Engaging Icebreaker Questions for Students: Sparking Connections and Building Community

Accountants know numbers, and doctors understand medicine, but student affairs professionals are the (unofficial) experts on icebreakers. Icebreaker questions don’t need to be as scary - or boring! - as they seem. They are designed as simple team-building activities to help ease employees or groups into a little team bonding. Good icebreaker questions are also the perfect complement to virtual team building for remote teams. The right questions can foster or strengthen connections, reduce doubt or anxiety, and encourage team members to speak openly.

This article offers a comprehensive collection of icebreaker questions designed to charm any group of students, foster connections, and create a relaxed and engaging environment, whether in person or remotely. These questions allow students to boast about themselves, articulate their hopes, and laugh over shared quirks.

Quick and Easy Icebreaker Questions

When time is limited, these questions require only a few words to answer, yet they can help participants discover mutual interests and passions.

…TV character?
…Song lyric?
…Water bottle brand?
…Candy bar?
…Cereal?
…Type of cookie?
…Type of sandwich?
…Ice cream flavor?
…Comfort food?
…Disney or Pixar movie?
…TV show or movie from your childhood?
…Scent?
…Chain store or restaurant?
…Holiday?
…Fictional villain?
…Emoji?
…GIF?
…Meme?
…Historical event?
…Weird fact?
…Kitchen utensil?
…Word?
…Board game or card game?
…Music video?
…Season?
…Dance move?

Deeper Dive Icebreaker Questions

These questions dip a little deeper than “favorites” but should still be pretty easy for most students to answer.

What was the first movie you ever saw?
What was your first internet username?
Who did you admire as a kid?
What job did you want as a kid?
What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten?
What’s the first trend you remember loving?
What’s a canceled TV show you miss?
What was the best gift you’ve ever received?
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
If your life had a theme song, what would it be, and why?
What is the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
What’s the coolest thing you remember learning, and how did you learn it?
What’s your proudest accomplishment from high school?
What’s the first book or children’s story you remember loving?

Self-Exploration Icebreaker Questions

College is all about self-exploration, and even a simple icebreaker question can highlight that idea.

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What is a talent or skill you wish you had?
Which Olympic sport would you most want to compete in?
What is a TV show, movie, or book you enjoyed recently and would enthusiastically recommend?
What activities were you involved with in high school?
What is a TV show, movie, or book you love that most people hate?
What job would you most want, if pay and prestige didn’t matter?
What job would you least want to have?
What’s your go-to Karaoke song?
What talent or accomplishment would you most want to become famous for?
What’s one topic you almost never get tired of talking about?
If you could teach everyone here a new skill, what would it be?
Who would you want directing the story of your life?
What do you love most about (your institution’s name)?

Hypothetical Dilemma Icebreaker Questions

Although students are unlikely to ever face these wonderous dilemmas, they’re still fun to imagine. Some will challenge students to identify their values, others might lead to spirited debates, and many will simply be good for laughs.

…Be able to pause, rewind, or fast-forward your life whenever you want?
…Be able to communicate with all animals or understand every current human …language?
…Be able to breathe underwater or fly?
…Be able to control space or control time?
…Be able to see ten minutes into your own future or ten minutes into the future of …anyone but yourself?
…Be a centaur or a mermaid?
…Go into the past and meet your ancestors or go into the future and meet your great-great-grandchildren?
…Win an Olympic gold medal, a Nobel Peace Prize, a Grammy Award, or an …Academy Award?
…Have a horse’s tail or a unicorn’s horn?
…Lose the ability to lie or always believe everything you’re told?
…Experience the beginning of planet earth or the end of it?
…Live in an amusement park or a zoo?
…Be able to see the future or change the past?
…Know when you’ll die or how?
…Be able to talk to the dead or be immortal?
…Be able to taste colors or see smells?

Imaginative Scenario Icebreaker Questions

Similar to the above questions, this set challenges students to use their imaginations and showcase their creativity.

