Energizers for Highschool

6. Lie to me
This energizer is a fun way to get to know your students better. Not just the
basics, like where they live or if they have a brother, but real stories and
anecdotes.

The students have to tell 3 facts about their life. Something that happened
to them. Two of them should be true, and one should be a lie. The other
students have to find out which one is the lie. You’ll be surprised what kind
of crazy things can actually happen! (Or how good your students can lie!)

7. Keyword music roulette

The teacher makes cards with a keyword on it. The keywords refer to the
lesson (you can also use the ‘Randomness widget’ from BookWidgets
instead of cards). The students go sit in small groups with a tablet or a
computer. You, or one of your students, picks a card. The groups have to
find a song title that mentions the keyword. The group that finds it first, may
play their song on the iPad.

This energizer connects keywords to songs. Students will remember your

lesson every time they hear the song or they will remember your keywords
by thinking back about that song.

8. Get on that chair

For this classroom game, students need to be flexible and balanced. For
every student, the teacher places a chair. All the chairs should be lined up in
a single line. Every student has to stand on a chair. Then, the teacher asks
them to go stand in a certain order. For example: “I want you to organize
yourselves from young to old.” The students now have to change places
without touching the ground.
With this energizer, the students get to know each other better in an
interactive way. The teacher can give other orders like: “from tall to small.”
or “from A to Z.” Every time the students have to change their positions
without pushing someone off the chairs. If you want to make it more
challenging, you can set a time limit.

30 Icebreaker Activities for High School and Middle School Students

Thrown into a group of teenagers who are total strangers? Whether you’re a teacher,
coach or a teen trying to make new friends, these 30 icebreaker activities are sure to
get students feeling more comfortable in a new situation.
Keep It Moving
It’s easy for students to tune out or get bored sitting down, so keep everyone moving
and engaged with these ideas.

1. Blobs - First, draw a category from a hat (i.e. color). Then, have students race to see
who can make a group of four to five the fastest based on a similarity within that
category (i.e. they are all wearing blue).
2. Line it Up - See how fast your group can get into an alphabetical line based on their
names. Better yet, split into boys vs. girls or two randomly assigned groups and race to
see which group can get organized first.
3. Move if You… - Have students sit in a large circle with one person in the middle. The
middle person calls out for a certain group of people to move — for example, “Move if
you have brown hair” or “Move if you have been to another country.” If the students fit
the criteria, they must run to a new seat in the circle. The one student left standing is in
the middle for the next round.
4. Play Catch - Have students stand in a large circle and play catch with a large beach
ball. The trick? Write get-to-know-you questions all over the beach ball and whoever
catches it must answer the question their hand rests on.
5. Giant Jenga - Buy a giant Jenga set and put a question on each block! Every time a
student pulls a block, they’ll answer a question — and there’s sure to be a lot of laughter
as students try to keep the tower from tumbling down!
6. Shuffle Your Buns - Make a circle of chairs with one empty seat. One person in the
middle of the circle must try to sit down while the seated students all shift down, moving
the empty seat down the line. The twist? Have someone call “switch” every so often,
forcing the people in the circle to switch directions and shift the other way. If the middle
person manages to sit in the empty seat, the person that was supposed to be moving
into it is in the middle.
7. Giant Knot - Create a shoulder-to-shoulder circle, and then have each student grab two
other hands from two different people across the circle. Now the entire circle must figure
out how to untangle the giant knot of arms and people without letting go.
8. Race for the Truth - Have each person stand on the starting line while a leader lists off
general facts. (For example, I have a dog.) If the stated fact is true for any of the
students, those students must move forward a step. Whoever crosses the finish line first
wins!

Organize school club volunteer opportunities with a sign up! SAMPLE.

Talk It Out
If you want to lead a discussion or learn more personal information about your students,
try one of these games.
9. This or That - As any parent will tell you, teenagers LOVE to argue. Ask silly would-you-
rather questions and have your group move to different areas based on what they
chose. Then, have them present their arguments and see if they can change the other
students’ minds! You’re sure to have some funny moments.

