Icebreaker questions offer a fun and easy no-prep way for kids and teens to get to know one another. They’re perfect for the first day of school, but you can also use them with campers, sports teams, youth groups, and at morning meetings.
To help you use these questions effectively with any group, we asked Claire English, Founder of The Unteachables Academy, to share her top tips for icebreakers. She’s also sharing her 15 favorite icebreaker questions. Follow Claire on Instagram (@the.unteachables) for more ways to engage with students in your classroom!
Tips for Using Icebreaker Questions
Claire English (@the.unteachables) has been working with tough teen crowds in her classroom for more than a decade. In that time, she’s learned what icebreakers can and can’t do and how you can use them effectively with even the most skeptical group.
DON’T: Expect icebreakers to build immediate relationships.
“First we need to think about the purpose of icebreakers,” Claire advises. “To get to know each other? Well, if this is the only reason we do them, then we are failing at it. Students simply aren’t going to be able to get to know each other authentically from a few icebreakers. Some already know each other. You already know some of them. It can just get weird.”
DO: Use icebreaker questions to open the door for discussion.
“I change the purpose: to just open up some opportunities for authentic discussion and connection,” Claire explains. She uses icebreakers that open the door for community development and ongoing connection in the school year ahead.
DON’T: Put students on the spot.
Claire also points out that as kids get older, the social risk of icebreakers gets bigger. “It takes so much vulnerability to share about themselves,” she cautions. “I find questions work best when they allow students to share opinions and personality without forcing vulnerability too early. Students are much more likely to engage when the questions feel interesting, thought-provoking, or slightly unexpected rather than overly ‘performative.’”
DO: Give them time to think first.
“A lot of students, especially teens, become anxious during activities like ‘go around the room and share something about yourself.’ Often, they’re so worried about what they’re going to say that they aren’t even listening to anyone else,” Claire says.
That’s why she loves using icebreaker entry slips. Kids spend a few quiet minutes responding to the question on the slip in writing. “Then, when it’s time to share, students feel far more confident and willing to participate because they’ve already had thinking time and a scaffold to support them,” she explains.
DON’T: Choose icebreaker questions you’re not enthusiastic about.
“Don’t forget the most important piece—YOUR enthusiasm and energy,” Claire stresses. “If you don’t want to be doing it, there’s no way your students will want to be doing it.”
DO: Share your own answers to icebreaker questions.
Your students want to know more about you too! Choose questions you’ll feel comfortable answering. (And if you’re not comfortable, they might not be a good choice for students either!)
Top 15 Icebreaker Questions
“Here are a few question prompts I’ve found genuinely engaging because they spark opinion, imagination, humor, and deeper thinking without feeling overly personal or awkward,” Claire explains. “Less social risk is always better for the first day, and it should just be about opening up opportunities for a chitchat and a laugh without pressure.”
1. What do children know more about than adults?
2. If you could switch places with an adult for a day, what’s the first thing you’d do?
3. If all electricity was cut off for a week, what would you do for fun?
4. What do you think is the best thing about being the age you are right now?
5. What do you think is the hardest thing about being the age you are right now?
6. If you live to be 100 years old, what would you like to say you accomplished?
8. You’ve got one hour of free time. What will you choose to do with it?
9. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
10. If you could instantly master one skill without doing the work to learn it, what would it be?
11. How much homework do you think students should have, if any, and why?
12. Would it be more useful to be able to have conversations with plants or animals?
13. If you could go back 100 years and deliver one message, what would it be?
14. What’s a subject schools should teach but currently don’t?
15. What’s something important that can’t actually be learned in a classroom?
What’s Your Favorite … Fun Icebreaker Questions for Teens and Kids
Using these icebreaker questions for teens and kids to share what they like can help them discover what they have in common. For a fun twist, have them share their least favorites as well.
What’s your favorite:
Color?
Season?
Food?
Ice cream flavor?
Book?
Movie?
Game?
TV show?
Song or kind of music?
Place to vacation?
Class at school?
Time of day?
Joke?
Hobby?
Sport?
Holiday?
Pizza topping?
Thing to do after school?
Restaurant?
Who is your favorite celebrity?
Have You Ever … Fun Icebreaker Questions for Teens and Kids
These fun icebreaker questions are all about experiences—places you’ve been, people you’ve met, and things you’ve accomplished or tried.
Have you ever:
Had a pet?
Cooked your own meal?
Been in a YouTube video?
Performed onstage?
Played a musical instrument?
Been on TV?
Sold something you made?
Visited another state? Another country? Another continent?
Stayed up all night?
Gone camping?
Been on a boat?
Made your own clothes?
Met a celebrity?
Climbed a mountain?
Won a contest?
Broken a bone?
Talked your way out of getting in trouble?
Seen a shooting star or the northern lights?
Eaten a bug?
Swum in the ocean?
Imaginative Icebreaker Questions
Set your imagination free as you discuss these intriguing and fun icebreaker questions.
