13 First-Day-of-School Icebreakers for High School Students

It's important to start building community in the classroom as early in the year as possible and keep it up all year long. What better way to do that than with some fun icebreakers for high school students?

Try these high school getting-to-know-you activities

These getting-to-know-you activities for high school students encourage collaboration and creativity. They also give students the chance to practice their writing skills, hone their math vocabulary, and tell stories using images. To get icebreakers for every grade level, plus first-day routines, classroom management strategies, and more ideas for starting the school year off right, check out our collection of back-to-school resources.

1. Video introductions

In a classroom filled with 30 kids, there are bound to be some who dread the self-introduction. They’re put on the spot and may go blank when asked to think of something clever to share about themselves. Why not allow them to create a video introducing themselves? Outgoing kids can ham it up for the camera and shyer kids get the chance to practice their introduction before sharing it with the rest of the class. Model a good introduction by creating your own video that tells students all about you. You might also provide a structure for students to follow:

• Tell the class your name.
• Describe a hobby or interest.
• Share a pet peeve.

2. Picture charades

Host a game of picture charades to encourage students to get to know one another. Students can draw the emojis on chart paper, Pictionary style. If students have trouble finding emojis that hint at the titles, suggest they use emojis to represent characters, scenes, and prominent images. If you’re teaching remotely, challenge students to text emojis representing their favorite book, TV show, or movie. Their classmates can then try to guess the title.

Examples:

👀 ⬅️ ➡️ (Look Both Ways, by Jason Reynolds)

👆🏼🌅 ⏰ (One Day at a Time)

🏈 🏆 🇺🇸 (All American)

📘 🧠 (Booksmart)

3. Say it in six

“For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” This was author Ernest Hemingway’s answer to the challenge of writing a complete story in just six words, or so legend has it. The result is a master class in using just a few words to pack a big emotional punch. Of course, six-word stories don’t have to be sad, they just need to be succinct. They can be inspirational (“From migrant worker to NASA astronaut”); funny (“Married by Elvis, divorced by Friday”); instructive (“Look mean; be nice to everyone”); and so on.

What real-life story would your students tell in six words? Tell them they can try writing a tiny memoir that aims to be inspirational, funny, or instructive, like the examples above. They might also express a state of mind (I feel ________.) Or they can construct a brief narrative (a sequence of events or a brief scene). Students who need more inspiration can find plenty of examples on the Six-Word Memoir Project website.

Once their memoirs are complete, have students read them aloud, or display them for the class to read. If classes are remote, make the memoirs available to all in a shared folder.

4. Would you rather...

Here’s a low-stakes way to get high school students talking. The activity allows them to share their interests and views without getting too personal. Separate students into groups of four. Provide each group with a different “Would you rather” question. Tell them they have five minutes to share their responses and explain their reasoning. Afterwards, have the groups share the number of votes for each option and top reason for the choices with the rest of the class. Then have the groups tackle a different question. Here are some “Would you rather” questions to use.
 

• Would you rather watch a comedy or a scary movie?
• Would you rather shop online or in a store?
• Would you rather play a video game or a board game?
• Would you rather take cooking classes or jewelry-making classes?
• Would you rather listen to music at home or go to a live concert?
• Would you rather take a selfie with a friend or with a pet?
• Would you rather have a phone that doesn't allow you to text, or a phone that doesn't allow you to watch videos?
• Would you rather have the ability to read minds, or the ability to move things with your mind?

You can simplify the activity by letting students move to the left side of the classroom if they prefer the first option and the right side if they prefer the second option. Then give them a few minutes to talk over their choices with classmates.

5. True or false

Here's an activity that often sparks laughter and surprise. Challenge each student to write three statements about themselves—two that are true and one that is false. Tell students they can focus on hobbies, unique experiences, quirky talents, or fun facts about themselves. Each student shares the three statements and the rest of the class debates which is false. The revelation of the false statement usually leads to fun follow-up questions, allowing for students to make deeper connections.

6. Common ground

Separate students into small groups. Then challenge them to to come up with at least three things they have in common. Here are some topics that they can compare:

• Entertainment: Favorite music, movie, TV show, or video game
• School life: Favorite subject, teacher, sport, club, or school event
• Personal life: Languages they speak, places they've traveled, holidays they celebrate
• Interests: Hobbies, passion projects, creative outlets
• Food: Favorite comfort food, best pizza topping, worst lunch item

Allow time for each group to share the three things they have in common with the rest of the class, or use an online collaboration tool for each group to post their findings. If you want to take the activity further, challenge students to come with a group name or design a logo that reflects their shared interests.

7. Classmate Bingo

If you're comfortable with students moving around the classroom, this activity is a fun and interactive way for them to discover what they have in common.

