Teacher’s Bag of Tricks
Ice Breakers and Group Games:
Ice Breakers and active group games are a great way for students to get
to know each other and learn how to work together, as well as keeping
them actively involved in learning. They are also and a great way to
reenergize students when the day gets long and attention starts to drift.
Ice-breakers and games don’t take the place of good, well-planned direct
instruction and guided activities, but they do help to support instruction
in the classroom.
A Great Wind Blows PreK-Primary
Summary: This is a noisy, running around game which works well as an
ice-breaker. You'll need chairs for all of the kids, and space to play.
How to play:
Arrange the chairs in a circle, facing the middle. All the children sit down.
An adult stands outside the circle and calls out "A great wind blows for
everyone who....", fills in the blank with a statement that will affect some of
the group (see ideas below). Anyone who is affected must stand up and find
another chair which is at least 2 chairs away from their own.
If a large group of children stand up, the adult should quickly remove one of
the chairs from the circle as soon as the kids stand up and begin moving.
Any child who cannot find a chair moves outside the circle and helps the
adult come up with ideas for the next "great wind blows".
Here are some ideas:
A great wind blows for everyone who has a little brother
A great wind blows for everyone who has a big sister
A great wind blows for everyone who has been to Fairbanks (Anchorage)
A great wind blows for everyone who has a dog
A great wind blows for everyone who has a sno-go at home
A great wind blows for everyone who ate ______ for breakfast this morning
A great wind blows for everyone who likes…
Tell me a Story PreK-6, indoors, any number (can continue in circle)
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Summary: Tell Me a Story is a very simple game. Sit everyone in a circle,
on the floor or on chairs. One person starts off a story by saying one
sentence The next person adds another sentence And the next, and so on.
Here's an example:
Child 1: Once upon a time there lived a great big hairy spider
Child 2: He only had four legs
Child 3: He loved chocolate!
Child 4: He went to the store to get some chocolate
Child 5: But he didn’t have any money. (And so on.)
You might want or need to introduce your own rules based on age. Ex:
You can't use the same word twice in a row (eg it was a cold, cold, cold...)
You should make it clear if you are ending a sentence
You might decide to specify # of words instead of a sentence or statement
Fruit Salad K-8, Indoors, Group of 6-20+
Summary: Good icebreaker game, especially for kids. Easy to learn and
play, with little preparation.
Goal: Avoid being left in the middle of the circle.
Preparation:
- Chairs (one chair per person)
How to Play Fruit Salad:
1.Have everyone sit in a chair, arranged in a circle facing inwards. Select
one person to be in the middle and remove his or her chair from the circle.
2. Explain the rules: The person in the middle needs to say something that
applies to at least 2 people in the circle. For example, “Anyone who has a
pet”, “Anyone who is wearing jeans”, “Anyone who has a brother or sister”,
“Anyone wearing the color purple”. If the person’s statement applies to
someone sitting in the circle, that person has to move from his or her seat
and sit in a different chair. If the person says "Fruit Salad", then everyone
needs to move to a different chair.
3. The person in the middle tries to sit down. There'll be one person left
without a chair- this person will be the next person in the middle of the
circle. The standing person starts a new round by saying a different
statement.
Note: People cannot move to seats on their immediate left or right. For
example, a person is allowed sit two seats away, but they cannot move to the
left or right of their current chairs.
Where the Wind Blows 6-12, Indoor, Groups of 7-20+
Summary: Great icebreaker group game- find out what people have never
done before.
Goal: Avoid being the last person standing.
Preparation:
- One person needs to start the game by standing in the middle of the circle
- You will need everyone to sit in chairs arranged in a circle.
How to Play Where the Wind Blows Game:
1. The person in the middle needs to say a sentence of something they have
never done before. For example, “I’ve never been in an airplane”, “I never
been to a buffet”, “I’ve never been the Hawaii”, “I’ve never had a pet”.
2. If the person’s statement applies to someone sitting in the circle, that
person has to move from his or her seat and sit in a different chair.
3. The person in the middle will need to try to sit down. One person will
remain standing. The standing person starts a new round by saying a
different statement.
Note: People cannot move to seats on their immediate left or right. For
example, they can sit two seats away, but they cannot move to the left or
right of their current chairs.
Two Truths and a Lie 3-Adult, indoors, 3-20+
Summary: Which sentence is a lie? A fun guessing game, great way for
people to get to know one another.
Goal: Correctly guess other people’s truths and fool other people into
guessing your lie.
