8 Virtual Icebreakers – Back-to-School with Distance Learning

As educators, we understand the importance of building relationships with our students. However, teaching online poses a unique challenge in creating a sense of connection and community in the virtual classroom.

We want to share some fun and engaging virtual icebreakers teachers can do with their students to break the ice and foster a positive learning environment in their online classes. These activities will help teachers get to know their students better and encourage students to interact with each other and make meaningful connections in the digital world.

If you’re teaching online, these virtual icebreakers will be just what you need for back-to-school digital fun!

The virtual icebreaker games may look slightly different but are even more important to building human connection and community. Students learn better when they like their teacher and feel like their teacher likes them!

8 Virtual Ice Breaks for a Digital Back-to-School

Icebreaker games are a great way for elementary students to get to know each other and work on communication skills. Here are a few virtual icebreaker ideas that your students will love!

Check out some virtual icebreakers for the beginning of the school year!

1. Make a Selfie

There are some amazing ways to use technology today, and we know kids of all ages love to take good selfies. Teachers, of course, can model by making their own first! This process can be as detailed as you want.

Start by having students use their devices to take pictures of themselves. From there, you have a few options. First, you could have students insert their pictures into a Google Slide and add images representing them. Photos can be from their home or digital images that they find online. Each child could have a slide, and then you would have a great class project to build community!

Another option is using the Selfie feature on Flipgrid to decorate their selfies.

If you have a Bitmoji classroom, it would be a great place to “hang these” and help you learn student names!

Look at this YouTube video or blog post for information on creating a Bitmoji classroom. Keep teacher sellers’ and clipart copyrights in mind as you create and share these digital classrooms!

If you want to take this icebreaker to the next level, have students make inferences about the teacher or classmates based on their selfies!

2. Two Truths and a Lie (or a wish for younger kids)

This icebreaker is perfect for getting to know your classmates better. Each student takes turns sharing three truths about themselves and one lie. The others then have to try and guess which one is the lie. This classic, getting-to-know-you icebreaker can easily be with an online whiteboard!

Model the activity by making two truth statements and a lie about yourself. Students will vote to decide which is the lie! Google Forms are a simple way to see the results quickly!

Another option is to use Padlet for students to create their own two truths and a lie and have other students respond! Even better, jump on Flipgrid, do a video of your truths and a lie, and have the students do one as well. They can share their videos with their classmates and have fun doing it!

3. Scavenger Hunt

Learn a lot about your students and their environment by doing a scavenger hunt at a group meeting!

A really easy version of this is using colors. Find something blue, red, orange, etc.

Students can explain what they bring, giving the teacher insight into their lives! Make it a race. It’s also a good way to learn student names as they return their items!

Another option is a show and tell. Each student could share something they have at home that they love. This would be a great community-building and sharing!

To familiarize students with online research, have them do a virtual scavenger hunt using different research websites.

4. Roll a Die or Spin a Wheel to Select a Question

Number a list of open-ended questions, roll the die, and have students answer the question associated with the roll number!

Use virtual dice! Check out this one on Google. A spinner would work, too! Here is one called Wheel Decide.

You could do this in breakout rooms, allowing smaller groups to get to know one another. This could also be used to interview, collaborate, and introduce one another. Asking open-ended questions opens up endless possibilities.

Depending on the age of the students, these would make great writing prompts to share, or they could make drawings and snap a picture for you to save!

Here are a few questions you could include:

• Where in the world would you go if given the opportunity? Why
• Who do you trust the most? Why?
• What would you do if you won the lottery? Why?
• If you had a superpower, what would it be? Why?
• What do you like the most about virtual school? What about the least?
• If you were going to live on Mars, what five things would you bring? Why?

Would you like a few more questions? Here are 67 Questions to Build Community in an Elementary Classroom.

5. Guess Who?

This one is so fun! Have students create 3-4 clues about themselves and have classmates use their inference skills to try to guess who!

Flipgrid has this awesome pixelate tool that works great for this activity. Go to the “Disco Library” and search for Guess Who! Other options include using Google Slides, Google Classroom question tool, or Padlet for a discussion board!

6. Write a Story

Another great icebreaker that could easily be done virtually is students writing a story together! Google Docs is great for this! Splitting up the class into smaller groups would be ideal. Start with a story starter or picture prompt! This gives you a great piece of writing to determine where students are in writing!

Writing a group story is one of my 81 Sponge Activities. Many of these activities are great for a short time while waiting for students to join you online. Most of them can be done virtually!

7. Time Capsules

Time capsules are great tools to see how students grow and change throughout the year. Asking questions like, what is your favorite food or favorite song are simple ways to get to know your students and fun to look at in the future.

Time capsules are also a great opportunity to do some goal setting to help students prepare for their growth for the year! Scaffold the goal-setting for younger students by providing sentence frames and templates. I have a free one you can download to use with your students.

Time capsules can be done virtually in a few different ways. Flipgrid videos work and can be saved for viewing later. Google Slides can be done with minimal setup.

If you want a simple time capsule with just writing, try Padlet and save it for the end of the year! This would be a great reflection activity for students!

8. Kahoot!

Kahoot is a great and easy game tool for students. You can create your own or use a premade Kahoot; kids love it! You can easily share your screen, and students can split their screens to be in the virtual classroom and Kahoot simultaneously!

Make one about you and see if students can match your answers!

Take a look at more ways to use Kahoot here.

While these aren’t only for virtual classrooms, here are a few more ideas to get you started! For getting-to-know-you games, try “Would You Rather.” Community circle ideas include discussing favorite books, sharing jokes, or discussing things you’re grateful for. If you’re looking for icebreakers that challenge students, try giving them riddles to solve or tongue twisters to repeat.

Whatever icebreakers you choose, remember this is an important part of our new school year, even when virtual! Choose tech tools to help you build routines for the year and allow your students to try them without pressure.

Remember to remain positive, roll with the bumps in the road, and have an amazing virtual year!