First Day of School Get to Know You Activities Elementary

This post contains chapter links for your shopping convenience. Any purchases fabricated through one of our links earn us a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Equally an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. All creative ideas and opinions expressed are purely my own. Read our full privacy policy and disclosure for more information.

Set a friendly tone in your classroom with these 30 "Get to Know Yous" games perfect for dorsum to school or when welcoming a new student.

get to know you games for kids in the classroom

Welcome back to school! Your primary students are so excited to become to know yous because y'all take the fourth dimension to get to know them. You know their likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, good days and bad, and you lot withhold whatever negative judgment from their precious minds so that they will go along to love learning merely as much equally they love y'all.

It all starts with how you set the tone that very first solar day, with your welcoming smile, your enthusiastic vibe, and your power to set up high expectations in a safety space.

Become To Know You Games

How do you lot get to know them? Hither are xxx get to know you games for the classroom that will aid y'all acquire more than nearly your students, and they acquire nearly each other!

kids sitting in a circle at the carpet with the teacher

"Gallery Walks"

The main thought surrounding gallery walks is that you hang upwards pictures (a la an fine art gallery), and kids walk around, looking and talking most what they see and what they similar. In getting to know them, you tin have them walk effectually to come across their choices. So when you telephone call fourth dimension, they accept to go to their favorite. Conversations will occur while students are walking, then when they choose, and yous have them explain why. They could detect a kindred spirit in their love of dragons or of Mo Willems' Dove.

At that place are many ways you lot tin can put these to use in your classroom:

Volume covers — Share covers of popular titles like Curious George, Elephant and Piggy, Clifford, and more.
Actual art — Introduce your students to the masterpieces of Dali, Monet, and Picasso.
Animals — Share photos and pictures from the mythical creatures to elephants or even puppy dogs!
Quotes — Cull like shooting fish in a barrel to read quotes from books and inspirational figures that relate to your students.

"Get to Know You" Bingo

Bingo is a popular get to know you game, but there are many variations. Fill up the card with items and words, then have your students walk around finding a classmate to sign a foursquare. It makes the perfect "Get to Know Yous" game! One time once again, yous could use this in many means:

Pre-fill the card with every pupil'due south name — Students need to detect their classmate with that name.
Images of household pets, colors, local attractions, clipart of family members — The goal would be to observe students with that household pet, who likes that color, has been to that attraction, has a sister, etc.
Use words instead of images, and follow the rules from above.
Distribute blank Bingo cards — Provide guiding questions to your students, and have them fill in the squares then detect someone with the aforementioned involvement. Because of the increased difficulty, maybe create your card with fewer rows.

Get to Know You Games for Introductions

These get to know y'all games have ane common denominator — they ask students to state their name and reply a question.

Hot Potato – Have an object that you pass effectually, and when the timer goes off, the student with the potato speaks.
Musical Chairs – Identify chairs in a circumvolve facing outward (but make certain there is 1 less chair than students), play music, and when yous cease, the educatee without a chair speaks.
Move If – At that place are many names and variations of this game. In one case once more, have chairs in a circle – plenty so that all students but one get one. Have the chairs facing inward with i pupil in the centre. The student says something similar "I have a dog," and all students with a dog have to get up and move to some other chair, leaving another student in the eye, who may accept a hamster, and the movement continues.
Don't Become Stuck – Set upwardly chairs similarly to "Move If," but give the educatee in the center a brawl. The student calls out another educatee's name and puts the ball on the basis. All students have to motility to a new seat (brand the rule that it can't be correct next to them). The elected student has to become and grab the ball. If anybody is, then they are "stuck" in the middle and take to call a new name. If not, the person can phone call out a new name of someone not in a chair. The round is over when everyone is seated except for the "stuck" pupil.

Art Integrations

Many of the easiest and most engaging forms of get to know you games involve art! Check these out.