10. Pows and Wows - This is a great game to help a classroom or team of students build
camaraderie. Have each person share one good thing and one bad thing from their day.
It’s simple, but effective!

11. Who Am I? - Put a notecard with the name of a well-known figure on each student’s
back. Next, have the students walk around asking each other yes-or-no questions. First
person to figure out who they are wins!

12. World’s Worst - This game is good if you want to laugh. Pick a profession and have
each student say something that would be said by the world’s worst person in that
profession. For example, the world’s worst dentist might say, “Please, take a bag of
candy from the toy chest as you leave.”

13. Scars - This game is best in small groups. Have each student show a scar and explain
how he got it. For instance, “I got this scar from a paper cut because I was using a paper
sign up instead of SignUpGenius.” The students may have funny stories or they may
have personal ones. Either way, you will all learn a lot about each other.

14. Toilet Paper - Pass a roll of toilet paper around and tell each student to take as much as
they would like. Then, after some students have taken a huge amount, reveal that for
each piece of toilet paper they must say a fact about themselves!

15. Autobiography - For groups that need to be close knit, like a sports team or a drama
cast, have each person sum up their life in one sentence. It’s difficult — but you’ll learn a
lot about your new friends!

16. Candy Confessions - Buy colorful candy — like Skittles — and have each person take
a handful. Then, unveil that for each color, they must reveal a different type of fact about
themselves. For example, for each yellow Skittle, they must say a favorite food.
Get Creative
For students who love art or are visual learners, these colorful ideas are sure to be a
hit.

17. Blindfolded Self-Portraits - Blindfold all the students and have them (attempt to) draw
a self-portrait. Finally, take off the blindfolds and try to match the portraits to the people!

18. Architect - Give the students a bunch of silly materials (paper, Post-it notes, strings,
tape, wood, etc.) and then assign them to build small models of different objects in five-
minute increments — an elephant, a car, etc. Pick a winner each time!

19. Post-it Statues - Split your group into teams of five or six. Give each team Post-it notes.
In five minutes, they must cover one person in the group as completely as possible with
Post-it notes. Count which group got the most —then see who can get them all off the
fastest.

20. Bubble Gum Artist - Give each person two to three pieces of bubble gum to chew.
Then give them an index card and a toothpick. They must then make a bubble gum art
piece using just those things. Vote on which is the best!

21. Facts About Me - Give each student a blank template of a person. Then, the leader
gives the students instructions on how to draw on the self-portrait based on facts. For
example, the leader might say, “If you have a dog, draw a green shirt.” At the end,
shuffle the pictures and see if the students can match them to the correct person.

22. Name Pictionary - Have students write their names by drawing pictures of objects that
start with the correct letter. For example, someone with the name Ann would draw an
 apple, a nose and a nest. Then, have the group try to spell and guess each person’s
name.

23. Tattoo Parlor - Have each student draw a tattoo that they think accurately describes
them or includes one of their favorite things. Then, pin the pictures up and try to match
the “tattoos” with the people who drew them.

Collect donations for a silent auction with an online sign up! SAMPLE.

Use Your Head

This list of memory, improvisation and on-the-spot games are sure to give your brains a
workout.

24. Assassin - One student stands in the middle of a circle. The students in the circle know
that one person in the circle is the “assassin.” When the “assassin” sticks their tongue
out at a student, that student must pretend to die dramatically. Amid the commotion, the
middle person must figure out who the assassin is.

25. Rock Star - Split your group into two teams. When it’s their turn, each team must grab a
word from a bowl (words can be common ones such as rain, baby or sun) and try to sing
as many songs using that word as they can. See how long they can go until they run out
of songs using that word.

26. Desert Island - Each person goes around the circle and says one thing they would take
with them on a desert island. The next person must then name the items before them
and add their own item on. Keep going until someone makes a mistake!

27. Think Fast - Give students a few minutes and tell them to learn all the names they can.
Then split the group into two teams. Have one student from each team stand on either
side of a barrier (like a dark blanket or sheet). Make sure they can’t see each other, then
without warning, drop the sheet. The first person to say the other’s name gets a point for
their team!

