Classroom Icebreaker Activities for the New School Term
Posted by EYR Team on 1st Sep 2025
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Returning to the classroom after 6 weeks of summer can be daunting for both children and teachers. Why not ease into the new school term with some fun icebreaker activities? Icebreaker games can be a great way to reintroduce children back to the school setting and encourage them to be social, make friends and feel more confident to learn. In this blog, we share a handful of different activities for you to try in your classroom, whether this be at the start of a new school year or whenever you feel they are needed!
Icebreaker Games
1. Partner Portraits
Partner portraits are a great way to encourage communication between children. As this activity requires children to pair up, it is also a good way to encourage friendships by pairing children who dont know each other.
Child 1 will have one minute to interview Child 2 and find out as much as they can in that time. At the end of the minute, Child 1 will then have two minutes to draw a picture of Child 2 showing as many things as possible that they learnt in "the interview".
For example, if Child 1 mentioned that they love the rain and the colour purple and have a cat, the picture that Child 2 draws would depict all three of these elements around the drawing of Child 1.
Remember to swap turns after each go and repeat as many times as you like with different partnerships!
2. All about Me snap
A great way for children to introduce themselves is by…introducing themselves. Turning this into a game of snap is a simple yet effective way of taking the pressure off the situation and introducing a little fun into the process.
Ask your children to write some key attributes down on individual pieces of card or paper. Perhaps provide them with set things to answer such as what their favourite colour is, what their favourite food is or if they have a sibling.
Then pair children up and introduce a classic game of snap using the pieces of card or paper that contain the details all about them. As children play they will find similarities and differences between them that will naturally evoke further conversations and will act as a great icebreaker for children to socialise and make friends.
3. Conversation Cubes
Using conversation cubes is a good way to encourage even the shyest of children out of their shell. Each side of the cube offers a different prompt for conversation therefore taking the pressure off little children to think of something to talk about.
Children take turns rolling the cubes either in a group or pairs and answering the questions that they are faced with.
If you don’t have conversation cubes – then these could easily be made using paper or card and adding your own questions.
4. A Collaborative Art Project
Creating art together is another way in which children can get used to their cohort, encourage communication and team working. Why not consider creating a "Classroom Goals" poster for your classroom display? This is a great activity for the start of the new school year to get your class aligned on expectations in the classroom.
Depending on the size of your class this could be several posters worked on in teams or one big display worked on altogether.
5. Make a spaghetti and marshmallow tower
This popular STEM challenge is a cheap yet effective activity that will encourage teamwork, problem-solving and communication in your class. Once complete it will also provide your children with a sense of achievement that can be shared with their new classmates.
You can either do this as a whole class activity or divide the class up into groups depending on the number of children you have.
You will need:
- Dried sticks of spaghetti
- Marshmallows
- Sticky tape
Rules: The task is straightforward, simply challenge your children to create the tallest tower that they can by using the resources provided.
6. Positive Affirmations
To start the new term off on a positive note – why not encourage your little ones to complete some positive affirmation worksheets? This is a great way for children to explore their sense of self, identify what makes them happy and make them feel motivated to start the day/week/year!
Also available in our free downloads are:
- “What I want in a friend” cut and stick activity – something that children could complete and compare to establish similarities and differences
- “Random acts of kindness bingo” to encourage a positive and kind classroom environment where children are rewarded for positive behaviour
- “kind and unkind sorting” – an activity to further reinforce positive classroom behaviours
We would love to hear your tips, tricks and icebreaker activities to help children settle and make friends in the new term. Share your ideas with us on social media by using the hashtag #ExploreWithEYR