Preparation:
- You will need to pass out a pen/pencil and paper to each person
participating.
How to Play the Two Truths and a Lie Game:
1. Have everyone write two true sentences and one false sentence on their
papers. The sentences can be in any order that they want. Make sure that all
the sentences are believable, and aren’t obvious. (Example Statements: I
have three cats at home; I am related to a celebrity; I had lost two teeth in a
biking accident).
2. Each person will need to read their sentences aloud to the group. After
reading each sentence, everyone will need to think about which statements
are truths are which sentence is a lie.
3. Take a vote on which statement is a lie (“Who thinks the first sentence is a
lie? Who thinks the second sentence is a lie?”).
4. The players who chose the lie correctly will win one point. The person
who wrote the sentences will win two points for every person that they fool
(for every person who voted the truth statement was a lie).
5. Go around and follow steps 2-4 for the remaining players. Whoever gets
the most points wins the game.
Alphabet Back Game PreK-8, indoors, group of 2-20+ in pairs
Summary: Trace the letter on your partner's back and have them guess the
secret letter! Goal: The group to correctly guess the most letters wins the
game. Preparation:- Pen and paper
How to Play The Alphabet Back Game:
1. Split everyone into pairs. Ask one volunteer from each group comes up to
the front.
2. Secretly write down a letter on the piece of paper and show the letter to
the volunteers. The volunteers are not allowed to speak, say the letter, or
give any hints to their partners.
3. When you say “go”, the volunteer traces the letter on the back of their
partner using only their finger.
4. If the partner figures out the letter, the partner must raise his/her hand and
share what he/she thinks the letter is. If the letter is correct, the pair receives
one point. If the letter is incorrect, the game continues until one pair guesses
the letter correctly. The group with the most points wins the game.
Variation:
For middle school aged kids, you can write down three or four letter words
instead of one letter. The partners will then try to guess each letter written on
their backs in sequence, and then combine all the letters to form the secret
word. Whoever correctly guesses the word wins a point for their team.
Huckleberry PreK-6, Indoors, group of 3-20+
Summary: Find the hidden item as fast as possible!
Goal: Don't be the last person to find the hidden object.
Preparation:
- Bring a medium-sized item that you can hide easily (water bottle, apple,
small ball)
How to Play the Huckleberry Game:
1. Select one person from the group. Everyone else must leave the room.
2. The selected person must hide the item somewhere in the room. The item
must be partially visible at all times.
3. Call everyone else back into the room. Each person must try to find the
item without moving anything in the room. If a person sees the item, the
person needs to walk around for 3 seconds, say the word "Huckleberry"
aloud, and go to a predetermined section of the room.
4. The last person to find the object loses the round and needs to do 5
jumping jacks. Select another person to hide the item for the next round.
Educational Variation- Change the item each time, using realia for ELLs
or subject area vocabulary
Charades 6-12, indoors, groups of 3-20+
Summary: Show off your acting skills. Little preparation for a fun game.
Easy word list provided, ready to print.
Goal: Try to guess or act the secret word or phrase. Whoever has the most
points wins the game.
Preparation:
- Download and print the word list or make your own list (Theme: Movies)
How to Play Charades:
1. Separate everyone into teams of about four*. Ask one volunteer from each
team come up. The volunteers are not allowed to talk during the game, and
aren’t allowed to motion any letters or numbers.
2. Show the volunteers only the first word/phrase. When you say “Go”, the
volunteers need to start acting the word/phrase or other hints and help the
team guess the word. The first team that raises their hand and guesses the
object correctly wins one point for their team.
3. Go through the list of words with new volunteers. The first team to reach
10 points wins the game.
*You can adjust the number of people within each group as you wish.
Charades Theme: Movies 1. Angels in the Outfield 2. Aladdin 3. Titanic 4. Beauty and
the Beast 5. Kung Fu Panda 6. Batman 7. Indiana Jones 8. Matrix 9. Star Wars 10. King
Kong 11. The Sound of Music 12. Forrest Gump 13. Apollo 13 14. Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs 15. Jaws 16. Iron Man 17. Pirates of the Caribbean 18. Mission Impossible
19. Casino Royale 20. Walk the Line 21. Crash 22. The Little Mermaid 23. Harry Potter
24. Happy Feet 25. Cinderella 26. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 27. Little
Miss Sunshine 28. The Bucket List 29. The Notebook 30. Sweet Home Alabama 31. XMen 32. Transformers 33. I, Robot 34. The Wedding Singer 35. The Princess Bride 36.