Spiderweb – Bring in a skein of yarn and have your students sit down in a circle. The person who begins has to say something virtually him or herself. If another student has the same in common, the skein of yarn is rolled/tossed to that student, who then says something new. C until every educatee is holding some of the yarn, symbolizing that the class may be total of differences, but they all have a mutual thread to unite them.
Paper Dolls – Cut out paper dolls of similar sizes, anything from life-sized to half-dozen inches tall. Each student will color their doll. Y'all tin can have them be life-like drawings, or you tin have them attach symbols of what they like. And then take the finished dolls and hang them upwards attached at the easily to represent that they are unique but united.
Museum Exhibit – Assemble a slew of magazines and cut-outs. Provide these to your class and give each student a poster lath or a bigger canvas of paper. Students are to create an exhibit from these items expressing their likes and dislikes and more information about them.
Get to Know You lot Lunch – Provide each student with a lunch-sized brownish bag. The student takes it dwelling and returns the next day with items that stand for them. You may want to include rules such as how they shouldn't bring in any living things or nutrient that tin spoil. I say this from experience!

Movement Activities

Questioning Beach Ball – There are two ways to practice this. Commencement, though, you demand to get a beach ball. Write questions on the embankment ball. Toss the beach ball, and students take to answer the question their right-hand touches. Ask one guiding question that all students respond to when they catch the ball.
Four Corners – Have questions with four potential answers, such as ruby-red, orange, imperial, or pink every bit a favorite colour. Students accept to motion to the corner that has their favorite color. If they have a different favorite color, and then they either have to choose their favorite of the 4 mentioned or wait in the centre and say what it is.
This or That – This is very similar to 4 Corners, except at that place are two options. For case, go to one side of the room if you like cats, the other if you like dogs.
Partner Cards – Create a gear up of cards and so that each educatee gets one card; however, this set is different. Each menu has a partner. For instance, one card would be a film of peanut butter, and the other would be a picture of jelly. Different sets could be a washer and a dryer, toothbrush and toothpaste, rain and lightning, and so forth. Students walk around the room looking for their partner, talking near their pictures and themselves the whole time.
Scavenger Hunt – Create a scavenger chase with the primary parts of your room from different learning stations, to the calendar, to the fine art supplies, etc. Accept something at each station, such equally stickers or stamps, that they put on their card to marking things institute.
Carte du jour Tower of Commonalities – Divide students into small groups and give them a set of index cards. The end goal is to build the tallest carte du jour tower. The take hold of? Before they tin can employ a card, they need to find something in common and write it on the card.
Jenga – You can buy modest sets of this game at most dollar stores. If they are out of stock, I've read that you can take sponges and create a cheaper version. Kids play the game as instructed. However, each cake has a question on it OR a number to correspond with a question. Post questions on the lath or a sail.

Question Activities

The Nutty Proper noun Game – Country your proper name with an adjective or another word that starts with the same letter. Go around the room repeating each name and their word.
Interview and Report – Have a set of questions to take your students ask one another, and then have the students written report what they learned. Variations: Accept kids create the questions to inquire.
Why/Why/Why – For each answer, the student has to ask "why" at least once and upward to three times. This way, we go across the fact that Jane likes cats, simply we now know that she loves them considering her neighbor had kittens who were soft and sweet, and she got to play with them regularly.
Wordsearch – Create a give-and-take search with all of your students' names on it and accept it waiting at each desk. As they enter, they can begin working on information technology. Eventually, they won't be able to resist helping i some other find words, exclaiming who they are and whatnot. Groovy time-filler for that kickoff day equally you are waiting for everyone to appear!

Luck of the Draw

M&Ms or Skittles – Take students grab a handful of this yummy candy. Assign each colour a category such as favorite animal, family unit information, etc. For each piece of processed, a pupil has to share data from that category.
Toilet Newspaper – Students accept as many squares of toilet newspaper as they want. You can tell them to grab a few or say to grab plenty for them to survive a hike where they'll become potty. For each square grabbed, the student has to share something.
Dice – Create vi guided questions that correspond with the numbers i-half dozen, or ii-12 if you want to use two die. Have students scroll the die and answer the question associated with each number. It can be washed equally a form or in smaller groups with a shout-out of what was learned in the end.

There are so many fun ways to go to know your students this year! Try these 30 get to know you games for the classroom at the start of the year or equally icebreakers throughout the year.

Back to School Community Edifice Resource

Assist kids get to know each other and build important social and emotional skills with theback to school social emotional learning resources, the perfect companion to your start of schoolhouse lesson plans. It includes mini-lesson ideas and engaging activities that build connections in the classroom and teach important social and emotional skills to children during the most important time of year!

Theheed+middle SEL back to school resourceand activities will back up kids equally they learn to exist positive members of the classroom community, develop self-awareness, build new relationships, and act with kindness and empathy. Click HERE to check it out!