Virtual Ice Breaker Bank

Created and Curated by: Jule Schatz 2026
Used by: Break Through Tech AI

Ice breakers are a great way to help students feel comfortable and connected. It also sets the tone and expectations for the rest of the session. This become even more important in a virtual classroom where it is easy for students to disengage. Below I have some general advice and a bank of ideas to help you get started. Each activity is designed to provide flexibility in how students respond and participate.

General Advice

Use breakout rooms - It can be hard for students to engage when the group is too large. I recommend setting up the rooms to have between 3-4 participants.

Provide structure - I recommend specifying roles and who will be what role. For example: the student with the closest birthday will share first and then call on the next person. This way there isn't an awkward silence and confusion when the breakout rooms open.

Provide clear instructions - I recommend saying instructions and roles out loud but also pasting them into the chat (before breakout rooms open). This way students will have a written version to reference once in the breakout rooms.

Warm call - To finish up an activity, after the breakout rooms end, I call on a few randomly selected individuals to share out. I warn them I will do this before the activity starts to give them time to mentally prepare. When a student shares it is important to acknowledge what they said and to connect or relate to it while incorporating their name. This helps create a culture where sharing ideas is valued and all voices are heard.

1. Background Images

Gives participants choice in what to share about themselves.

Requires participants to have their camera on.

Ask participants to change their video background image to something meaningful to them. Have all facilitators show by example. The images can be AI generated, an image they took, or an image off of the internet. Once everyone has their background image set, place students into breakout rooms to share why they picked that particular image.

Some possible prompts to get people thinking:

Image related to your heritage or identity
Image related to your career or life aspirations
Image related to what brings you joy

2. AI Prompt Taboo

Does not require sharing personal details with others.

A fun and playful game involving AI.

Pick a small, silly phrase that describes an image like "tiger in a tutu". Split students in groups and have each group come up with a prompt for an AI to create said image. However, tell the groups they cannot use certain taboo words in their prompt. For this example the taboo words might be: tiger, cat, ballet, dance, pink, skirt, or tutu. Make sure to put the prompt and forbidden words in the chat before they go into the breakout rooms.

After the breakout rooms, have each group take turns telling you their prompt. Try out each prompt live on an image generating AI model and share the image it creates. It may be best to generate multiple at the same time in multiple tabs to alleviate waiting. Encourage students to share reactions to images in the chat!

An example prompt they might come up with to create "tiger in a tutu" without using any of the taboo words could be “Make an image of an animal named Tony who is great and loves moving elegantly in a poofy bottom half outfit others wear for exploring creative expression.”

3. Today I relate to...

Encourages a growth mindset.

Helps participants share about struggle which can reduce imposter syndrome.

Gives participants choice in what to share about themselves.

Share with students a list of 3-5 quotes (depending on how many students are in the class) and assign each quote a breakout room number (put this information in the chat). Then have participants self-select into the breakout room corresponding with the quote they most relate to today. In the breakout rooms have participants introduce themselves and share why they picked that quote. Make sure to add structure to help them figure out who shares first.

Example quotes

“I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try.” — “mirrorball” (from folklore) by Taylor Swift
“It’s like I got this music in my mind saying it’s gonna be alright.”— “Shake It Off” (from 1989) by Taylor Swift
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” — Mulan
“We can’t focus on what’s going wrong. There’s always a way to turn things around.” — Inside Out
“The call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me.” — Moana
“I am everything I’ve learned and more.” — Moana
“You’re more than just your gift.” — Encanto
“Well, you can’t never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him.” — Finding Nemo

4. Friendly Debate

Helps participants connect over shared opinions.

Encourages listening and responding to people with different opinions in a positive way.

Pose a debate question and 2 or more potential responses. Have participants self select into breakout rooms based on which response they most agree with. In each breakout room, have the group come up with a 2 sentence opening remark, and a list of arguments (have them write it down in a shared document). Make sure to assign roles like screen sharer and scribe!

After the breakout rooms, have each group share their opening remarks. Then have groups go back and forth with rebuttals (they can improvise with this one based on the list of arguments they made). Make sure the participants take turns speaking and call on various people from each team. The goal is to have participants practice expressing their opinions and thoughts in respectful ways and learning how to interact with people they disagree with. This might be a challenge to facilitate but if done well can be a great learning opportunity.

Potential Debate Questions:

Should AI be allowed in school work?
Who is most responsible for the outcomes of a machine learning model? The client? The CEO of the company? The programmer?
What is more impressive? Having code you wrote be run in an outer-space mission or having code you wrote be used in a product used by millions of users on earth?
Can a computer be creative?

5. Day in the Life

Simple and easy.

Creates connection between participants through low stake questions.

Tell students that it’s time to share a small snippet of their life with their peers. Put participants in breakout rooms with the instructions to have each participant pick a question and share their answer. Add roles like: the person who drank the most coffee today goes first and calls on the next person.

Sample Day in the Life Questions:

What was your smallest problem today?
- Example: My dog got on my blanket before me so I couldn’t adjust it once I got under the blanket without throwing the dog off.
What is your guilty pleasure book or tv show?
If you could eat anything in the world right now what would you pick?

6. Is Cereal Soup?

A fun and silly way to connect with others.

Encourages team work and consolidating differing opinions.

In groups, have participants create a venn diagram to classify a bank of terms. After the breakout rooms, call on a few participants to share what their group put together and why.

Example terms: soup, cereal, stew, chili, tea, bubble tea, stew, chili, miso, hummus.

Facilitation Advice: You can use a shared google slide deck (each group gets a slide to build their venn diagram). You can also let them use canva.com or another site of your choice. To help participants work together, assign roles and who gets what role in the breakout rooms. Here is an example of the roles:

Designer - biggest country music fan - makes the venn diagram and shares their screen
Contrarian - tallest person (who is not the designer) - pushes back against ideas with alternative opinions to help get to the best solution
Spy - picked by the designer - looks at other group’s answers and reports back any ideas (only works with the shared google slides idea)
Idea Generator - last person - Leads the discussion and includes all voices

Paste the roles and instructions in the zoom chat before they go into breakout rooms so the participants remember what to do.

7. Show & Tell