Gladiator 37. Ocean’s 11 38. Braveheart 39. Lord of the Rings 40. Little Women 41.
Singing in the Rain 42. Terminator 43. Dodge Ball 44. The Waterboy 45. Toy Story 46.
Monsters, Inc 47. Finding Nemo 48. Shrek 49. Rush Hour 50. James Bond 51. Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon 52. Planet of the Apes 53. Jurassic Park 54. The Mummy 55.
Godzilla
Steal the Bacon K-8, Indoors large area or outdoors, group of 10-20
Summary: Your mission is to steal the bacon. But watch out or else your
enemy might steal it instead!
Goal: When your number is called, be the first person to grab the object in
the middle and run back to your line untagged.
Preparation:
- An object that can be grabbed (object, picture, word, number, etc.)
How to Play Steal the Bacon:
1. Split everyone into two equal teams. Arrange the teams into two parallel
lines about 15 - 20 feet from each other, facing each other. Place the object
in the middle, between the two teams.
2. Ask everyone to remember their numbers- Go down one line and assign
each person a number (in sequence, starting from one), then go down the
opposing team and assign each person a number (in sequence, starting from
one). Each person should have the same number with a person on the
opposing team.
3. The object of the game is to be the first person to grab the object if your
number is called and bring it back to your team’s line untagged. As soon as
you touch the object, the other person has the opportunity to tag you. If the
other person tags you, then no one gets the point.
4. Begin the game by calling a random number. If the person brings the
object back to their side untouched, the person gets a point for their team. If
the person grabs the object and is tagged, neither team gets a point. The team
that reaches 15 points wins the game.
Variation:
- Along with calling random numbers, you can say “all even numbers” or
“all odd numbers”.
- If you want to have an educational twist, you can use sight word cards,
vocabulary picture cards, colors or realia, answers to math facts or one word
answers to questions, or you can call numbers that can be divided by the
players’ numbers (for example: if you call “12”, the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,
and 12 can try grabbing the object)
- You can change the rule of having a “tagger” earning a point for their team
of he/she tags an opponent with an object, instead of neither team winning
the point.
The Number Game, 6-12, Indoors, group of 10-20+Summary: Work
as a team to display the numbers as quickly as possible.Goal: Fool other
teams into choosing your team’s definition. Preparation:
- Download the worksheet and print the list
- Print the set of numbers (one set of numbers per team)
How to Play The Number Game:
1. Arrange everyone into teams of 6. Hand each team a set of numbers and
ask everyone to take a number. Have the team elect one person to be the
leader of the team.
2. The goal of the game is to be the first team to rearrange themselves to the
number that you call. The leaders can help rearrange them to their
appropriate positions. Once the team rearranges themselves, they have to
raise their hands and stand in place.
3. The first team to arrange themselves correctly receives one point. The
team that reaches 10 points wins the game.
The Number Game- Numbers to call out 1) 52,314 “Fifty two thousand, three hundred
fourteen” 2) 21,435 “Twenty one thousand, four hundred thirty five” 3) 15,324 “Fifteen
thousand, three hundred twenty four” 4) 31,425 “Thirty one thousand, four hundred
twenty five” 5) 14,235 “Fourteen thousand, two hundred thirty five” 6) 25,314 “Twenty
five thousand, three hundred fourteen” 7) 43,521 “Forty three thousand, five hundred
twenty one” 8) 52,143 “Fifty two thousand, one hundred forty three” 9) 31,542 “Thirty
one thousand, one hundred forty two” 10) 24,153 “Twenty four thousand, one hundred
fifty three”
The Interview Game, High School-Adult, Indoors, group of 10-20+
Summary: A great icebreaker game, especially for newcomers.
Goal: Find out as much information as you can about another person.
Preparation:
- Download and print the Interview Questions
- Provide enough pens/pencils for at least half the people participating
- Timer or Watch
How to Play the Interview Game:
1. Split everyone into pairs. Distribute the list of questions and pens/pencils
to one person in each pair.
2. The person with the paper will be given five minutes to ask as many
questions as they can about their partner based on the questions on the list,
without showing their partner the questions. The questions may be asked in
any order. After five minutes, have everyone stop asking questions.
3. Announce how the points are distributed (in the Interview Game
Questions List, the highlighted questions are worth three points, while the
unhighlighted questions are worth one point). Have each person calculate the
number of points they received. Whoever has the most points wins the game.
Variation: Shorten the list of questions, or select/write your own questions
based on a theme or topic.
