Breaking the ice with a group of teenagers can be both exciting and challenging, but with these engaging and dynamic icebreaker games for teens, you’ll have them laughing, bonding, and creating unforgettable memories in no time.
Meeting new people can be an awkward and nerve-wracking experience for anyone, especially teens! They feel nervous or fearful to mingle, open up, and make new friends.
That’s why this list of icebreaker games is very useful for anyone regularly dealing with groups of teens!
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How Can Teens Benefit From Icebreaker Activities?
Icebreakers are great in helping people get to know each other better. These lighthearted games and activities can help teens by:
- Helping calm their nerves down. – Some icebreakers require all participants to speak up or do activities. Since everyone is doing them, and most icebreakers don’t have a right or wrong answer anyway, engaging in them may help reduce the anxiety your teen feels in a new or unfamiliar setting.
- Encouraging teens to share something about themselves. – Some icebreakers require participants to share a bit of information about themselves. For example, “Never Have I Ever” games tell others which activities your teens haven’t tried yet, while “Would You Rather” games reveal something about their preferences.
These great stepping stones will allow others to get to know your teens better. Additionally, finding similarities with others can easily be the first step towards your teen forming new friendships!
- Getting them to work with each other. – Many icebreakers require cooperation and teamwork to achieve a common goal. In a classroom setting, this helps the students prepare for collaborative work, but that also works for outside the classroom too.
Whether it’s to win the Selfie Challenge or untie themselves from a Human Knot, teens will have to work in a group setting to win.
This exposes them to situations where they must listen and communicate well with others or even display leadership skills if necessary. These abilities will serve your teens well and carry them far in life!
10 Fun Icebreaker Games and Activities For Teens
Here are icebreakers for teens that you can choose from! Feel free to adjust the materials and mechanics depending on the number of teens you’re working with and the nature of the activity you’re all in.
Human Bingo
Find someone who fits these Bingo criteria!
Materials Needed:
- Several pre-made Bingo cards
- Pens
How to Play:
- Start the game by giving each teen a pre-made Bingo card and pen.
- Next, explain to the group that, within a set time limit, they need to find a person who meets the criteria in each box and have that person sign their name. Only one person can sign each box!
- The first teen to get a full BINGO wins a prize.
- Alternatively, go for a blackout game, and the teen who gets signatures in all of the boxes first, wins.
Two Truths And A Lie
Make your lie believable to win!
How to Play:
- Ask the group of teenagers to form a circle.
- Call someone to stand in the middle of the circle.
- This person should share three things about themselves with the group. The catch is that only two of those statements are true, while the other is a lie.
- The rest of the teens try to guess which statement is false.
- When someone calls out the correct answer, the first person gets to sit, while the next person in the group gets their turn.
- Alternatively, you can draw their names from a hat, so the order is random.
- Repeat the game until everyone has had their lie detected by the group!
Three Things in Common
Teens might just be more similar than they think!
How to Play:
- Divide the teens into three groups (or more if you’re dealing with a large group).
- Give them 5 minutes to find three things they have in common. It can be anything, such as:
- Favorite color
- Favorite artist or song
- Country they’d like to visit
- Each team will designate a speaker to share their three common things with the bigger group.
- You can do up to three rounds, shuffling the teams each time and repeating the process.
Shoe Exchange Icebreaker
Get to know one another with this game of switch-a-roo with a shoe!
Materials Needed:
- One shoe from each teen
How to Play:
- Ask the teens to leave one of their shoes by the door.
- Next, ask the teens to form a circle.
- Take the shoes by the door and give each teen one, making sure not to give them something that belongs to them.
- Inform the group that within the next 5 minutes, they must find the shoe owner around the room and have a 2-minute interaction where they introduce themselves and share a piece of wacky/funny/weird information about themselves.
- Alternatively, you can give them a conversation starter, such as, “What is your favorite holiday memory?” Or, “Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?”
Sit Down Icebreaker
The last teen standing wins!
How to Play:
- Prepare a list of sentences beginning with “Sit down if…” Use funny or strange phrases, like “you’ve walked into a chair while texting,” or “you ever drank expired milk,” or even regular ones like “you’re wearing a striped shirt today” or “you own an Instagram account.”
- Ask the teens to form a circle.
- Read from your list.
- The teens who find the statement true for them sit down.
- Continue reading from your list until only one teen is left standing.
- That last person wins a prize!
Clumps
Work together to win the game!
How to Play:
- Divide the teens into pairs.
- Have them sit with their backs to each other and their arms linked.
- Their goal is to stand without having to unlock their arms.
- Once everyone has finished, group the teens into four and repeat the process.
- Keep doubling the number until all the teens are linked and are trying to stand as one big group!
Candy Q&A
These sweet treats hold a secret for your teens!
Materials Needed:
How to Play:
- First, designate what each color will require the teen to do, but don’t disclose them until all the teens have selected their candies. For example:
- Green – share a line from their favorite movie
- Red – share which holiday is their favorite
- Yellow – tell a joke
- Blue – sing a few lines from any song
- Ask the teens to form a circle.
- Place the candy in a bowl and pass it around. Each teen should take about two or three pieces.
- After the whole group has picked their candy, let them know what each color means.
- Everyone then gets to do the task based on the colors that they have.
- Once they’ve completed the challenge, they can eat their candy!
Song Scramble
Find the missing lyrics and sing the song to win the game!
Materials Needed:
- Several strips of paper with lyrics from popular songs
How to Play:
- Form groups of 5-6 teens.
- Before the game starts, prepare by writing out portions of lyrics from several popular songs. 5 to 6 words per strip of paper will do. (if your group has 5 people, have 5 strips of paper)
- Scatter the papers on the floor.
- Have a group grab one strip of paper per person.
- Their goal is to find other teens who hold the continuation of the lyrics that they have.
- Once they’ve all assembled, they should sing the song out loud.
- Time each group. Whoever sings the song right the fastest wins!
Human Knot
This game encourages teens to exercise patience, teamwork, and communication to complete the challenge!
How to Play:
- Divide the teens into teams with about 6-10 people each. Let them form just one circle when dealing with a smaller group.
- Instruct each person to reach across the circle with both hands and grab the hands of two different people. Make sure they are not holding hands with the person directly beside them. Once everyone holds hands with two different people, the result will be a tangled “knot” of interconnected arms.
- When the team members are all tied into a knot, they aim to untie themselves without unclasping or reclasping their hands. Participants can bend, twist, and lift their arms to help unravel the knot.
- The group that untangles the knot successfully and the fastest wins the game.
Selfie Challenge
These selfies may not be Instagrammable, but still… say cheese!
Materials Needed:
- Phones with a front-facing camera
- List of tasks
How to Play:
- Before the game starts, prepare a piece of paper with the list of tasks for each group – up to four tasks that the teens will do. These tasks involve places or things the teens should take a selfie with (i.e., a fire hydrant, a pink flower, a pine cone). Just be sure these items will all be found within the venue!
- Divide the teens into small groups, about four or five people per team.
- Give each team their list of tasks.
- Instruct the team that all the selfies they take should have the place or thing assigned to them and all the team members clearly visible in the picture.
- The team that finishes all their tasks and shows you their selfies wins.
Use These 10 Icebreaker Games for Teens to Get the Good Times Rolling!
To help them get to know one another better, using any of these perfect icebreaker games for teens should do the trick! They can help calm your teens’ nerves and are also great opportunities for self-expression and cooperation.
By doing these activities together, they may find new friends that can last them a lifetime!