Middle school icebreaker questions, games, and activities incorporate all the things tweens typically like to do and talk about. Get kids talking about themselves and to each other with fun icebreakers made for this age group.
Icebreaker Questions for Middle Schoolers
Icebreaker questions for kids can still work for the middle school crowd, but some older tweens might find them too immature. Icebreaker questions for this age group should be fun and trendy, but also dig deeper like creative "Would you rather?" questions. You can use these question suggestions at school, at home, or as youth group icebreakers.
Tween Back to School Icebreaker Questions
Since many tweens head off to a new school building or wing for middle school and may be combining with kids from different elementary schools, it's important to help break the ice on the first day of school. Write a question on the board to start the discussion or use them in an active getting-to-know-you game.
- What's one thing you could easily teach me how to do right now?
- Would you rather fit in with the crowd or stand out on your own?
- If you could only bring three school supplies on the first day of school, what would you bring?
- Which type of lock would you rather have on your locker? (number combination, letter combination, with key, etc.)
- What does your backpack say about your personality?
- If you could go to any TV middle school, which one would you want to attend?
- What's your favorite way to get to school? (walk, bike, bus, Mom, skateboard, etc.)
- If you invented a robot that helped you at school, but it could only do one task, what would that job be?
- Do you think middle schoolers should have daily recess?
- What's one thing from elementary school you wish they still did in middle school?
Getting to Know You Questions for Middle School
Making friends is arguably one of the biggest issues in middle school. Get to know new people throughout the school year with these creative icebreaker questions for tweens.
- Which YouTuber is your favorite and why?
- What would a day-in-the-life-of-you video look like if it were filmed yesterday?
- If you could go behind the scenes on any one movie, which would you pick?
- What's the longest you've ever sat in front of a screen (bathroom and drink breaks don't count against the time)?
- What would the tagline for your personal brand be?
- If someone wrote a chapter book about you, what would it be called and how many chapters would it have?
- What's the last music channel you were streaming?
- Could you survive one week without a cell phone?
- Would you rather be like your mom or your dad when he/she was in middle school?
- What's the latest you've ever stayed up at night?
Icebreaker Questions for Middle School Classrooms
Middle schoolers are notoriously indecisive and hesitant to engage in classroom discussions. Help get everyone participating by opening each class with an icebreaker question.
- If you could start your own YouTube channel, what would it be called?
- If you could use VR to take you anywhere in history for one day, where would you go?
- If you could add one subject to the middle school curriculum, what would it be?
- Which book do you think should be required reading in middle school?
- What's the biggest problem middle schoolers face at school?
- If you started a protest with your classmates, what would you be protesting?
- If you got to choose one place anywhere in the world to visit for an end-of-year field trip, where would you pick?
- Which historical figure or celebrity most resembles the teacher of this class?
- If any one celebrity could go undercover as your substitute teacher, who would you want it to be?
- If you had to design a school uniform for your class, what would it look like?
This or That? Tween Icebreaker Questions
"This or that?" questions are trendy for middle schoolers today. These simple questions ask a person to decide which of two similar things they'd choose over the other.
- Monster or Rockstar energy drink?
- Slurpee or Slush Puppie drink?
- Nike or Adidas?
- American Eagle or Aeropostale?
- Skateboard or scooter?
- One-room schoolhouse or VR middle school?
- Animated movie or horror film?
- Earbuds or full-size over-ear headphones?
- Buy lunch or pack lunch?
- Graphic novel or comic book?
Creative Icebreaker Games for Tweens
Most youth icebreakers don't require materials since they are largely based on words and conversations. Simple icebreaker games get kids active and eager to complete the task.
Choose Your Own Conversation Adventure
You'll need one piece of paper and one envelope for each middle schooler playing this icebreaker game. Think of it like a "choose your own adventure" book, only in real life.
- Write each player's name on one slip of paper. Put the paper in an envelope and write whether that person is a boy or girl on the outside of the envelope.
- Shuffle the envelopes and hand one to each participant.
- Set a time limit of about five minutes.
- Each participant is only allowed to talk to one other person at a time. They must ask one icebreaker question and get a reply.
- Before leaving this conversation, each participant can choose to keep their envelope or switch with the person they just talked to.
- When time is up, each participant opens their envelope and spends five minutes getting to know the person named inside.
- If any person ends up with their own name, they may choose any other pair to join.
Fidget Spinner Questions
Grab a fidget spinner and sit the group in a large circle on the floor for this simple game of questions and answers.
- Set the fidget spinner in the center of the group.
- One person starts and spins the spinner. Fidget spinners usually have three wings.
- The spinner then gets to ask an icebreaker question and the three people the wings are pointing to have to answer it.
- These three people then play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who spins next.
This or That? Elimination
Use "this or that?" questions to keep kids moving from one side of the room to the other. You'll need a large space to play, but no other supplies.
- Start everyone in a line in the center of the room.
- Ask a "this or that?" icebreaker question. Student's who answer "this" should move to one corner of the room that you designate and those who answer "that" should move to the opposite corner.
- Alternate corners for each question to keep participants moving around the room.
- Keep track mentally or on paper of which answers are the most popular for each question.
- At the end of the game challenge kids to see how well they paid attention. Ask which answer was most popular for each question and have kids stand in the designated corner for their answer.
- All those who picked the wrong answer are eliminated from the game.
- The winners are those left after you've gone through all the original questions.
Getting to Know Middle Schoolers
Opening up and surviving in middle school is not always easy because kids in this age group mostly just want to fit in with their peers. Celebrate diversity and what makes each person unique by playing icebreaker games with middle schoolers. Some funny yes or no questions might also help break the ice.
