Those colorful, tasty sweets are surprisingly an excellent teaching tool- particularly when it comes to icebreaker activities. Icebreakers can be tricky for our more introverted students so using an eye-catching tasty treat will have them responding well to these ‘getting to know you’ activities. Certain activities correspond to certain colors and are a great way for students to discover something new about their peers and classmates. Get stuck in to discover 18 activities that’ll help your learners break the ice!
1. All About Me
In this fun icebreaker, each of the colored M&Ms relates to a specific subject for the students to discuss. Students take turns picking an unknown M&M from the bag to begin their conversations.
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2. Tell us About Yourself
This activity will encourage your students to engage in discussions with each other and share interesting facts about their personal lives such as their favorite movies, favorite desserts, etc. This could then spark additional discussions or students could have a go at writing their own questions.
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3. Back to School
We all know the first day of school can be a challenge for quieter students with all the stress of getting settled in a new class and trying to make friends. Make that process much easier with this M&M conversation starter activity that requires students to discuss different aspects of their vacation time and their hopes for the new school year.
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4. Lists using M&M’s
This fabulous freebie uses M&Ms to inspire students to create lists of people and objects using adjectives and people to construct their tables. They can then share their answers with a classmate as an icebreaker
Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers
5. M&M Feelings
It’s so important to teach children about feelings at an early age! Use this unique ice breaker to prompt students to discuss what makes them feel happy, sad, and excited, and what we can do to manage emotions. This will help establish behavioral routines in the classroom and reassure them that a classroom is an open place for discussions about feelings.
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6. Icebreakers for ESL
Use M&M’s with ESL (English as a Second Language) learners so they begin to broaden their vocabulary and get to know their peers. Use the prompts above with learners of varying ages and abilities.
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7. Gratitude Activity
Another great activity to encourage confidence in your classroom is by using this M&M icebreaker which encourages students to talk about what they are grateful for. It will spark discussion between learners and promote positivity throughout. This is also a great task to use around Thanksgiving.
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8. Use a Spinner
Let your kiddos use a spinner to choose their M&Ms and be directed to a conversation topic. Print the worksheet and let your learners color it in to extend the activity.
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9. Self-Esteem M&M Game
Another cool icebreaker for a new class is to use M&Ms to get learners to participate in a circle time or PSE activity to develop self-esteem as they learn more about their classmates. Questions such as ‘What is self-esteem?’ will generate conversations amidst the class and help students form new bonds.
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10. M&M Quiz
This ready-made quiz is fun and collaborative. Children take a selection of M&Ms and the teacher reveals the question type they will answer according to the colors they have chosen. This allows all children with the same color to answer so as not to single out individuals that may be a little nervous about answering in front of a new group.
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11. See it In Action
Watch the YouTube video to see the game in action before you have a go yourself. Students could create their own instructional version of the game and have a go at recording it themselves too to show others how to play!
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12. Keep Kids Active
This worksheet can be easily adaptable to play with M&Ms. Use the colors of the letters to correspond to the colors of the sweets and ask students to choose the letters they feel most confident or comfortable doing. This could be a great active lesson and highly engaging!
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13. Open-ended Answers
Here you can have the students work in small groups and choose their own questions to answer with their new peers using the M&Ms as the corresponding question colors.
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14. Resolving Conflict
This M&M icebreaker is a great way to introduce the concept of solving conflicts with one another as a fun icebreaker activity. Students have a random selection of sweets and go around and swap them with each other so they end up with the same color. The exchange of colors will gradually encourage discussion around disagreements and solving conflicts.
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15. Options to Answer
This worksheet gives students two options to choose from that correspond with each color so they feel more confident about answering questions in an initial icebreaker task when getting to know new classmates.
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16. Create a Poster
Once students have discussed their answers, ask them to make a collaborative colorful poster where each team member records their answers to the questions on a poster in the corresponding colors. This could be a great display to have in the classroom to remind them of all their new friends and the similarities that they share.
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17. Using Drama
Whilst this poster uses another type of candy, it can be easily adapted to incorporate M&Ms. Students participate by making a series of faces that relate to the color of M&Ms they choose! A great drama activity!
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18. Build A Turkey
This could be a fun activity for younger students when getting to know one another or learn colors. Students roll a die. Their rolled number corresponds to a color. They can then add this color feather to their turkey. The competitive side of this is the race to who can complete their turkey feathers first!
Learn More: Unoriginal Mom