A strong sense of classroom community is your greatest asset in secondary school: the key to any safe, welcoming, and productive work environment is communication. This is why it’s never a waste of time to introduce icebreakers for high school students during the first week of school.
It might seem unproductive to spend more than one block of instructional time on icebreakers for high school students. But if you’re trying to cultivate a classroom culture where students engage with one another and participate in your lessons, then opportunities to engage really matter.
As a rule, it’s mindful to avoid anything that excludes students, undermines their intelligence, or demands too much vulnerability. High school is hard enough! Expecting students to open up to new peers does not make it any easier. Although competitive games are fun for some students, they’re generally not as fun for everyone; the goal, then, is to facilitate activities that are inclusive, engaging, and team-building.
Here are all of my favorite icebreakers for high school students:
1. Speed-Meeting Icebreaker Activity
This “Speed Meeting” icebreaker for high school students involves questions designed to facilitate interaction. To play, you can either seat students in pairs at a circle of desks or create new groups of students at the beginning of each class.
Option One: Seat students in pairs at a circle of desks. Place a few icebreaker questions suitable for teenagers at each desk and set a timer. Students can have a set amount of time to discuss the icebreaker questions before rotating to a new station with new questions. I find the easiest way to do this is to have students in the inner circle move to the left after the first round, then have the students in the outer circle move to the right after the next round.
Option Two: For the first few days of school, create new groups of students at the start of class. Select a new set of icebreaker questions for each day, and have different groups of students discuss them. This is a great option if you’d like to incorporate icebreaker activities over an extended period of time.
The key to this activity is to select questions that students will feel comfortable answering. This “Speed-Meeting” icebreaker game includes 36 engaging and age-appropriate questions designed as icebreakers for high school students. These questions are organized into ready-to-print activity sheets, and you can also use the card deck template to create your own deck of cards.
2. Dicebreaker Game
Similar to “Speed Meeting,” this Dicebreaker Game is a fun, low-stakes way to get students chatting. For this game, students will need a game board packed with appropriate, fun, and engaging icebreaker questions. The game board can include school-related questions, like “what skill would you love to learn in this class?” They can also include highly debatable topics, like “would you rather time travel to the past or to the future?”
Students can take turns rolling two dice – one to determine the row and one for the column. They will then find and answer the corresponding question on the board. This Dicebreaker Game includes a printable dice pattern that students can build to play the game. Alternatively, source dice in advance or remind students to bring a pair from home.
3. Classroom Feud
For a more lighthearted competition, a game of Classroom Feud is a guaranteed hit! Modeled after the popular game show, this activity invites teams to guess the most popular answers to humorous and classroom-relevant survey questions. It’s fast-paced, easy to implement in any subject, and builds classroom culture while keeping students on their toes. Plus, it’s a great way to observe group dynamics and participation styles early in the year.
This Classroom Feud Game is a fun back to school icebreaker for older students. It includes 20 “Face-Off Rounds” prepared with ready-to-play survey questions for teens. The game also includes interchangeable countdown timers and concludes with a “Fast Money Round,” where the leading team races to reach 300 points!
To accommodate different classroom needs, this Classroom Feud Game is provided in both a slideshow and printable game version. The printable version includes survey question cards, answer sheets, strike counters, and printable score sheets.
4. Survival Scenario Escape Room Game
Team-building activities are perfect back to school icebreakers for high school students because they foster a dynamic classroom culture. The best team-building icebreakers are challenges that require both communication and cooperation. This Survival Scenario Escape Room Game offers just the right mix of urgency and fun!
This space-themed activity engages students in critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving as they work together to escape disaster in deep space. Students are cast as the crew of Spaceball One, a ship left stranded after a catastrophic meteor shower. With oxygen running low and systems failing, their survival depends on solving four increasingly complex missions before time runs out.
To accommodate different classroom needs, this team-building game is provided in both a paper-based and digital escape room. In both versions, students will complete puzzles and crack codes to overcome the challenge at hand.
5. Meet the Teacher: Two Truths and a Lie
When planning your back to school icebreakers for high school students, don’t forget yourself in the mix! To get to know our students, it can help to first introduce ourselves. This not only breaks the ice but also opens the door to finding common ground.
