By Jennifer Bland
Icebreakers are activities that help a group of people introduce themselves to each other, learn about and make connections with each other, and build community and belonging within a group. We call it “breaking the ice” in recognition of the chilly, isolating feeling you can get when walking into a new space, unsure of what to expect. You know the wind isn’t actually blowing on you as you walk through the door on the first day, but you can’t help feeling the breeze anyway.
Icebreakers provide an opportunity for instructors and students to have conversations and make connections early in the semester. They set a tone of warmth, joviality, and welcome that can carry throughout the semester.
Icebreaker activities can range from 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the number of questions, the complexity of the tasks, and your purpose for the icebreaker. Make sure you take time during the first few class sessions to build community, connections, and belonging with your students.
Some icebreakers to incorporate during the first few days of class:
Four Corners: Display a question with 4 answer choices. Label the corners of the classroom with letters A-D. Students walk to the corner that corresponds to the letter of their choice. For example, what is your favorite season? With choices of spring, summer, fall, or winter. I like to add a task when they form their group in the corner. For this question, students would quickly introduce themselves to each other and then discuss their favorite activities to do during their favorite season. If you are teaching a virtual course in Blackboard Collaborate, students could use type their name on the slide under their answer choice. Additional question topics include favorite sports team, favorite color, Favorite vacation spot, Favorite type of food (this is a popular one!), favorite hobby, or favorite type of movie,
This or That: Create a list of items that students choose between such as mustard or ketchup, cake or brownie, vanilla or chocolate, tennis shoes or flip flops, etc. You could either have each student draw a slip of paper and share their choice or have all students choose their answer by walking to one side of the room for each question. If you are teaching virtually in Blackboard Collaborate, you could have students vote with the polling feature or have them type their names on the slide with the questions to show their choice.
Roll the Dice to Break the Ice: Each student rolls a die. The number they roll corresponds to a question number for them to answer. Some questions could be My television show is, my favorite store is, my favorite sports team is, my dream job is, etc. If you are teaching virtually, you could add the questions to a virtual spinner and spin the wheel for students or you could have everyone type their answers into the chat.
For help with questions for your ice breaker activities, visit The Only List of Icebreaker Questions You’ll Ever Need. For additional icebreaker ideas, visit 45 Ice Breaker Games [That Your Team Won’t Find Cheesy].