9 Icebreakers for University to Start the Term Off Strong
Rather than just being an opportunity to have students in your classes introduce themselves, an icebreaker activity can be a valuable way to help establish course expectations through easy, low-stakes activities. Consider how you want your students to interact with the course and pick an icebreaker that matches the type of engagement you want.
For courses that expect engagement with the material, consider picking an icebreaker activity where students provide low-stakes answers to questions. These types of activity often provide students an opportunity to express themselves within the constraints of the question. There will be examples below, but consider prompts that are tangential to course material. Students are in the course because something about it captured their attention (even if it is just for the degree or they preferred it over other electives), and your icebreakers should bridge the gap between pure academics and personal interest.
For courses that expect collaboration with their peers, consider activities that put students in pairs or small groups to work towards a common goal. These encourage students to engage with their peers directly and independently, but ensure that they are prepared to return to the group as a whole to state their own ideas and listen to their peers.
And for courses that are centered largely around lecture, you likely do not want to use icebreaker activities. If direct engagement with the course is not an expectation, an icebreaker can make the shift between the activity and lecture disruptive. In these circumstances, consider a casual introduction to yourself and provide time after the lecture where students are allowed to discuss the material as a group if they wish.
No matter the type of activity, you want to find a balance between giving students an opportunity to express themselves and subtly introducing them to course expectations. The best type of icebreaker will depend on your group and teaching style, so go with whatever one seems most comfortable and appropriate to you.
Two Icebreakers to Avoid
1. The Fun Fact
“Tell me a fun fact about yourself.”
This is probably the icebreaker that you will encounter often, whether it is in a professional or academic setting. It is an easy icebreaker that many people have had to consider in the past, so people often have a stock response prepared for it. However, as an icebreaker, it can often be counterproductive to the goals of the classroom. By providing a general question, it doesn’t focus on topics relevant to the course and instead relies on somebody merely providing their name and a statement about themselves that they have likely recited before.
However, more than that, the question favors those who either feel more confident to brag about themselves or have experienced more unique situations in their life. Not everybody has the same feeling about their circumstances, and somebody hearing their peers brag about exciting trips or some incredible discipline-specific opportunity may make them feel inadequate.
2. Two Truths and a Lie
“Two Truths and a Lie” is a game where an individual says three statements about themselves, with two of them being true and one of them being untrue, and the rest of the group goes around the circle to try and guess which one is the lie.
This is a better version of “The Fun Fact” but shares some of the same pitfalls of prioritizing those who have more confidence in their life experiences. However, it does encourage more engagement as a group. This activity can work in small groups, but should likely only be used if courses expect the students to express themselves often and significantly.
Easy Introduction Icebreakers
1. Asking Their Topic of Study
Ask your class to state their name and what they chose to study. Go around the circle until everyone has had an opportunity.
This activity is an alternative to “tell me about yourself” that removes the issue caused by its inequality. Despite how basic this question is, it is easy to tailor to the specificity of the course or level of instruction. In order to help your students understand the level of specificity you want, start the introduction with yourself.
For example, in courses that see a lot of students from different disciplines, invite them to say their discipline (or one that they hope to focus on, depending on enrollment requirements). This will help students connect with those who share an interest or may even be together in other courses without knowing it.
In courses that are more focussed, encourage a more focused response. For example, a History course can encourage students to specify “I am studying Industrial-Revolution Europe” or “I am studying political pamphlets in Industrial-Revolution Europe” depending on the level of specificity students would be expected to know about their studies.
2. Asking Low-Stakes Questions
If you prefer the structure and efficiency of “The Fun Fact,” you can also have your students present more specific information about themselves. In this icebreaker, students go around the group and say their name as well as an answer to a question that you pose. You will find that some strong options focus on media. This allows students to find shared interests more than similar opinions. Some possibilities are:
What is a guilty pleasure show/movie/book for you?
What show/movie/book/podcast are you going through right now?
What song do you get stuck in your head?
What is your ideal pairing with fries? Is it on top or on the side?
What is a figure, real or fictional, that you would like to have lunch with? NOTE: You might want to preface this with something related to the course to avoid people giving answers that may not fit the atmosphere you want to create, such as a recently passed loved one.
Icebreakers for Pairs and Small Groups
3. Wingman for a Peer
Have your students form pairs and talk to each other for a few minutes. Then they reconvene as a group and introduce their partner. If you feel it will be helpful, include a template, such as
“Have you met [name]? They’re from [place] and [fun fact]. Bonus: Include a connection between both members.
This gives most of the same information as “Tell me a fun fact about yourself” but removes the main issues. The students form pairs, so there is more of a connection between them; they introduce another person, so there is less focus on what the individual thinks is important about themselves; and they speak about a subject rather than themselves, so there is less social pressure to do it perfectly.
