When you hear the words “first day of school,” do you cringe, get butterflies, smile, or maybe cry? The first day of school is one of the most important days when building relationships with students. Teachers must use this valuable time together to get to know each student on a personal level. One of my favorite, low-key activities is would you rather for kids. I am an introvert, and the word “icebreaker” gives me anxiety on the spot, so I always make sure my activities for first day of school are low-pressure, fun, and don’t require a lot from my students. Here are other blog posts about Spanish activities for First Day of School and Digital Icebreakers!
Would You Rather for Kids
Get to know your elementary, middle, or high school students with icebreakers questions for kids with “would you rather” cards. I am a high school teacher, and this is my go-to first day of school activity. With would you rather questions for kids, my students don’t have to come up with their own responses; heck, they may not even need to speak to convey their response! Would you rather questions are the perfect first day of school activity. I’ve compiled 3 lists of Would You Rather activities: Let’s move, Virtual (or for introverts in the classroom), and Classic! Check out my 15 would you rather for kids activities below! For my Would You Rather sets of cards in English or Spanish, click here!
I’ve compiled 3 lists of Would You Rather activities: Let’s move, Virtual (or for introverts in the classroom), and Classic! Check out my 15 would you rather for kids activities below!
LET’S MOVE
If you teach high school, icebreakers for teens can seem daunting. They may seem “too cool for school” and not want to participate. Been there, taught that! That’s why you need icebreakers games that get your high school students out of their seats and away from their comfort zone. Once they let their guard down, especially with Game #1 on my list, you will actually get to know your students much better than with the classic versions.
For middle and elementary teachers, those kiddos are dying to get out of their seats! These are the icebreakers games for you!
1. La Tomatina fight or snowball fight
My fellow Spanish teachers will know that La Tomatina is an annual tomato fight in Spain. On the first day of school, I always recreate La Tomatina by playing Would You Rather in Spanish, and I print out my questions on red paper. After teaching my students about La Tomatina, we crumple up the paper and I play Latin music while students throw the “tomatoes” at one another. When the music stops, they pick up the tomato closest to them, open it up, and answer the question by talking to the person nearest to them. They may seem hesitant to throw paper in the classroom, but they warm up after a few minutes! For classes that are not Spanish, you can have a “snowball fight” with white paper or even just have a “paper fight!”
2. Gallery Walk
Print out the would you rather questions and post them around your classroom. Play music as your students walk around the classroom. Once the music stops, your students will stop in front of the question they are closest to and respond to the question by chatting with the students around them. Play some fun Latin music that gets the students comfortable and moving around.
3. Two Sides
Divide your classroom in half. You can put big #1 and #2 on the walls or A and B. Shout out the would you rather question or display the question on the projector. After students hear the question, they will move to the side of the room that corresponds to their response. Then, have them discuss with their peers why they chose that side. You can also have one or two students then share out with the class. More advanced language students could even debate or defend their responses.
4. Surveys
Print out the Would You Rather questions and put them in a hat or basket. Every student picks one question out of the hat and surveys the class by asking each student their response. They will keep track of the responses on a piece of paper and then make a bar graph or pie chart and share the results with the class at the end.
5. Post-Its
On large pieces of construction paper or poster paper, write out the questions. Post these large posters around the room. Give all of your students a handful of post-it notes. They will write their name on the post-its and then walk around the classroom. As they walk around, they will read the questions and stick their post-it to the side of the paper with their preference.
VIRTUAL ICE BREAKERS (also can be done in the classroom, especially for introverted students!)
6. Fingers
You will need to put the questions on a Google Slides presentation (or PPT) and label each response with the number 1 or 2. When you ask the question, your students will hold up one or two fingers to share their response with the class.
7. Zoom Annotations
Again, you will put the questions on Google Slides. Share your screen with the class. When students are ready to respond, they will use the annotation tool to either “stamp” on the side of the Slide with their response or they can type their name so it is more personalized for you to get to know the students’ preferences.
8. Jamboard
Similar to Zoom annotations, but you will put the questions on a Google Jamboard. Now, all of your students have access to the presentation and can type their name or add a post-it to the side with their response. This could also be done with Pear Deck so all students move at the same pace with you through the presentation.
9. Mentimeter
Turn the Would You Rather questions into Mentimeter questions. With Mentimeter, you create the presentation ahead of time, then during the live class, share the code with your students. They will respond to the questions and on the projector, you will share the results as they come in live in bar graph form. It is a great visual representation of your class’ responses.
CLASSIC ICEBREAKERS
10. Hot potato
Make a circle with the chairs in your room (or just have the students stand in a circle). You will need to print out enough Would You Rather cards for half or all of your students. Pass them out to your students, then play some music. This is great for world language classes, as you can play target language music! When the music starts, the students pass the cards, then when it stops, they hold onto the card they have. They turn and talk to the people next to them about the question.
11. Colored Papers
Pass out two different pieces of colored paper to each student. Share the questions with your students on the projector screen. Each response should be color coded with one of the two colors you passed out. When you ask for their response, they hold up the corresponding color. Your class will have a great visual of the responses!
12. Speed dating
Your students should form two lines, facing one another (Line A and Line B). You will either read or project the question on the board. Students will talk to the person in front of them about their response. Row A should always stay in the same spot, but Row B will move to the right one spot after the question is answered. This allows students to switch up partners and meet new people!
13. Create Your Own
You can have students create their own would you rather questions for the class and then you can have them play any of the other games and activities on this list! They will love to hear each other’s funny would you rather questions. It is a great way to bring laughter into the first day of school.
14. Do Now Questions/TOTD
You can extend the life of your Would You Rather questions by making your Do Now or Ticket Out the Door each day a new question. This is perfect for the first week or two of school. It always takes me a few weeks to get the students’ names, personalities, and interests down anyway so this sets aside time each day for get to know you activities to continue without taking up too much time.
15. Small group conversations
As a world language teacher, I have my students sit in small groups of 4 or 5 students to encourage frequent communication in the target language. On Day 1 of class, you can begin by giving each group a handful of question cards to discuss. This may be better for more advanced classes, since you cannot directly monitor each group all of the time. On the other hand, it allows you to sit with each group and get to know them on a more personal level!
Additional Tips for Would You Rather for Kids Questions!
Ask follow up questions to get to know your students even more! As your students are playing, make sure you circulate around the room, or jump into small group conversations. If the question is “Would you rather build a snowman or make a sand castle?” and a student says make a sand castle, ask them if they went to the beach this summer, their favorite vacation spot, etc.
Use these cards throughout the year, not just on the first day. These cards can be a great Brain Break activity – and remember even high school kids need breaks too! Throw a question up in the middle of your Slides presentation to break up a block class or take a 5 minute break to do one of the Let’s Move activities.
Laminate the cards if you plan to use them as posters or conversation cards. You’ll be able to use them year after year, making your back to school planning even easier.
Most importantly, have fun with your students. Would you rather for kids questions are meant to be low pressure, make you laugh, and encourage conversation. Take advantage of this time to really get to know your students.
Don’t forget to check out my would you rather for kids questions that come in English & Spanish.
If you want to share your teaching ideas with the world and are not sure how to start, take a look at these 7 helpful tips of how to blog and create your own teacher blog!
Here are some other teacher blogs with great back to school activities:
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