down. The turn? Every so often, have someone call “switch” to make the group in the circle move in the opposite direction. The person who was supposed to move into the vacant seat is in the middle of the middle person who is successful in taking it.

#17. Giant Knot

Each student should then take two different hands from two separate people across the circle as you form a shoulder-to-shoulder circle. The entire circle needs to devise a strategy for removing the massive knot of arms and people without letting go.

#18. Race for the Truth

While a leader reads off general information, have everyone stand on the starting line. (For instance, I own a dog.) If any of the pupils can confirm the claimed information, they must advance one level. The winner is the first person to the finish line!

Icebreakers for Setting Classroom Expectations

Many professors introduce the year’s schedule on the first day of class, share their classroom rules, and assign seats. Let’s face it: most kids tune you out when you tell them your rules. They’ve all heard them, right? Give your pupils some control over the standards in your classroom by doing so. You won’t believe how this can change the game.

#19. Seating Plan Spin

Any seating arrangement you make initially is somewhat arbitrary. It makes sense that the major goal of having pupils sit in the same spot every day is to get to know them by name. Therefore, to begin with, let the students choose how the initial seating arrangement is made (but they CANNOT choose “sit wherever we want”). Options like “alphabetical by middle names,” “grouped by birthday month,” and others may be suggested. They then cast votes to choose the winner. Finally, utilizing the rules they established, children learn how to find seats for themselves.

#20. Right or Wrong Skits

The teacher’s prep has the following concept. First, go over the rules and expectations for the classroom. Kids should then be split into smaller groups, one for each rule. The group has ten minutes to develop two brief skits illustrating proper and improper behavior. Children enjoy acting out inappropriate behaviors a lot, and they are much more likely to remember your rules.

#21. Classroom Constitution

By middle and high school, most kids have an innate understanding of the norms they must abide by. Allowing them to create the class constitution will give them a sense of ownership. Create a list of standards for a successful classroom (the image below features examples from The Teacher Dish), then specify the rules that must be followed to achieve those standards. Create the sign language, then have everyone sign it. Although it may take more than one day to complete, this activity is delightful in social studies, history, and government classrooms. Obtain a free online tutorial that will guide you through the procedure here.

Of course, you have a schedule and lesson ideas ready to go from the first day. You undoubtedly have annual, recurring projects that you complete and requirements to uphold. However, it only follows that you can spend time on the first day of class learning what your pupils want to know. Post a few anchor charts with the following questions all across the space. Kids should go around and record their responses on the charts. The class should then review each one and discuss the answers. Consider these queries:

• What do you anticipate learning this year in this class?
• What do you hope to learn this year in this class?
• How can your teacher best support your academic development?
• What in this class are you most looking forward to?
• What about this class do you fear the most?

#25. Try a Blind Kahoot!

Here’s another entertaining method to present your class’s lessons. Make (or find) a kahoot covering the foundational concepts in your curriculum. Children will probably sigh and grumble over each question, but it will allow you to discover what they already know and guide them in learning what will be covered in the upcoming semesters. Here, you may find out how to make excellent kahoots.

Talk It Out

Try one of these games if you want to lead a debate or discover additional details about your students.

#27. This or That

Teenagers LOVE to quarrel, as any parent will attest. Ask your group absurd would-you-rather questions, and depending on their responses, have them move to various locations. Once they’ve presented their cases, try if they can persuade the other pupils. There will no doubt be some amusing incidents.

#28. Pows and Wows

This game is fantastic for encouraging teamwork among kids in a group or classroom. Ask each person to relate one positive and one negative aspect of their day. Simple but very efficient!

#29. Who Am I?

Place a notecard with the name of a well-known person on the back of each pupil. Next, instruct the pupils to circle each other and pose yes-or-no questions. Whoever can identify them first wins!

#30. World’s Worst

If you want to chuckle, you should play this game. Each student should speak as if they were the worst at their chosen career. Choose a profession. For illustration, the world’s worst dentist would instruct a patient to “take a bag of candy from the toy chest as you leave.”

#31. Scars

Small groups work best for this game. Each pupil should display a scar and describe how he acquired it. In this case, “I got this scar from a paper cut because I was using a paper sign-up instead of SignUpGenius.” The pupils may have amusing or intimate tales to tell. You’ll all discover a lot about one another anyway.

#32. Toilet Paper

Give each pupil as much toilet paper as they want as you pass the roll around. After some kids have grabbed a significant number, let them know that each piece of toilet paper comes with a fact about themselves to be shared!

#33. Autobiography

Have everyone in a group that needs to work well together, such as a sports team or a cast for a play, sum up their lives in one statement. Even if it’s challenging, you’ll discover a lot about your new buddies!

#34. Candy Confessions

Purchase bright candies, such as Skittles, and let each person take a handful. Then tell them they must disclose unique information about themselves for each hue. For each yellow Skittle, kids have to list a favorite dish.

#35. Tarp Flip Challenge

Spread a few tarps on the floor. Get groups of students to stand on them. The challenge? They have to flip the tarp entirely over without stepping off of it. Other students can watch to help keep them honest!

Conclusion

It can be challenging to start a new year in high school, especially when there are so many new classmates and professors to get to know. But as long as you know how to take that first step to get to know each other, the first days of school don’t have to be uncomfortable.

The typical “getting-to-know-you” activities are evident to older children from a distance. Moreover, they don’t want to risk appearing foolish or awkward in front of their peers.

Therefore, you must select enjoyable and meaningful activities to get genuine buy-in.

Being dropped into a bunch of adolescents who are strangers? No matter if you’re a coach, teacher, or adolescent attempting to make friends, here are some of the best icebreakers for high school students.

Have you been in search of the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023? Well, search no more, we’ve got you covered.

This blog post reviews the best icebreakers for high school students in 2023.

FAQ on Best Icebreakers for High School Students

References

• SignupGenius
• Weareteachers