…Were an ice cream flavor, what would you be, and why?
…Could have any superpower, what would you want, and why?
…Could instantly become an expert in any subject or field, what would that be, and why?
…Could time travel to any year, past or future, when would you pick, and why?
…Could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?
…Could host a party with three celebrities, living or dead, who would you invite, and why?
…Could adopt any animal, including rare species and fictional creatures, what would you adopt, and why?
…Could live in any fictional world or land, what would that be, and why?
…Hosted a talk show, who would you want to interview as your first guest?
…Could cast anyone to portray you in the story of your life, who would that be, and why?
…Had to wear the same t-shirt with a word or phrase on it for a year, what would you want that word or phrase to be?
…Knew you wouldn’t fail, what one thing would you do?
…Had to star in a reality show, which should would you pick, and why?
…Wrote a memoir, what would the title be, and why?
…Met the Wizard of Oz, what would you ask for?
…Could instantly learn another language without studying it, which one would you pick?
…Could hang out with a fictional character for a day, who would you pick and what would you do together?
…Were the last person on Earth, how would you keep yourself entertained?
…Won the lottery, what is the first thing you’d buy?
…Could bring back any fashion trend, what would it be?
…Had to be stranded on a deserted island with either your worst enemy or no one, which would you choose, and why?
…Could name a newly discovered planet or star, what would you name it, and why?
…Could add anyone to Mt. Rushmore, who would that be, and why?
…Could be adopted by any fictional family, which would you pick, and why?
…Met an alien, what’s the first question you’d ask them?
…Could invent a new word, what would it be and what would it mean?
…Could have the world’s largest collection of anything, what item would you want that to be?
…Could break any world record, which would you pick?
…Were stuck in a Zombie apocalypse, what three famous people would you want on your team?
…Could go back in time and meet your five-year-old self, what would you what to tell them?
…Had to have three songs represent your personality and life, which would you select?

Icebreaker Questions for Kids

Using the right icebreaker questions, you can draw out the students in your classroom and help everyone get to know each other a little better. Here are some ideas for questions that help students get to know one another, start conversations, and spark their imagination.

Getting-to-know-you questions

What kind of music do you like?
What’s your favorite sport to play?
Where were you born?
Tell me about the pet(s) you have, or the pet you wished you had.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
What instrument(s) do you play, or do you want to learn?
What’s your favorite YouTube channel?
Which cartoon character do you wish was real?
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re alone?
Do you have any hidden talents?
How would you spend a rainy day?
Who is your favorite superhero?
What’s your favorite line from a movie?
What’s the most unusual thing in your school bag right now?
Is your personality similar or different to someone else in your family? If so, how are you the same or different?
What’s the most meaningful gift you’ve ever received? OR What’s a meaningful gift you have given?
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
What was your favourite book you read this summer? OR What is something that you learned how to do this summer?
What’s the first thing you do in the morning?

Icebreaker questions to start conversations

What’s one thing that made you laugh recently?
If you could ask your favorite celebrity one thing, what would you ask?
If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If you could invite four famous people to dinner, who would you invite and why?
If you could visit any planet, where would you go and why?
If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
If you could trade places with a character from your favorite movie or TV show, who would you choose and why?
If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?
What do you think makes a good friend?
What’s something you have in common with the person next to you?
If you were a famous person, what would you be famous for?

Would you rather questions

Would you rather play sports or watch them?
Would you rather be part of the Incredibles family or the Weasley family?
Would you rather live in a world of legos or a world of cartoons?
Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon?
Would you rather live in a house made of cheese or a house made of cookie dough?
Would you rather be a mouse or an elephant?
Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?
Would you rather live at Disney World or Sea World?

Questions to spark the imagination

Imagine you discover a beautiful island where you decide to build a new society. What is the first rule you put in place?
If it was raining meatballs, would you eat them?
If you could pick 3 animals to put together and create a new animal, which animals would you pick? What would it be called?
If you could be any emoji, which one would you be?
If you were a superhero, what would be your superpower?
If you had a time machine that could only work once, what point in the past or future would you visit?
If you were running for president, what would your campaign slogan be?
If you had a TV show about your life, what would it be called and who would play you?
If you had to create a nickname for yourself, what would it be?
If you had a robot to help you with school, but it could only do one task, what would it do?

Icebreaker Activities for Different Age Groups

Using these icebreaker questions, you can help your students feel comfortable with each other. Even the shyest students can have fun with these questions (especially the sillier ones). This sets the whole class up for a fun, collaborative school year.

