February 6, 2023
12 Icebreaker Activities for Adults
Icebreaker activities aren’t something you think about when taking your training to become an adult teacher.
If you’ve just passed your Level 3 AET, chances are you’ve spent most of your time on lesson planning and preparing for your new career.
But now your first day of teaching is looming.
You are prepared and ready to go except for one thing. You want your students to warm up to you and each other.
So, what can you do? Icebreaker activities.
A well-honed approach to breaking the awkwardness of these first few minutes can do wonders for the chances of your lesson’s success.
When it comes to icebreaker activities for adults, you should choose your approach with care.
Adults aren’t like children or sulky teenagers – a silly game can be disastrous. They are perfect for breaking the ice, but when teaching adults you would want to be careful choosing your game.
It’s not very easy to coax adults into doing something they don’t want to do, and a silly game will easily be cold-shouldered.
So which icebreaker activities can you use for adults? Let’s find out.
Icebreaker Activity #1: Expectations
This icebreaker activity is simple and allows you to learn more about your adult students, as well as introduce them to each other.
Start with introductions and ask learners individually what they hope to learn by taking this class.
You can also challenge their creative thinking by adding additional questions, such as what they will do if all their expectations are met at the end of the course.
Icebreaker Activity #2: Speed Greeting
Speed greeting is like speed dating without romance!
Ask everyone in the class to pair up. When you give the signal, they start talking for two minutes about something interesting that their partner has done. It can be adventurous or silly, as long as it’s interesting.
When you give the signal (whistle or clap), everyone switches partners.
At the end of the exercise, ask each of them about the most interesting thing they heard.
Icebreaker Activity #3: Instant Story
This is a very simple exercise to learn more about your class.
You can ask them each to find an object they are carrying and tell the class about why it’s special to them.
It can be something as simple as a wallet, necklace or hat. It’s a great way to learn about someone else’s life experiences.
Icebreaker Activity #4: If I could do over…
Ask your class about the roads they have travelled in their lives and what would be the one thing they wish they had done differently.
You can follow this up by asking them how that different path relates to where they are now, leading all the way up to them sitting in your class.
Icebreaker Activity #5: Stranded
This is one of our favourite icebreaker activities!
You start by posing a question to the class.
“If you found yourself stranded on a deserted island, who would you want with you?”
Ask them to choose three people.
Their choices will tell you and everyone else a great deal about them.
Icebreaker Activity #6: Two truths and a lie
This is another great introduction game.
Participants must introduce themselves and tell two true things about themselves and one lie. They can mix it up in any order.
Later, others in the group try to guess which statement was a lie.
This game can channel creative thoughts and liven up the classroom’s atmosphere.
Icebreaker Activity #7: If you had a superpower
Superheroes and superpowers never go out of fashion.
Ask your class if they could have any superpower, what superpower would they have?
Then, sit back and enjoy as they debate their answers!
This icebreaker is ideal when you want to start discussing something about science or mystery.
Icebreaker Activity #8: Three words
Three words is a very simple icebreaker.
You ask your students to write down the first three words that come to their minds after you say the name of a topic.
To relate this to your classroom activities, say the name of the topic you are about to teach and ask everyone to read their three words.
This gives you a great insight into how your class
You would know how your class feels about your topic – excited, confused, nervous?
Icebreaker Activity #9: People Bingo
This is one of the icebreaker activities that works well with adult educators.
Before you start People Bingo, you need to prepare a list of 25 different traits like:
- ‘drinks coffee instead of tea’
- ‘has a pet dog’
- ‘has a tattoo’
Make bingo cards out of these traits and print enough copies for everyone in the class.
Hand them out and tell everyone they have 20 minutes to mingle and find a person with a trait on the card.
They must get their signature on their cards once they find a match.
The first one to complete 5 boxes down or across will have to yell ‘Bingo’ to be declared the winner.
Icebreaker Activity #10: Find some common ground
This works best for small groups.
Give the group 5 minutes to write a list of everything they all have in common.
Tell them to avoid the obvious (i.e. “we’re all taking this course”).
When the time is up, ask each group how many items they have listed.
For fun, ask them to announce some of the most interesting items.
This is a great way of building team spirit and getting strangers to talk to each other.
Icebreaker Activity #11: “The one thing I am particularly proud of is…”
Divide the class into pairs.
Each person talks about him/herself to their partner, sometimes with specific instructions to share a certain piece of information.
For example:
- “The one thing I am particularly proud of is…”
- “The funniest thing i have ever seen is …..”
- “The nicest place I have visited is…”
After five minutes, the participants introduce the other person to the rest of the class.
Icebreaker Activity #12: Time Capsule
This is a good exercise for practising reaching a consensus and for team members to understand each others’ attitudes.
Have each member of the team list five items that they feel should be included in a time capsule that will be opened by another civilisation in five thousand years.
Each member of the team should then explain the reasons for their choice.
The team then determines which five objects should be included in the time capsule.
Ask each team to write their final choice of items on a flipchart and discuss and defend their choices with the class.
All of these icebreaker activities have the same goal. They aim to help your class bond with each other, as well as you as their teacher, and for you to gain their attention. Hopefully, you all have good fun doing them too!
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