Ice Breaker for Back to School
Ice breaker activities can help make your students feel more comfortable. If you are like me, you know the feeling of uneasiness that comes along with walking into a room full of people you don't know. I ran into that at the recent Teachers Pay Teachers Conference in Vegas. It was 800 people I had never met, and although I warmed up to everyone, it took some mingling to help make that happen.
Mingling is a great way for your students to get to know each other on the first day of school. I have used lots of different ice breaker activities over the years, one of which is the 'get to know your classmates scavenger hunt'. It's a fun activity, but many of the kids have done it before. In an effort to change it up a little, I came up with my version, which is called Bubble Gum Buddies. It's the same concept, but it's bubble gum themed and the kids get to chew gum while they walk around. I also included a version without gum chewing just in case anyone was forbidden to have gum in the classroom. Bummer if that is the case! Keep in mind that it's only about 25 minutes of gum chewing and bubble blowing, so it's not too big of a deal. Have your camera ready because it is going to make for some cute pictures.
