Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities

Category: Get-to-know-you

Get-to-know-you games. These icebreakers help people get to know each other better! When people don’t know each other well, a good icebreaker can be extremely useful. These activities can quickly help people get to know each others’ names and to go deeper — how do people think? What are their interests? What are their goals and deeper desires? Try these activities for the first day of class or whenever you are in a situation where you want to get to know someone better.

  • What I Would Have Done

    “What I Would Have Done” is get-to-know-you game all about what-if scenarios.  This game focuses on exploring different paths in life and hypotheticals. For example: what is another career path would you try? All you have to do is pick some words out that go along with life events. Be sure to keep the game fun and upbeat by using positive words!

    Materials Needed

    What you need to play “What I Would Have Done”:

    • Paper
    • A pen
    • A box

    How To Set Up The Game

    To set up the game just write different life events on torn-up scraps of paper. Use things like prom or sports that all the players can relate to and throw them into a box. Make sure to fold the paper or cut a hole so no one can choose their drawing and set the box in the center of the game room.

    How To Play “What I Would Have Done”

    Each player walks up and draws their own piece of paper. They then read the paper out loud, state what originally happened in their life with the word, and then say something they would like to try instead. For example, they draw sports. They should state that they originally played soccer, but if they could try another they would play baseball. Afterward, they say why they would choose to try the new activity.

    Make sure no one steals the show for too long!

    How To Win

    This is a game with no winners or losers; the point is to open up discussion paths amongst the group. Be sure to listen to the other players and give a genuine answer when it’s your turn to truly break the ice.

  • Interview Game

    Spend three minutes finding three interesting facts about a partner, then discuss them as a group. Interviewers will ask pointed, specific questions and subjects will answer them to the best of their ability. Afterwards, the interviewer will report to the rest of the group about what they learned.

    This icebreaker is a good way to spark conversation in quiet groups that may be intimidated by public speaking or more active icebreakers. It works reasonably well with groups that don’t have space to move around, although spreading out is ideal for this icebreaker.

    Interview is an icebreaker for mid-sized groups (8-15 people) and works best with groups aged 10 and up. Younger children may have difficulty thinking of questions to ask their partner and identifying interesting facts. Larger or smaller groups can use this icebreaker, but it will start to run long and loud the more people participating. Smaller groups can use Interview, but groups will likely be able to hear one another, which leads to cross-talk and derails the purpose of the icebreaker.

    Materials

    To play the Interview icebreaker, you will need:

    • Paper for each pair to jot notes on
    • 1 pen or pencil per pair
    • Watch or clock to time the activity
    • Flip chart or whiteboard (optional)
    • Permanent marker or dry erase marker (optional)

    How To Play the Interview Game

    1. Divide the group into pairs. A group with an odd number of participants can have one group of three, or the odd person can partner with the group leader. Spread out as much as possible so that each partners can hear each other speak.
    2. Each group will need to decide who is going to be the “interviewer” and who will be the “subject.” Everyone will eventually play both roles, so it doesn’t really matter who goes first.
    3. Give the group three minutes for each interviewer to learn three interesting facts about their subject by asking specific questions. Do not allow them to ask, “What are three interesting facts about you?” Good questions examples are: Where did you grow up? What was your favorite class in high school? What do you like to do in your spare time?
    4. After three minutes has passed, bring the players together and allow one interviewer at a time to explain what interesting facts they discovered. Jot down notes on a whiteboard or flip chart next to each subject’s name, which helps name recognition and sparks later conversation.
    5. Once every group has shared their facts, have the participants switch roles and repeat steps 3 and 4.

    Tips and Notes

    Watch the time! It can be very easy for participants to get into detailed conversations or launch into monologue about their interesting facts. Emphasize that facts should be delivered to the group in the form of one intriguing sentence, not a detailed explanation.

    The Interview Game gets noisy with lots of people talking in small groups. This icebreaker works best in a larger room where participants have a chance to spread out, and where high levels of noise won’t bother anyone.

  • Time Hop

    Time Hop is all about exploring different periods throughout each others’ lives. The game is played with coins or possibly even stamps that have a date on them from more recent years. You will use these date to open up topics of discussions and learn what life was like for the other players at that point. The game is played best with a smaller group, so everyone will feel most comfortable. Make sure that the group of people you invite are all on equal terms to make everyone as comfortable as possible when talking about their life.