If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
Where and when would you travel if you had a time machine?
What is your dream job?
What would you do with a billion dollars?
If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
What would you most want to be famous for?
If you ran a TV or streaming channel, what kinds of shows would you air?
Choose parts of three different animals and put them together to make the ultimate animal.
If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
If you could change one law, what would it be?
What character from a movie, TV show, or book would you want to be?
Describe your dream house, including its location.
If you could choose two book, movie, or TV characters to be your parents, who would they be?
If you could invent something to make life easier, what would it be?
If you were a ghost, who would you haunt first?
What would be the name of your ship if you were a pirate captain?
If your toys could talk when you aren’t there, what do you think they’d chat about?
How long would you last in a zombie apocalypse?
If you had a human body but the head of an animal, what animal would you pick?
Would You Rather … Icebreaker Questions for Teens and Kids
This is one of the best ways to get a conversation going! Some of these Would You Rather fun icebreaker questions will make kids giggle, while others will encourage them to open up and share.
Would you rather …
Be able to fly or be invisible?
Travel to the moon or go to the deepest part of the ocean?
Have a pizza without sauce or without cheese?
Be incredibly tiny or the largest thing on Earth?
Ride an elephant or a zebra?
Have a million dollars or get to travel anywhere you want for free for the next five years?
Would you rather spend all day inside or all day outside?
Grow up immediately or stay a kid forever?
Give up your phone or never have dessert again?
Have a pet dragon or a pet unicorn?
Have really long legs or really long arms?
Be able to talk to animals or read people’s minds?
Be too hot or too cold?
Live in a tiny cabin or a giant mansion?
Write a novel or train for a marathon?
Be a cat or a dog?
Never have to do homework or never have to take tests?
Be rich or famous?
Live at Disney World or have a water park in your backyard?
Be a superhero or be able to do magic like a wizard?
Have to spend a day crawling everywhere or a day walking around backward?
Live in a house made of LEGO or one made of gingerbread?
Swim in a pool filled with chocolate pudding or one filled with root beer?
Do the dishes or mow the lawn?
Make your own clothes or grow your own food?
Go into the past to meet your great-great-grandparents or into the future to meet your great-great-grandchildren?
This or That Icebreaker Questions
Cats or dogs?
Summer or winter?
Ice cream or cake?
Reading or writing?
Swimming or hiking?
Movies or books?
Morning or night?
Super strength or super speed?
Drawing or painting?
Board games or video games?
Pizza or burgers?
Bicycle or skateboard?
Beach or mountains?
Science fiction or fantasy?
Music or podcasts?
Sneakers or sandals?
City or countryside?
Roller coasters or water slides?
Comedy or horror?
Dance or sing?
Pencils or pens?
Hot chocolate or coffee?
Dragons or unicorns?
Play sports or watch sports?
Science or history?
Roller skates or ice skates?
Fruits or vegetables?
Zoo or aquarium?
Sunrise or sunset?
Library or bookstore?
Board games or card games?
Art class or music class?
Indoor games or outdoor adventures?
Cookies or cupcakes?
Texting or talking on the phone?
Early bird or night owl?
Sandcastle or snowman?
Comedy show or concert?
Homework or housework?
Math or English?
Superheroes or wizards?
Plan everything or be spontaneous?
Mountains or beaches?
Trains or planes?
Salad or sandwich?
Long summer or long winter?
Movies at home or at the theater?
Ice cream in a cone or in a cup?
Hat or sunglasses?
Go to a play or a musical?
Eat in or take out?
Guitar or piano?
Fiction or nonfiction?
Cartoon shows or live-action shows?
Water park or theme park?
Mystery book or adventure book?
Team sports or individual sports?
Camping or hotel stay?
Online shopping or shopping in a store?
If You Could … Icebreaker Questions
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
If you could meet any historical figure, who would it be and why?
If you could be any animal for a day, which one would you choose?
If you could live in any book or movie world, which one would it be?
If you could switch lives with anyone for a day, who would it be?
If you could invent something new, what would it be?
If you could perform onstage with any artist or band, who would it be?
If you could learn any language instantly, which one would you choose?
If you could play a professional sport, which sport would you choose?
If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
If you could bring any fictional character to life, who would it be?
If you could live in any time period, when would it be?
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
If you could be a character in a video game, which one would you be?
If you could open a business, what kind of business would it be?
If you could make one rule that everyone had to follow, what would it be?
If you could have a magical item from any story, what would it be?
If you could go on an adventure like in the movies, what would it look like?
What Would You Do if … Icebreaker Questions
What would you do if you found a wallet on the street?
What would you do if you saw a classmate being bullied?
What would you do if you could be principal for the day?
What would you do if you woke up and discovered you could fly?
What would you do if you were given $1,000 to help others?
What would you do if you were invisible for a day?
What would you do if you got lost in a big city?
What would you do if you found a stray animal in your neighborhood?