A classic game like Two Truths and a Lie allows students to get to know you in a playful way while revealing something meaningful. Start the activity by presenting this Meet the Teacher: Two Truths and a Lie Slideshow. Each slide displays three statements about the teacher – two are true, and one is a lie. Students are challenged to identify the false statement using context clues and their own reasoning.
This ready-to-use slideshow includes prompts about travel, food, pets, hobbies, and more, helping your new students connect you in a fun and personal way. These prompts are general, but if any of them do not apply to you, feel free to skip them or replace them using the editable template provided.
To personalize this back to school icebreaker, use this editable template for creating custom slides. You can add their own “two truths and a lie” questions directly into the template, tailoring the game to reflect your personality and interests. This customization option makes it easy to adapt the resource for different grade levels, classroom themes, subject areas, or virtual introductions.
Before playing, hand out these prediction sheets to each student. As the slideshow progresses, students will mark their predictions for each slide, checking A, B, or C to indicate which statement they believe is the lie. This sheet not only adds structure but also encourages careful listening and engagement throughout the game.
6. Icebreaker Bingo
Another great icebreaker for the first day of school is Icebreaker Bingo! This interactive get to know you game gets students up, moving, and talking while discovering fun facts about their classmates. It’s perfect for building classroom community, easing first-day nerves, and encouraging students to find common ground on the first day of school.
To begin, hand out these ready-to-play bingo cards to students. Each square contains a fun prompt for teenage students, like “find someone who has traveled to another country” or “find someone who plays a sport.” Students move around the room asking classmates if they match the descriptions and collecting names in each square. The first to complete four in a row – vertically, horizontally, or diagonally – shouts “Bingo!” to win the round.
You can also use this editable bingo template to create customized versions of the game. Whether you want to align prompts with classroom content, school themes, or seasonal activities, the editable card makes it easy to differentiate or personalize for various age groups and learning goals.
7. 5-Second Game
Get your students talking, laughing, and thinking on their feet with this high-energy 5-Second Game! This fast-paced classroom game challenges students to name three things in just five seconds.
To play this game with your whole class, use a game slideshow. Display a category prompt (e.g., “Name 3 school supplies”), and give one student five seconds to respond with three correct items. You can also have students play with an elbow partner or in groups and respond to each category prompt as they appear in the slideshow. Responses must be quick, unique, and relevant – no repeats or pauses!
This pre-made slideshow includes a wide range of engaging and school-friendly topics for teenagers, from academic categories to pop culture and funny hypothetical situations. It also includes a 5-second countdown timer for each slide.
For small groups or stations, you can use 5-second game cards These cards are ideal for in-person or center-based play, allowing students to take turns as readers and responders. This card deck includes prompts like “things you do before school” or “things you’d do if your teacher turned into a robot,” making it both classroom-appropriate and wildly entertaining.
You can even customize this game with this editable template, which lets you create your own “Name 3” cards to align with specific curriculum topics, grade levels, or seasonal themes. Simply type in your categories, print, and play!
8. “Find Your Partner” Ice Breaker
This icebreaker for high school students will activate their inquiry-based learning skills! As students complete this “Find Your Partner” ice breaker, they will also have the opportunity to talk to their classmates.
To start, write down a list of items or identities that often appear as pairs. Some examples include salt and pepper, Romeo and Juliet, the sun and the moon, peanut butter and jelly, Tom Holland and Zendaya, etc.
To play, each student in your class will assume the role of the item or identity based on the card that they draw. You can even have students make their own headband from paper and glue and then adhere their identity with velcro or tape. This role is kept secret, and the goal of this icebreaker game is for each student to communicate to find their matching partner. To do so, students can ask yes or no questions about anything other than the name of their classmate’s role: for example, they can’t ask “are you the sun?” or “does your name rhyme with bun?”
If you have an uneven number of students, you can include a trio into the mix: so for example, you can have one set that includes red, yellow, and blue (primary colors) or stop, drop, and roll. Informing students that there is a trio can up the ante by making this icebreaker more challenging.
These partner pairing cards are handy because you can continue to use them to pair partners at random for classroom activities and assignments, too!
Fun icebreakers for high school students can be hard to come by. High school students are often reluctant to overshare. This is especially true for freshmen that are intimidated by their new environment, or seniors that prefer to keep to themselves. But the right icebreaker can make all of the difference.