4. “This or That”
Make a list of a few options and read them out to the group. Each student goes to one side of the room based on their choice out of the two. Encourage people to say why they chose it if you would like to have more engagement. For this activity, you will want to prepare a list of contrasting pairs. You can provide general pairs or tailor them to the content of the course.
Some examples of general pairs:
Chocolate or Vanilla
Milk Before Cereal or Cereal Before Milk
Movies or TV Shows
Toilet Paper Over or Under
Computers/phones on Light mode or dark mode
This activity works well for large and small groups. The largest restriction is your room has to have enough space for people to easily move from one side of the room to the other. If you can move any desks in the room to the side, this may help. If you are not sure what the layout of your room is or if the desks can be moved, then you may not want to do this activity.
Icebreakers for Large Groups
5. Poker Hand
For this game, students are given cards and are challenged to make the best poker hand by forming a small group with their peers.
You will need a standard deck of playing cards for this activity. Shuffle the cards and pass them out to each student. Students are given a few minutes to go around the room and join groups with another person with the goal of forming the best poker hand. This activity can be done with groups up to 50 people, but works best with 15+ students. Ideally, you will be able to have students form equal groups of 5, but there are different ways to modify this game to groups.
If you have access to a projector, you should display the ranking of different poker hands during this activity. There are two variations that work best for this game:
Texas Hold ‘Em – Present the entire class with 5 cards from the deck. The students then form pairs to make the best hand they can alongside the five cards you presented to them.
Five Card Draw – The students can form any five-card combination they can with their peers. This works best with groups divisible by 5, but you can participate or sit out to make groups of an appropriate size.
6. Headbands
In Headbands, each participant is given the name of a prominent figure, usually from pop culture, and can ask basic yes-or-no questions about their character to figure out who they are. Once they know the character or person, the student can still talk to their peers to help them figure out their character. This activity requires a lot of preparation unless you have the students create their own cards before shuffling and distributing them.
As a caution, since the activity relies more on a figure than the real person in your group, it is not always the best way to get people to know their peers. It is a fun activity that can help them open up, but may not be suitable for groups unlikely to share the same pop culture knowledge.
For this activity, you can have people wear the paper on their head or affix it to their back with clothespins/tape.
Icebreakers to Get Your Groups Involved
7. A Fermi Problem
Named after the renowned physicist, Enrico Fermi, a Fermi problem poses a question to your group and requires them to solve it using limited information and estimation. While you can have your students address the question individually, a Fermi problem works best for groups of 3-7 people. Come up with a question in advance and prepare to show it to your students. Before presenting them the question, have them split into small groups of your desired size. Give them the question and make sure to be clear that they are not allowed to look up any information online for the solution. Their only resource is the information they have as a group. After 10-15 minutes, reconvene and have them say their answer as well as their reasoning. This activity works best if you find the answer in advance to tell them after, but you can also allow the group to vote on what answer they think is most accurate after everyone has presented.
Sample questions:
How many piano tuners are there in Toronto?
How many windows are there on campus?
How many words are on the average bookshelf?
8. Three of a Kind
The goal of this game is to form groups of three with something in common between the three of them. This should not be a physical attribute so the groups will get to know each other better.
Your students are given a few minutes to go around the room and form a group of three with other members of the course based on a non-physical thing they all share. It could be an interest, something about their pets, or anything that they come up with during the duration. After the activity is over, one member of the group introduces the trio to the rest of the course and states their shared connection.
If you would like to keep the game going, you can play again with additional restrictions such as not being allowed to form a group with any members of their previous trio.
9. Introduction Bingo
To use bingo as an icebreaker, find or create a bingo sheet that includes characteristics that your students have to find in their peers. The goal of the game is to get one complete line in the allotted time. This activity can likely be done in around 10-15 minutes.
This activity will require some preparation in advance. You will need to print off a bingo sheet for each member of the course and ensure that you have extra writing utensils in case the students do not have any with them. Ideally, your students should be able to complete a line of bingo without reusing a peer for multiple spaces. However, if you find yourself using this activity for a smaller course, you can use other limits such as a peer can only be used twice.
There are bingo sheets available online or you can create your own. Below is a bingo sheet that has been tailored to be appropriate for most undergraduate university courses. It can be printed as one or two boards per page.
Icebreaker Bingo Board
Feel free to print out this board and use it for your courses.
If you are looking for additional support with navigating introductions and building rapport, please consider booking an appointment with us. If you are unable to book an appointment with Trillium Academics, there will be members of your institution that can provide guidance on this topic. Trillium Academics strives to provide you with information to best serve your needs.
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