    What You Need To Play Time Hop

    This is what you will need to play Time Hop:

    1. A hat or bag.
    2. Items with a year marker on them.
    3. A list of years everyone was born.
    4. A timer.

    How To Set Up The Game

    Take a hat or grocery bag and fill it with pennies that you can still see the year on. Make sure that all the dates aren’t too old and everyone will fit in with the years on the pennies. Pick a room where everyone can hear each other clearly, you don’t want anyone being overshadowed by music or appliances. Make sure that everyone in the group is fine with sharing personal details with each other. Collect everyone’s birth years collected together and carefully sort out the pennies to make sure you don’t go too far in the past.

    How To Play Time Hop

    1. Put all the pennies into a bag and shake them around, go counter clockwise around the room allowing everyone to draw a penny. Once a Penny is drawn the player should call out the year and then think of an event that happened to them at that point in their life.

    2. When the player is telling their memory pay attention to them and make sure all players are being respectful. When near the end of their memory keep anyone from grabbing a penny from the hat early or trying to expedite the game.

    3. Make sure you set a limit as to what type of memories can be shared. If everyone gets into a rut talking about bad past experiences while playing the game it may cause a problem later on. Also, be sure to have a time limit set to keep anyone from taking the stage for too long.

    4. Make sure to communicate the environment you want for the game. State that you’d like only positive memories shared or that you’re ok with anything before the start.

    Winning The Game

    This game really doesn’t have a way to have a winner, as it is all about learning more about a person’s life. Be sure to clearly listen to each person as you play the game to find out what you have in common with them. If you find you don’t have enough pennies for the game you can write down years on a scrap of paper or use another item that is dated by year. If you want to expand the game you could even have a hat of years and seasons to extend the length of the game.

     

  • Would You Rather? Game

    Ask the group to decide what they would rather do given two possible options. Take a poll, and then lead a short debate between the merits and disadvantages of each option. The questions can range from silly, to gross, to impossibly cool. This icebreaker can also be adapted to fit a theme, such as a holiday or study unit. Would You Rather is a dynamic activity that makes people think on their feet and gives insight into their priorities.

    Would You Rather is a good icebreaker for large or small groups and is most effective in 10 to 40 minutes sessions. This highly adaptable activity can easily be made age appropriate for young children, adolescents, and even adults. Small groups could use this activity in more of a debate style, while bigger groups might call out reasons for choosing one or the other. The goal of the icebreaker is to initial conversations across the group and for participants to discover things they have in common that might not be obvious otherwise.

    Materials for the Would You Rather Icebreaker

    To play the Would You Rather icebreaker, you will need:

    • The list of Would You Rather questions
    • A writing utensil to keep count

    How To Play

    1. Make your list of questions. Would You Rather is easy to adapt to any event, grade level, or theme. The game can be played in a more formal or informal setting. See Tips and Notes for question ideas.
    2. Call the group together and explain your chosen rules. Designate one side of the room “Option A” and the other side “Option B.”
    3. Ask each question and ask participants to move to one side of the room or the other, depending on which option they “would rather.”
    4. Have each side explain their reasoning behind their decision. In a more formal game or a larger group, you could give each side a few moments to consult as a group and present their top three reasons for their choice. In a less formal game or smaller group, each person could say their top reason for their choice.
    5. After each group has had their say, move everyone back to the middle for their next question.
    6. Repeat steps 3 to 5.

    Tips and Notes

    Here are some question ideas to get you started.

    The Impossible

    • Would you rather be 10 feet tall or 10 inches tall?
    • Would you rather live in outer space or at the bottom of the ocean?
    • Would you rather be able to fly or able to run 50 mph?

    Gross Out

    • Would you rather swallow a bug or lick a frog?
    • Would you rather sit in a room with a snake or a tarantula?
    • Would you rather be bitten by a werewolf or a zombie?

    Make You Think

    • Would you rather travel 100 years back in history or 100 years into the future?
    • Would you rather live in the desert or in the Arctic?
    • Would you rather live forever or be remembered forever?

     

  • Song Sync

    The object of the game is to get more in touch with your group’s music tastes by identifying songs they know or have listened to. This activity can be done anywhere that allows for clear communication between the group. The game is played in any size group and will require a lot of listening and a room that is quiet enough to communicate easily in. The game will allow for players to also inject some of their own personality into the way they say the song lyrics.