Icebreakers for Elementary Students

For your youngest students, icebreaker activities should help guide conversations and let kids see how much they have in common, as well as how each student is unique.

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Marco Polo with Icebreaker Questions

This fun twist on the classic game Marco Polo allows your students to get up and move around the classroom while getting to know one another.

In this game, one student closes their eyes and, instead of saying ‘Marco’, asks an icebreaker question from the getting-to-know-you list above. Then, the other students must answer the question honestly, allowing the student whose eyes are closed to figure out where they are and tag them. When a student is tagged, they take a turn closing their eyes and asking an icebreaker question.

Getting-to-Know-You Chain

This game helps students see how much they have in common with their classmates.

One student starts by asking who else in the classroom shares a quality, like, dislike, etc. with them. For example:

Who has an older brother like me?
Who likes baseball like me?
Who is an only child like me?
Who likes chocolate ice cream like me?
Whose favorite superhero is Spiderman like me?

The student asks these types of questions until they find at least two other students who have something in common with them. These two hold hands with the first student on either side to form a chain.

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Then, the students at the end of the ‘chain’ must ask similar questions to find students who share something in common with them.

This continues until the whole classroom is linked together in the chain. (For a socially-distanced version of this game, have the students stand in a row with space in between them instead of holding hands.)

Favorite Animal Sounds

Every little kid has their favorite animal. But how many students in your classroom have the same favorite animal?

In this game, ask each student to think of their favorite animal. Then, they must make the sound of that animal.

As the students all make animal sounds, each student must group together with the other students in the classroom making the same animal sound. While some kids may be shy about this at first, soon your classroom will erupt in a cacophony of crazy animal sounds.

This fun animal game gets kids moving and being silly together, helping them shake off those first-day jitters and feel comfortable with each other.

Icebreaker Questions for Elementary Students

If you could get rid of one food forever, what would it be?
What’s one food you love that most people hate?
What’s one food you hate that most people love?
What’s your favorite thing to do after school?
If you could keep any animal as a pet, what would it be?

Icebreakers for Middle School Students

Middle schoolers are a bit older, a bit wiser, and a bit more self-conscious. Those first-day nerves may be even worse for middle school students, meaning you’ll need to work even harder to make icebreaker questions a fun first-day activity (not another embarrassing middle school moment they’ll remember forever).

Chip In

This game helps students answer questions by making it a game but also gives students the option not to answer if they’re embarrassed or shy. You can also allow students to submit questions they would like to answer themselves or know about their peers - vetted by you, of course. This could help give them greater comfort knowing what questions could be asked.

Start by printing off your chosen icebreaker questions on cards and putting them all into a hat or box. Students gather in a circle, and each starts the game with 10 of something, such as marbles, coins, or game chips.

The goal: Get rid of all your chips as soon as you can.

The first player draws a question from the box and reads it out loud. If they answer the question, they put a chip in the middle of the circle. If they choose to pass and not answer the question, they must take a chip. Whenever a student passes on a question, another student can “steal” the question by putting their chip in the middle of the circle and answering the question themselves.

Whoever gets rid of their chips first wins, which helps encourage all the students to answer questions and thus get to know each other better.

Fidget Spinner Icebreaker Game

Love them or hate them, fidget spinners have become more popular than ever. But now you can use them to break the ice with your middle schoolers.

Have your students sit in a circle in the classroom with the fidget spinner in the middle. One student gets to spin the fidget spinner. Most spinners have three wings, so when it stops, it will be pointing at three students in the circle.

The student who spun the spinner gets to choose an icebreaker question (or pull one from the box, if you’ve printed them out), and the three students the spinner is pointing to must answer the question.

Icebreaker Questions for Middle School Students

If you started your own YouTube channel, what would it be called and what would your videos be about?
What’s one thing you want to learn this year (either in school or outside of it)?

Classroom Icebreakers for High School Students

Your high schoolers are getting older, and they’re preparing for life as adults. With that in mind, they’re probably not interested in some of the sillier icebreaker activities we discussed for younger students (although the Marco Polo with icebreaker questions and Chip In games can easily be adapted to a high school setting if the students are willing).

