Activities
The first day of school can be exciting and fun, but it can also cause nerves, especially for new students who don’t know anyone in their class. That’s where games come in! Start the new year with a few fun games to help your students introduce themselves and get to know each other. Not only will the kids have fun, but they will start their year off comfortable with one another.
Here are a few fun get-to-know-you games to add to your first-day-of-school plans.
Games for Elementary Students
1. Toss the ball
For this get-to-know-you game, grab a tennis ball, beach ball, or anything small that can be tossed back and forth. Think of a question to ask, such as favorite food, favorite color, or favorite animal, and toss the ball to the first student. That student shares their answer and then tosses it to the next student. Once everyone has shared, start over with a new question.
2. Would you rather?
Ask your students a get-to-know-you question, such as, “Would you rather have extra recess or a day off?” or “Would you rather eat school lunch or bring a lunch from home?” These questions are fun and help everyone get to know each other a little better. You can even modify this game with more abstract questions for older kids.
3. Blobs
Give your students a topic, such as favorite color, and have the students group up in “blobs” with other kids that have the same favorite. Repeat the activity with several topics. You can play a similar game by having the students line up by birthday or alphabetically by first or last name. As students organize themselves, they will also be learning facts about each other.
4. This or that
This simple but effective get-to-know-you game requires zero setup or materials. Call out two options, such as tacos or pizza, math or science, or books or video games, and have the students group themselves according to their choice.
5. If I were…
Come up with a list of “If I were…” questions for students to finish. For example, you might ask, “If I were a food, I would be…” or “If I were a fictional animal, I would be…” Have your students complete each statement and then give them time to share their answers with each other.
6. Adjective descriptions
Have each student introduce themselves, and then ask other students to come up with complimentary adjectives to describe each student according to the first letter of their name. If you have a Francis, perhaps the students can compliment with “funny,” or if you have a Sam, a compliment could be “smart.”
7. Make a quilt
Give each student a square of white paper and have them design their “quilt” square with things about themselves, such as who is in their family, whether they have any pets, and where they went on vacation over summer break. Have each student share their square as an introduction, and then hang them up to create a classroom quilt.
8. Show and tell
Before the first day of school, ask students to bring something special and meaningful to them to share with the class on the first day of school.
9. Go fish
Cut out several fish shapes from colored paper. Write a question, such as, “What is your favorite book?” or “What do you want to learn this year?” on each fish shape. Put the fish in a jar and have each student pull one out and answer the question. Learn even more about each other by playing several rounds.
10. Sit down
Have your students stand up at their desks and instruct them to sit down if a statement applies to them. For example, you could ask students if they have a pet dog. Those with a pet dog would sit. Have everyone stand up again to reset the game. Keep playing, asking new questions each round until the class has learned lots of new things about each other.
11. Colored circles
Ahead of time, cut out several large circles out of different colors of butcher paper. Arrange the circles around your play area. Give your students instructions, such as, “Go to the blue circle if you have a big sister,” or “Go to the green circle if you have a pet dog.” As students arrange themselves in the circles, they will also learn facts about each other.
12. Alphabet hopscotch
Before school, draw a large hopscotch game with a different letter in each square instead of a number. When it’s time to play, your students will hop and land on different letters, which their answer must start with. For example, if a student lands on the letter “C” and they are asked to name an animal they like, they would have to answer with an animal that starts with “C.”
13. High five
Instruct your students to high-five someone who has the same favorite color as them or someone whose favorite subject is the same as theirs. This requires students to learn things about each other before completing each high five.
14. Find four
This game requires students to move around the room asking each other questions. Give the students a command, such as, “Find four friends who have a pet cat,” and give the students time to find four friends that apply. Repeat with several commands so students learn a lot about each other.
Games for Middle and High School Students
15. Get to know you BINGO
Ahead of time, prepare a BINGO card with get to know you statements, such as someone who went to Europe over summer break or someone whose favorite color is blue. As students find someone who fulfills each square, they can write that person’s name in the square. See who can find five in a row or, if there is time, a blackout.
16. Introduce each other
Assign each student a partner and instruct them to learn each other’s names and three interesting facts. Once everyone has this information, ask each student to introduce their partner by stating their name and providing the three facts for the class.
17. Draw a portrait
At the start of class, ask each student to draw a quick picture of themselves. Collect the self-portraits, shuffle them up, and then hold one up. Have the students see if they can guess who drew the portrait. Once the students guess correctly, have students introduce themselves with their name and one or two facts about themselves.
18. Double circle
Have students arrange themselves in two concentric circles, one inside of the other with the kids facing each other. Set the timer for a minute or two and ask the students to introduce themselves to the person they are standing across from. When the timer goes off, the outer circle can shift over one person and the kids can start over with introductions.
19. Top five
Give your students a category, such as movies, foods, celebrities, or animals, and have them list their top five in that category. Have the kids share their answers with each other, and then give them a new category and play again.
20. Guess who said it
Ask your students a question, such as their greatest fear or future dreams, and have them write their answer on a slip of paper. Collect the slips and call them out one at a time, having your students guess who said what.
21. Two truths and a lie
Provide students with time to come up with three statements about themselves, but two must be true and one must be a lie. One at a time, students can share their three statements and the other kids can see if they can figure out which one is the lie. Remind students that their two truths and a lie should be innocent facts, such as favorite color or last book they read. This will help keep the activity from getting too political or cause any divisions among students.
22. We are alike
Break your students into teams of three or four and charge them with finding something that is true about all the team members. For example, maybe they all say chocolate is their favorite ice cream flavor or they each have a little brother. Once everyone has their similarity, have each team give clues to see if the other teams can guess how they are all alike.
23. Snowball fight
Give each student a blank piece of paper and ask them to write three facts about themselves on it. Once everyone has written their facts, the students will crumple up their paper into a “snowball.” Give the kids time to throw their snowballs around the room. On your mark, have each student grab one snowball and take turns reading the facts out loud. Everyone can then guess whom the three facts describe.
24. Partner Venn diagrams
Divide your class into pairs and give each pair a blank Venn diagram. Have the students work together to fill out their Venn diagram by writing things that are different about each other on the outer parts of the circles and things that are similar to each other in the center of the circles. Have each pair share their diagram with the rest of the class.
25. Toilet paper
Have your students sit in a circle and pass around a roll of toilet paper. Ask each student to tear off as many squares as they think they will need, but don’t tell them why. Once everyone has their toilet paper, they will go around the circle and share the same number of facts about themselves as squares they tore off. If a student tore off 4 squares, they will share 4 facts, and so on around the circle.
26. Candy share
Ahead of time, place multicolored candies in a bowl. Assign a question to each color. For example, a blue candy might mean favorite food, or a green candy might mean what they want to be when they grow up. Pass the bowl around and have each student choose one piece. Then reveal what question goes with each color and have students share their answers. Come up with new questions for each color and play another round. The kids can eat their candy when the game is over.
27. Selfie challenge
Invite students to share some of the selfies they’ve taken that also tell them something about themselves. Students might show a selfie to share about their best friend, their favorite restaurant, or where they went on summer vacation.
28. Make a playlist
Ask each student to choose a song that describes something about themselves. Make sure you remind the students to choose school-appropriate songs! Allow the students to play a few seconds of their song and explain how it connects to them.
Pick one of these get-to-know-you games to help your students start the new school year off with confidence!
