Top Ten Back to School Ice Breakers

The summer holidays are over, which means it’s the start of the academic year. September marks back to school, a change of season for many. The first few weeks back are important for children as it makes them feel excited and happy about school. Break the ice for their first few weeks back with lots of fun activities.

We’ve created a list of back-to-school ice breaker activities to help children settle in during the first few weeks.

Ten ice breaker activities

Create a story board

The first few weeks of school is exciting. It’s a new chapter for most, and you would want them to feel excited. Storyboards are a great way to help kids break the ice during the first weeks of school because it allows them to express themselves in ways that make sense to them whilst still being able to communicate with others. You can start by encouraging pupils to create a storybook about themselves. This is a fun and interactive activity where it will help children to collaborate with others and share ideas.

Encourage pupils to create a character based on themselves. They can use their imagination and use colouring pencils, shapes and patterns to design their characters. They will then need to decide what type of story they want their character to be involved in.

Share a book

Encourage children to share a book with their peers. This will help children to collaborate with other kids and help break the ice whilst getting to know each other. You can start by getting them to pick a book of their choice and why the book they picked is important to them. Did you know sharing books helps children’s learning and development? Sharing a book also encourages pupils to explore their imagination and speak openly with others.

Lego building

Starting school can often make kids feel nervous as it’s a new place for them to learn and grow. A good way to ease children’s nerves is by getting the classroom to build Legos with each other. Building Legos is a great gateway to encourage children to work together and build confidence. You can start by providing pupils in your classroom with creative Lego bricks.

Show and tell

Encourage children to show and tell an interesting activity of their choice. This is a great activity for kids to break the ice on their first weeks of school as it will give them an opportunity to share their favourite activity and most prized possessions. Everyone can bring in one item that is interesting or fun. They can show it to the class and say why they like it so much. Another great activity to make their first weeks of school fun is by encouraging them to talk about their favourite sport of their choice. This will help them to build self-esteem and create friendships with other children.

Download our word search activity

This is a fun and interactive activity for children as it helps them with their vocabulary, team-building skills and it’s a calming task for them to enjoy at the start of the new school year. First start by pairing each individual with a team to share, collaborate and solve problems whilst playing this activity. Second, provide children with the activity by downloading our word search worksheet. Did you know word search is a fantastic activity to aid their learning? It has lots of benefits including developing word recognition, learning new words and improving their vocabulary.

Download this free word search activity here!

Classroom bingo

The first few weeks of school is exciting, there’s a lot to learn and a lot to share. A fantastic activity for children to try is by playing bingo. Start by providing children in your classroom with a bingo bears activity. This is a fun activity where children can count the number of bears, spin the wheel and match the bear according to the colour. Did you know bingo is a great way for children to solve problems? Bingo helps develop social skills and enhances cognitive function and team working skills. It’s a great activity for kids to break their confidence.

Play a game of cubes

During the start of children’s first weeks in school it can often be difficult to build a conversation. You can start by encouraging conversations in the classroom with a game of cube activities for kids to play with their peers. Pupils can play this activity by rolling a dice and reading out what the dice says to get the conversation going. Cubes are great fun as they develop children’s ability to think and improve patience and calmness.

Dress-up

The start of a school year can be exciting for children to look forward to and it can also be hard for them to make friends. Dressing up is a fantastic activity for children during the start of their school year as it allows them to explore their creativity whilst working with others. You can start by letting pupils in your classroom dress up as their favourite characters like doctors, nurses or even astronauts. This will help kids boost their interaction with others and make them feel at ease.

Drawing & colouring

Another great activity for kids during their first weeks of school is drawing & colouring. Drawing and colouring help children express their ideas, explore their imagination and develop creativity. Encourage pupils to socialise with others during the first few weeks of school by drawing and colouring. You can start by encouraging them to work with each other to create a collaborative artwork with various colours and shapes. You can provide them with a coloured paper and have them create a theme by drawing and colouring.

Getting to know you Jenga

Playing Jenga in the classroom can be a fun way to engage kids’ interaction, build decision making skills and improve hand to eye coordination. Offer Jenga as an opportunity to help children collaborate with others. You can start by pairing each individual to a group of four players to play Jenga. Each individual from each group can then take turns and this way it helps build group relationships and kids will feel confident.

With being back to school it’s important to make kids feel welcome with lots of fun activities for them to play with in the classroom. Kids might feel nervous or anxious during the first few weeks back. Making them feel welcome will promote a sense of belonging and it will give them the opportunity to socialise with their peers.

For more back to school inspiration give our previous blog on ‘19 back to school activities for the classroom’ a read.