What would you do if you could change one rule at your school?
What would you do if you won a trip to any destination of your choice?
What would you do if you were the last person on Earth?
What would you do if you could create a new holiday?
What would you do if you found out your life was a movie?
What would you do if you could swap talents with anyone in the world?
What would you do if you found a magic lamp with a genie inside?
What would you do if you could go back in time to witness any event?
What would you do if your favorite fictional world became real?
What would you do if you received three wishes with no catch?
What would you do if you could talk to animals?
What would you do if you had the power to heal any illness?
More Fun Icebreaker Questions
Here are some more questions that help kids get to know one another!
What would your theme song be?
Describe the last time you laughed really, really hard.
What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
If you could be any age for the rest of your life, what age would you be and why?
What is the worst food you’ve ever eaten?
Where do you prefer to sit on airplanes?
If you could live someplace else for a year, where would it be?
What’s your favorite theme park?
What are you good at?
If you could try an adventurous activity like skydiving or bungee jumping, what would it be?
What do you think you’re best at and worst at?
If you had to delete all but three apps from your phone, which ones would you keep?
What three items (not people or pets) would you save if your house was on fire?
If you wrote a book, what would it be about?
What’s your earliest childhood memory?
What’s the best thing about being a kid?
How are you similar and different from your siblings?
How many people are in your family?
What is your favorite thing to learn?
What do you daydream about?
If you could fly like a superhero for a day, where would you go?
What is your least favorite chore?
What is something you noticed you improved in recently?
What is your favorite thing to do in each season?
What makes your family unique?
What is not real, but you really wish it were?
If you could make up a holiday, what would it be?
If you had to trek through the desert or the jungle, which would you pick?
If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be?
What makes you laugh the most?
Who is your favorite person?
Who is the best movie villain?
What do you do before bed?
If you could meet any famous person (past or present), who would you meet?
If you could do anything, what would you do today?
What do you think of school?
What do you love about your birthday?
If you had to pick a nickname for your family, what would it be?
If you were a superhero, who would you be? (Captain America, Black Panther, etc.)
What’s better, being a kid, teen, or adult?
What is your favorite sound in the world?
What technology or device could you live without (or not live without)?
Have you ever been to the beach?
What song do you hate that gets stuck in your head?
What is one thing you would like to learn?
What’s the best food you’ve ever made yourself?
What is your favorite thing to do outside?
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
If someone texted you right now, who would you want it to be?
What is your favorite smell?
What rule makes no sense to you?
If you worked at the zoo, what would you want to do?
Are you a breakfast person?
What is something your parents don’t do anymore, but you wish they still did?
If you could invent something new, what would it be?
If you could ask your favorite celebrity one thing, what would you ask?
What was something great that happened to you this week?
What’s the wildest fashion trend you’ve tried?
Do you prefer sweet or salty foods?
What’s your favorite emoji?
What song makes you feel like dancing?
What is your biggest pet peeve?
What is one weird thing you do (that other people may not do)?
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
If you had unlimited money for one day, what would you do?
What is one thing you’ve done that terrified you at the time?
What’s your favorite social media app?
What’s the strangest thing in your room right now?
What’s one adventurous thing that you’d love to try?
What motivates you?
What movie has traumatized you for life?
What part of adulthood are you most looking forward to?
If you had to karaoke one song, what would it be?
If you could do anything for a living, what would it be?
If you could put anything on a billboard for others to see, what would it be?
Who do you admire?
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
Are you a cat person or a dog person?
What’s your favorite subject in school?
What’s one thing no one in this class knows about you?
If your life were made into a book, what would the title be?
What is your ideal day?
What is your favorite time of day?
What was the last thing you bought?
What goal are you most proud of accomplishing?
What is one thing you have to do to fall asleep at night?
If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?
What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?
If you had $100 that you had to give away today, who would you give it to?
How many countries have you visited?
If you could own any company, which would it be?
Do you prefer the beach, forest, or mountains?
Are you a morning person or a night person?
If you started a club or group, what would it be about?
Have you ever won anything cool?
If you could ask any person in the world one thing, who and what would you ask?
Do you have any hidden talents?
If you started a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
Are you a person who likes to set goals like New Year’s resolutions?
If people started colonizing Mars, would you go?
Do you believe in ghosts?
If you met an alien from another planet and had to describe humans in one sentence, what would you say?
If you could time-travel only within your own lifetime, what time period would you go to?
What are three things you are grateful for in your life today?
When you are nervous, do you talk a lot or are you quiet?
If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
If you went on a trip and could only bring three things, what would they be?
What is the best gift you have ever received?
Where is the last place on Earth you would go?
Do you think technology improves or destroys our lives?
If you were to write a book, what would it be about?
What do you think is the meaning of life?
You’ve been granted a one-way ticket to another country of your choice. Where are you going?
What’s the last thing you did for the first time?
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Plus, check out Icebreaker Questions for Middle and High School Students That Really Work.