28. The Number Game - Have the students sit in a circle and attempt to count to 10.
Explain that there is no set order or time for calling out the numbers. Anyone can call out
the next number, BUT if they say the number at the same time as someone else, the
group must start over. Once the group reaches 10, try to get to 20!

29. Rainbow Categories - Have two students stand up. Let the group pick a category (like
animals) and a color (like orange). The students must then alternate, trying to name
orange animals for as long as possible until one hesitates. When one person stops, the
other student wins.
30. What’s Different? - Students all pair up and get 30 seconds to memorize everything
about their partner’s appearance. When the time is called, they turn away from each
other and change something (i.e. take off a headband or button another button). Which
pair can identify each other’s changes the fastest?
9. Blind artist
One of my favorite games for students is definitely this one! Have your
students form pairs. The students can’t see each other. One student gets a
drawing you have prepared earlier. Ideally, the drawing should be
something relevant to what you are teaching.

The student holding the drawing needs to give good instructions to the
other student. The other students needs to draw it without being able to see
the original picture. If you want to spice up the classroom game, you can put
a variety of conditions to it. For example: no asking questions, must draw
with your non writing hand etc. Aren’t you curious about the results?

When you use this energizer as a revision activity, you let the pair explain to
the rest of the class what the drawing is about.

10. Jigsaw
Divide your students into four groups. Use four blank jigsaw puzzles,
available in arts and craft stores, and ask the groups to fill in the puzzle with
something they learned today. (Drawing, quote, wordcloud, etc.)

Afterwards, as a revision and energizer, you can let the students solve
eachother’s jigsaw puzzle. You can also design the puzzles yourself and let
the students make them. That will take less time. Another option is to use a
photo and make a jigsaw puzzle with BookWidgets.

Energizers for adult students

Even adults need to be encouraged from time to time. College or University
students don’t take breaks that often. That makes it harder to focus
sometimes. If you think they’ll dislike energizers for adults, you’re wrong.
Small classrooms work better though, but energizers in the classroom
always shake things up!

11. Likeable Lucie

Students think of an adjective to describe themselves. The adjective must
suit the student and must also start with the first letter of their name.

The students have to memorize every name. The first student just says his
name, but the second and the rest of the students have to name the
previous names before saying their name. The last students will have to do
the hard work.

For example: 1. Likeable Lucie - 2. Likeable Lucie and Precious Petra - 3.

Likeable Lucie, Precious Petra and Tiny Tom

12. Don’t answer

Ask the students to stand in a circle. One student starts by going up to
someone else. The student asks the other student a question. For example:
“What is your most annoying habit?” However, that person may not answer
the question, but the person on his left must answer. The answer doesn’t
have to be right. Students can make their answers as imaginative as
possible. Fun guaranteed!

13. Give a compliment

No one’s tool old for compliments! This energizer lets students feel better
about themselves by sharing compliments. Each student gets a paper on
their back. Every student has to write down a compliment on the paper on
the backs of every other student. They cannot miss a single one. Afterwards
the students can read their paper and all the compliments they have been
given.

14. Countdown
Students have to count from 1 to 20. There is one rule though: there is no
particular order. Students have to yell the consecutive number whenever
they want. But when two students yell a number at the same time, you have
to start counting from 1 again. Wonder how long it will take until you reach
20?

15. Be unique
This classroom game is about being unique and about getting to know each
other better. Everyone stands in a circle. Every student has to say something
unique about themselves. For example: “I have four brothers.” If another
student also has four brothers, the students who shared the ‘not-so-unique’
aspect has to sit down. The goal is to stand as long as possible and therefore
to share very special things about yourself that no one else typifies.

If these 15 examples of energizers aren’t enough, you should definitely take

a look at this website and this slideshow about energizers for schools. I’m
sure you will find some inspiration there. You can also take a look at these 5
fun back-to-school icebreakers for the first school day.
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