Interview Game Questions (copy and print- arrange in list form to make it easier to
follow)
1. What is your most prized possession? 2. What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen? 3.
What did you want to be when you were growing up? 4. What is your favorite color? 5.
What is your favorite dish? 6. How many children do you want to have? 7. Who is your
role model? 8. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? 9. What was your favorite toy
when you were a kid? 10. If you were an animal, what animal would you be? 11. If you
were to change your name, what would it be? 12. What is your favorite sport to play? 13.
What is your favorite sport to watch? 14. If you could have any super power, what would
it be? 15. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go? 16. If you could
choose any job you wanted (regardless of skill) what would it be? 17. What is your most
over-used word? 18. What is your biggest pet-peeve? 19. Favorite drink? 20. Last book
you read? 21. Favorite song at the moment? 22. If someone gave you a $1,000 to spend at
any store, what store would you choose? 23. First thing you notice about the opposite
sex? 24. What is your favorite smell? 25. What was your first job? 26. Where did you
grow up? 27. What is your favorite season? 28. Goal you would like to achieve this year?
29. What is one thing you are afraid of? 30. What is your dream car? 31. What is your
worst habit? 32. Who is your celebrity crush? 33. What is one thing you spend too much
money on? 34. Where is your favorite place to eat? 35. Favorite breakfast food? 36. If
had to be stranded on an island and could bring two things, what would they be? 37.
What is one food you don’t like/can’t stand? 38. Where did you go to high school? 39.
What was your favorite thing about high school? 40. What was your favorite thing about
college? 41. Favorite hangout spot in college? 42. What do you like on your pizza? 43.
Favorite type of movie (romantic, comedy, action…) do you enjoy? 44. Where is the
farthest place (city/place/country) you’ve traveled? 45. What is your middle name? 46.
Do you like to call or text more? 47. What is the last thing you spent money on? 48. What
do you look forward to in the next 3 months? 49. Describe your life in one word: 50.
Where do you go to clear your head? 51. What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
52. If you were to be famous, what would you want it to be for? 53. What was your
favorite subject in elementary school? 54. What was your least favorite subject in
elementary school? 55. If you were allowed to stop doing one chore, what would it be?
56. If you could invite three famous people to your house for dinner, who would they be?
57. Favorite band/musician? 58. What kind of shoes do you usually wear? 59. Do you
play any instruments, if so, what? 60. What’s your first thought when you wake up in the
morning? 61. On a date, do you prefer to go somewhere fancy or somewhere simple? 62.
How many kids would you want to have? 63. If you could get rid of one thing in
society/nature, what would it be? 64. If you were to go back to a time in history and live,
what time period would you choose?
Jeopardy Powerpoint Game, 3-Adult, Indoor.
Summary: Great Jeopardy Powerpoint template, ready to edit with your
questions and answers.
Goal: The team with the most points wins the game.
Preparation:
- Download Powerpoint from the NSBSD Website/Staff/Inservices/New
Hire Aug.3
- Laptop, Projector and Screen, cables
Memory Powerpoint Game
Summary: Memorize as many items as you can from the Powerpoint
slide.Goal: Remember as many items on the Powerpoint as you can.
Preparation:
- Download Powerpoint from the NSBSD Website/Staff/Inservices/New
Hire Aug.3Download and print the list of items from NSBSDWebsite/Staff/Inservices/
New HireAug.3
- Laptop, Projector and Screen,Cable to connect laptop to projector
- Timer/Watch
- Paper and pen for each team
How to Play the Memory Game:
1. Separate everyone into teams of 3. Give each team a piece of paper and
pen. The object of the game is to remember as many items from the
Powerpoint as possible as a group, within 3 minutes. For this first round,
there is no talking. Show the second slide.
2. After 3 minutes, click Enter to go to the blank slide.
3. Have each team collaborate on what items they remember and have them
list them down a piece of paper. Give them a couple of minutes to do this.
4. Afterwards, ask everyone to stop writing. Each correct item that they
write on the paper is worth 2 points. Name the items from the list aloud.
5. After naming the items, ask all the teams how many points they
received. Next, the teams will complete the game again with the next
slide, with exception that all the teams are allowed to talk and
collaborate. Go onto the fourth slide and give the teams about 3 minutes
to talk and try to remember all the items.
6. Afterwards, go to the blank slide and have all the teams write down
what they remember. After 5 minutes, name the items in the List #2.
Each correct item will be 1 point. Whoever has the most points wins the
game.