How to Play:

1. Distribute a copy of the Classmate Bingo sheet to each student.
2. Challenge students to find classmates who match the descriptions in the bingo squares (e.g., “Has a pet” or “Speaks more than one language”).
3. When they find a match, they should write that classmate’s name in the corresponding square.
4. Add this rule: students must talk to different classmates for each square.
5. The first student to complete five squares in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) shouts, “Bingo!”

Optional Tips:

• Set a time limit to keep the energy up.
• After the game, invite students to share something interesting they learned about a classmate.

8. Create a monster

The goal of this icebreaker game is to encourage kids to engage in spontaneous conversation, as opposed to responding to a particular prompt. Tell students the emphasis should be on communication, not artistic perfection. For students who say they're not good at drawing, encourage them to create their monster using geometric shapes. For example, they might draw a hexagon head, concentric circle eyes, trapezoid body, and isosceles triangle wings. They might also use three-dimensional shapes like cubes, cones, and spheres.

Part 1: Imaginative Drawing

1. Each student individually sketches a monster using their imagination.
2. Emphasize that the goal is creativity, not artistic perfection.

Part 2: Partner Communication

1. Pair students up.
2. One student describes their monster without showing it while the other tries to draw it based on the description.
3. After a set time (e.g., 5 minutes), they compare the new drawing to the original.
4. Switch roles and repeat.

Tip: Set a timer for each round to keep the activity moving and fun!

Discussion Prompts:

• What was easy or hard about describing your monster?
• How close was the second drawing to the original?
• What strategies helped with communication?

9. Monster mash-up

Here's a collaborative way to get the whole class getting to know one another while creating a single monster. See activity 8 if you want students to create their own.

Collaborative Monster Creation

1. Start with a blank sheet or digital canvas.
2. One student draws the first part of a monster (e.g., head or eyes).
3. Pass the drawing to the next student, who adds a new detail.
4. Continue until everyone has contributed.

Discussion Prompts:

• What’s the monster’s name?
• What are its powers, personality, or backstory?
• How did the group’s creativity evolve with each addition?
• What did you learn about your classmates while creating the monster?

10. Number facts pass

Begin this high school icebreaker activity by modeling it: State your name, and then name a number and one of its features—for example, "49" followed by "perfect square." Have a student introduce themselves and name a different number that shares the feature (for example, 64). The next student must think of a different feature for that number (for example, "even number"), and the next student must name a different number with that feature (for example, 12). Continue passing from student to student until everyone has named both a number and a feature. If necessary, remind them that they should also be introducing themselves when it's their turn to speak.

Depending on students' skill levels, consider requiring that every number be a fraction, decimal, expression, or imaginary number. If playing in person, students can randomly choose the next classmate who must name either a number or a fact about a number. This method can be adapted virtually by placing everyone’s name on a list and randomly generating names, one at a time.
 

11. Vocabulary categories game

Tell students that you're going to hold up a card with a math category—“2-D Geometric Shapes,” “Math Symbols,” or “Types of Functions”—and they each have two minutes to brainstorm a list of related terms. Make it a fun competition to see who can make the longest list. For an added challenge, require that students only think of terms that begin with a specific letter. After time is up, have students introduce themselves to one another and compare lists, circling the words that only they thought of. Who thought of the most unique words? If your students struggle with vocabulary, provide them with a list of categories and challenge them to name one vocabulary term for each category.

12. Dear future me

Have students write a letter to their future selves. Use an online platform like futureme.org (teachers get a discount) or simply collect and save the letters yourself. The online platform allows you to set the letters to “private” and to choose a delivery date (one year, three years, five years, or you can choose a specific date). A teacher who uses the tool explains the process in this video.

Students might consider including responses to the following questions in their letters:

• What keeps you up at night? Explain.
• What do you hope next year will be like for you?
• What is one thing you would like to accomplish by next year?
• What do you hope to be doing in five years? In 10 years?
• How do you expect the world to change in the next year? In the next five years?

13. Interest inventory

Use a free online polling tool to survey students and learn more about their interests and concerns. Here are some questions you might ask:

• What is a topic you’d like to learn more about?
• What is one thing that people your age worry about?
• What is one way you think the world can change for the better?
• Which career field would you most like to explore?
• What is a skill that you think all people your age should have?

Review responses for common interests and topics you can work into a lesson or unit. Maybe their idea about how to change the world for the better becomes a persuasive essay or a career interest becomes a research topic. Consider pairing up students with shared interests for collaborative projects.

For even more ideas, check out Writable for Grades 3–12. The AI feature can quickly generate icebreaker questions that can also be used as short writing assignments. 

More ideas for high school icebreaker games and activities

We'd love to hear how you help students get to know one another. Share first-day-of-school icebreaker games and activities for high schoolers with us via email at shaped@hmhco.com or reach out on Instagram.

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This blog, originally published in 2020, has been updated for 2025.