    Materials Needed:

    What you will need to play song sync:

    Music knowledge
    A phone or computer to check claims
    A timer

    • How to Set Up Song Sync Game

    Pick a word that you hear a lot when listening to music like the word “hey” or “love.” Let the other group members know this is your set word for the game and explain that you can’t use a variation of the word like “lover” or “loved”. Make sure to check and see if the word is widely used in songs by googling ” songs with ___ in it”; this will pull up sites that list songs with your chosen word in them. If you wish to play multiple games write down multiple words to use and let your guests choose which ones they want to try to play with first. If you want to make it a little more fun put the words into a hat and take turns drawing out of it after each game to give a sense of randomness to the players.

    How To Play Song Sync

    1. Go around the room in a circle giving everyone a chance to repeat song lyrics with your set word in them. If someone can’t think of a song then they sit out, repeat this until you have a winner. Be sure to have a set amount of time a player has to answer in as to not draw the game out for too long.
    2. Be sure to have a fact checker on hand like a phone or laptop to quickly google strange sounding lyrics. If a player is caught making up their own song then they are out of the game until you start again.  Be sure to use a site that checks all genres and not just the popular songs, you never know what music your potential friends may be into.
    3. Have fun with the game and be sure to ask questions about songs you’ve never heard before. To add an additional fun twist to the game you could even require the lyrics to be sung or said in the same tune as the song they are from.

    Winning The Game

    The game is based more on learning about someone’s music taste and sparking conversation than winning or losing. By naming different songs you will find out a lot about a potential friend’s personality and will have a great discussion point to start from. If you wanted to sprinkle some competitive elements into the game you can always add in small prizes like candy or inexpensive ribbons from a dollar store for the winner.

  • Catch the Ball Introductions Icebreaker

    Catch the Ball Introductions is a get-to-know-you icebreaker that is very simple to play, yet effective.  This activity works well for small and medium sized groups.  The only material that is required is a small ball or other object that can safely be passed around the room.  For example, we recommend a soft foam ball such as this one: Nerf Mini Sports Pack

    Playing Catch the Ball Introductions

    First, give the first person the soft foam ball.  Introduce the game and explain that the ball is the “share an interesting fact” ball.  The first person must reveal something interesting about themselves (hopefully not too controversial!) and then throw the ball to the second person. The second person also reveals something about themselves and throws it on to the next person.  In this way, the icebreaker is an effective way to get people to start talking and sharing about themselves.

    Variations

    There are several possible variations for this activity.  Instead of sharing interesting facts, you can have players share stories, questions, memories, embarrassing moments, or something related to a theme.  For example, if you are a teacher who is teaching a unit on American history, you can announce that the game is about sharing facts about a history lesson.  Each person who receives the ball must say a fact about the topic that you have established.

    Another way to play is to use a marker and write a number of good questions on the ball that players can choose from.  For example, you can write the questions at icebreaker questions.

    Have fun!

  • Categories (or Similarities) Game

    Each team must find a certain amount of things they all have in common (similarities) before the other teams in this simple competitive icebreaker game.  It’s best for ages 8+.  It works great for medium sized groups, or even really large groups of 20+ people if you split into smaller sized groups.

    Materials needed

    You won’t need anything to play this game. If you’d like to make things more official, you can use a piece of paper and a writing utensil for each team to record their similarities on, although this is not necessary.

    How to set up the Categories (or Similarities) game:

    No setup is necessary to play the Similarities game!

    How to play:

    1. Divide your group up into separate teams of about 5 people each. Ideally you should end up with at least 4 different teams with a minimum of 4 people per team.
      Tip: Try to make teams of people that are not already close with each other. This makes the game more fun and serves as a great icebreaker for people to get introduced to one another!
    2. Instruct each team to talk amongst themselves and find out at least 6 things that every single group member has in common with the other members.
      Tip: You might consider not allowing teams to use simple things like physical height, hair color, current clothing items worn, etc. Limiting the similarities to non-physical things helps people to learn more about each other and engage in active, more meaningful conversations that will promote inclusion and lasting connections between team members.
    3. This game is played as a race and each team is competing to come up with their 6 similarities before the others. The game ends once every team has come up with 6 things they have in common, or once the time set aside for the game has expired.
    4. Alternative: If you’d like to play a quicker alternative, you can assemble the whole group and instruct them to form teams based on categories of things that they all have in common. This can include anything from favorite colors to least favorite movies and beyond. In this alternative, you can set the minimum size for each team in order for the activity to be over.

    Winning the game

    The winner of the regular version of the game is the team that most quickly identifies 6 similarities they all share. In the alternative game there is no real winner and it is used as a simple and quick icebreaker game for large groups.

