Online teaching makes it difficult to get to know your students and for them to get to know one another. Here you’ll find digital icebreakers, games, and activities that can be used at the beginning of the school year as well as throughout it to help build a sense of community within the classroom. Some require more time than others but you can find ways to shorten some to better suit your needs.
1. Get to Know You Kahoot
Students were asked to answer a Google form stating interesting things about themselves. The teacher then turned them into a Kahoot game, which helped the students get to know one another. Students will try to guess who said what!
Learn more: Middle School Mob
2. Zoom Icebreaker Questions
Some of these 111 questions may not work for middle schoolers, but many will. They will have a good laugh as they go about answering the questions and you’ll learn a lot about the little personalities in your class!
Learn more: Team Building
3. Quick Questions
Students can answer these questions on virtual sticky notes and then you can look for commonalities. Questions can be modified to meet your needs and can be implemented as daily or weekly icebreaker activities as well.
Learn more: Concept Board
4. Two Truths and a Lie
Collaboard allows students to post 2 truths and a lie about themselves and then they can play as you normally would. It helps students learn more about one another and builds community in virtual classrooms.
Learn more: Collaboard
5. Would You Rather…
Sign up at this link to get the Google file for this activity. This is a fun activity for middle school students as they are tasked with making a choice between two fairly uncommon situations and occurrences.
Learn more: Subscribe Page
6. Virtual Name Game
This activity is good for learning students’ names. On a piece of paper, they will write their name and then a series of numbers they are associated with. It can be anything from their birthday, to how many siblings they have. The possibilities are endless!
Learn more: Mark Collard
7. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger Hunts are fun games that your middle schoolers will love. It shows you how good their collection skills are and how much effort they are willing to put into an assignment. There are different lists available on this site, so be sure to choose the appropriate one for your students.
Learn more: Play, Party, Plan
8. Riddles
These riddles are perfect to use as an icebreaker for any virtual meeting. It gets kids thinking and engaged before beginning a lesson while giving you some insight into their thought processes.
Learn more: Project Avatar
9. Tongue Twisters
Above you can see the rules. It sure is a fun activity for middle school students and will give you insight into their background. It’s easy to use in digital classrooms and can be used for most grades.
Learn more: Etsy
10. Class Cookie Campaign
Kids will get to campaign for votes on which cookie is the best. They will conduct research, give speeches and try to get votes for their favorite cookie. After the class votes, you’ll know which is the best. This activity also helps develop communication and debate skills since each cookie will have a team of students campaigning for it.
Learn more: Free Homeschool Deals
11. Virtual Bingo
Learn how to create a virtual Bingo board using Google slides. There are step-by-step directions to help you, along with a video. This way, you can customize the game to suit the theme you’re working on and make changes so it can be used again in the future.
Learn more: Teach Starter
12. Make a Digital Avatar
After watching this tutorial, students will be able to create their own Bitmoji avatar. This virtual icebreaker will show you what your students look like and display their personalities as well. Creativity and freedom of expression are at the core of this activity and we have no doubt that your learners will love it.
Learn more: Katherine Panczner
13. Roll the Dice
Roll a virtual die and answer the corresponding question. Again, this will give you insight into the hopes and wishes of your learners. The questions are low-stakes and interesting so students are sure to be engaged.
Learn more: Pinterest
14. Do You Know J. Doe?
Click to find the full directions. One student is “it”, the host asks questions and everyone writes down their answers. In the end, J.Doe reveals their answers and students get 1 point for each match.
Learn more: Little Stuff
15. Abstract Art Personality Groups
This activity is set up for in-person learning but can very easily be turned into a virtual one. You can make a breakout room for each photo and have kids discuss why they chose that photo.
Learn more: Angie Kratzer
16. The Unfair Game
This virtual icebreaker sounds like a blast. Students must choose a question and decide if they want to keep the points or give them to the other team. The catch is that sometimes the points are negative, which is what makes it unfair.
Learn more: Comprehensible Classroom
17. Deep Dive: Vocabulary of Teamwork
Here’s a great way to introduce the concept of teamwork so you can prepare for other school activities. Use Google docs so responses can be shared easily and you can see what students think each word means. Then you can have each learner share with the class.
Learn more: Badger State Speechy
18. Best Virtual Background Contest
Have students read through this blog and then tell them that it’s their turn to create a virtual background. Once students have uploaded theirs, the class will vote using Google forms so they can highlight whose they believe is best and state why!
Learn more: Zapier
19. Virtual Pictionary
Pictionary has simple rules. One person draws while the rest of the team guesses what they are drawing. Using this random word generator, kids can play virtually and see which team gets the most correct. This classic icebreaker is tons of fun and will get your students collaborating in no time.
Learn more: Random Word Generator
20. Get to Know Me Slides
I love this activity! It may take some students a good while to get the hang of it, however, the rewards will be bountiful and you’ll know more about your students at the end. Kids will select their top 6 (school-appropriate) movies and create a Google slideshow displaying them. They can explain what they like about each movie and who their favorite characters are.
Learn more: Edrenaline Rush
21. Slides With
These quick virtual icebreakers are easy to use and are great for class community building. Students can log in with a QR code or link and can create their own slides or use the prepared ones. You’ll be able to see the poll results as soon as all responses are in and either discuss or move along with work from there.
Learn more: Slides With
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