Jenga Questions

Because who doesn’t love Jenga?

For this game, get a Jenga set and write out an icebreaker question on each piece. Then, gather your students to play Jenga! Whenever someone takes out a piece, they must answer the question that’s written on it.

Although Jenga has no maximum number of players, you may decide to use more than one set so that your students have a chance to answer more questions.

Introducing: You!

This icebreaker activity helps your students get to know each other right from the get-go.

Start by pairing up your class into teams of two. Then, each pair spends some time asking each other questions and getting to know each other. To help get the ball rolling, you can provide a list of getting-to-know-you icebreaker questions that your students can use.

Then, each student gets to introduce their teammate to the class using the information they gathered while chatting.

This is a fun way to help your class get to know each other and get the school year started on the right foot.

Icebreaker Questions for High School Students

What’s the best piece of advice someone has given you?
If money was no object, where would you choose to live?
What’s the strangest career you’ve ever heard of?
What’s one book you read that had a big impact on you, and why?
If you had to spend a month without your phone, what would you do?

Icebreaker Ideas for a Virtual Learning Setting

Unfortunately, many schools will not be able to start classes in a physical classroom this year. So, how can you introduce icebreaker activities to a virtual classroom?

Here are some ideas to help your students get to know each other and feel like they’re part of the class, even when they’re not physically together:

Would You Rather Game with Emoji Responses

Using our list of would you rather questions above (or your own list!), you can create a virtual game to get to know your students.

If you’re using a platform like Zoom where students can send emojis, have your students respond to the would you rather questions with emojis. For example:

“Would you rather go skydiving or scuba diving? If skydiving, respond with the thumbs-up emoji. If scuba diving, respond with the heart emoji.”

During the game, keep track of how students responded to each question. Then, at the end of the game, have your students guess which answers were more popular.

Muted Get-to-Know-You Questions

Additional Icebreaker Questions

Here are some additional icebreaker questions categorized for different purposes:

Quick and Lighthearted

What's your star sign?
Do you have a lucky number?
What format was the first album you purchased?
What’s the oldest piece of clothing you own?
What's your favorite icebreaker question?

Thought-Provoking

What do you want the older generations to know about teenagers right now?
What is your favorite memory with your best friend?
Which would you explore: outer space or the ocean?
What dessert would you choose to eat for the rest of your life? Why?
What name would you rather have? Why?
You were just given a million dollars. What would you buy first?
If you could live someone else’s life, who would it be and why?
Which superhero do you wish was real?
What is your best idea for new technology?
You can be invisible for one day, what would you do?

Funny

If you were to choose a fictional family to be with, who would they be and why?
If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would it be and why?
Which celebrity do most people say you look like?
You can only eat one food throughout your lifetime, what is it and why?
If you were to get stranded on an island, would you rather be alone or with your enemy?
What superhero power would you like to have and why?
Would you go with aliens if they arrive on Earth? Why?
What was the worst fashion style you have tried?
If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
If you were famous, what would you be famous for?

Breaking the Ice the Right Way

Muse career coach Ravi Raman points out how crucial questions are to an event as low engagement can waste time and lead to bad results (Borsellino, n.d.).

To break the ice properly, facilitators must:

Determine what needs to be accomplished first. Do these questions target to make people laugh or impress others with their ideas?
Think of the audience. Questions must be significant to the people watching the activity (Bell, n.d.).
Consider certain situations. Consider if participants already know each other, where they come from, if they just met each other for the first time, and so on.
Let participants take their time. Make sure they have the time to think about their answers well and share them. However, giving them too much time can affect the actual activity. Giving them 5 to 20 minutes is enough for them to feel at ease to talk about more important topics (Edwards, n.d.).
Consider each participant’s comfort level. Do not ask questions about religion, sexuality, or ability levels. If someone opts not to answer, move on to the next person. It is also safer to ask two sets of questions so that participants can choose which one to answer.
Find out what works. Through trial and error, facilitators and participants will eventually find out what types of questions work and do not.
Enjoy. These questions are meant to help people loosen up. Do not pressure people too much when they answer or decline to answer.

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