  • Paper Airplanes (Name Planes Game)

    Paper Airplanes (or Name Planes Game) is a simple but effective get-to-know-you game: find the owner of the paper airplane that you pick up and learn a few things about them! This game works best for larger groups of ten or more people.  The activity is ideal for those ages 12 and up and is suitable for the classroom.

    Setup for Paper Airplanes (Name Planes Game)

    There is not much setup required for this activity.  However, several materials do need to be provided:

    • At least 1 sheet of paper per person
    • 1 pen, pencil, or other writing utensil per person

    How to set up Paper Airplanes

    To set up the game, you can either place the supplies around the room on the seats, desks, or tables where group members will be sitting.  Alternatively, you can hand them out as members arrive.  In a room where the group will be standing, it’s best to just hand out the supplies.

    How to play Paper Airplanes

    1. Make sure every participant has one sheet of paper and a writing utensil. Ask them each to write their names and two questions down on the paper. You may want to specify that questions should not be too personal or uncomfortable, but this is up to your discretion.
    2. After each person has written down their name and questions, ask them to form their paper into a paper airplane of their choice.
    3. Start a timer and have everyone throw their airplanes around at the same time. While the timer is going, everyone should be picking up airplanes and throwing them again to move them around the room and mix all the papers together.
    4. Stop the timer and ask everyone to pick up one paper airplane that is not their own.
    5. Each group member should end up with a paper airplane in their hands. They must then find the original owner of the plane and ask them the two questions on their plane.
    6. Now that everyone has found the owner of their paper airplane and have asked them the questions, have each person come up individually and introduce the person to the group by reading the name on the plane and telling the group the questions and answers given by that person.

    Winning the game

    As an icebreaker activity, there is no winning or losing in this game. The objective is to have group members become more familiar with each other, rather than to foster a competitive environment.  This game will help people get to know each other better in a fun way!

  • Name Aerobics

    Name Aerobics is a simple icebreaker to help group members introduce themselves in a fun and energetic way!  You can think of it was a name memorization activity with a touch of aerobics.  It’s good for players ages 10+.  This activity works best with medium or large sized groups of 6+ people each.

    Materials required

    There are no required materials to play this game. You can play it anywhere with just the members of the group!  Indoors (such as in a classroom) may be the most ideal place to play.

    How to set up the game

    The ideal setup is to have all group members standing in a circle, but you can also have the individuals take turns coming in front to introduce themselves. Placing people in a circle may help those who are shy to feel easier about participating. This is the only setup needed for the game to be played.

    How to play Name Aerobics

    1. Ask for someone to volunteer to go first, or you as the host can start off the activity. The first person can either go to the center of the circle or else stay where they are, depending on your preference as the host.
    2. Ask the person to introduce themselves by their first and last name, but instruct them to make some sort of movement or do an action for each syllable of their name. For example: The name “Jonathan Smith” (Jon-a-than Smith) would require that person to make four distinct movements of their choice.
    3. Have each person in the group repeat the person’s name while also mimicking the actions they performed. Have the person repeat their name and actions as many times as it takes for most of the group to get it right before moving on to the next participant.
    4. The person to the right of the one making the introduction should go next until all participants have introduced themselves with a name and simultaneous actions.
    5. (Optional): After everyone has introduced themselves, quickly go through the group members from the first person again to make sure everyone remembers the names of the others.

    Winning the game

    This is an icebreaker game meant to help people become more familiar with each other; therefore, there are no winners and losers. If you want to create a competitive element, you can have a contest at the end to see who remembers the most combinations of names and “aerobics” that were performed. The one who can recite the most names and perform the correct movements is the winner.

  • Memorable Catchy Names

    Memorable Catchy Names is one of the simplest icebreakers you can play, but it’s short and sweet!  And it might be one of the most efficient ways to get to know other people better in an amusing way.  The game involves going around in a circle, so it probably works best in a small or medium sized group.

    Setup for Memorable Catchy Names

    No set up is necessary!  This icebreaker works great in a classroom or indoors.

    Playing Memorable Catchy Names

    Get into a circle.  Instruct everyone to think about an adjective to describe themselves.  The adjective should start with the same letter as their first name.  For example, “Funny Fred,” or “Powerful Paul,” or “Clever Charlene.”

    Have each person go around and announce their new name for the rest of the day.  If you wish to make it a memory based activity, have each person introduce themselves, and then have each person afterwards introduce themselves plus everyone before them.  The last person must try to introduce everyone in the room!