30 Get To Know You Games to Start the School Year

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Set a friendly tone in your classroom with these 30 “Get to Know You” games, perfect for back to school or when welcoming a new student.

Get To Know You Games

Welcome back to school! Your primary students are so excited to get to know you because you take the time to get to know them. You know their likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, good days and bad, and you withhold any negative judgment from their precious minds so they will continue to love learning just as much as they love you.

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

How do you get to know them? Here are 30 get to know you games for the classroom that will help you learn more about your students, and they learn about each other!

kids sitting in a circle at the carpet with the teacher

Gallery Walks

The main idea surrounding gallery walks is that you hang up pictures (a la an art gallery), and kids walk around, looking and talking about what they see and like. In getting to know them, you can have them walk around to see their choices. Then when you call time, they have to go to their favorite. Conversations will occur while students are walking, then when they choose, they will explain why. They could find a kindred spirit in their love of dragons or Mo Willems’ Pigeon.

There are many ways you can put these to use in your classroom:

Book 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 mythical creatures to elephants or even puppy dogs!
Quotes — Choose easy-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 many variations exist. Fill the card with items and words, then have your students walk around finding a classmate to sign a square. It makes the perfect “Get to Know You” game! Once again, you could use this in many ways:

Pre-fill the card with every student’s name — Students need to find their classmate with that name.
Images of household pets, colors, local attractions, clipart of family members — The goal would be to find students with that household pet, who likes that color, have 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 find someone with the same interest. Because of the increased difficulty, maybe create your card with fewer rows.

Get to Know You Games for Introductions

These get to know you games have one common denominator — they ask students to state their name and answer a question.

Hot Potato – Have an object that you pass around, and when the timer goes off, the student with the potato speaks.
Musical Chairs – Place chairs in a circle facing outward (but make sure there is one less chair than students), play music, and when you stop, the student without a chair speaks.
Move If – There are many names and variations of this game. Once again, have chairs in a circle – enough so that all students but one get one. Have the chairs facing inward with one student in the middle. The student says something like, “I have a dog,” and all students with a dog have to get up and move to another chair, leaving another student in the middle, who may have a hamster, and the movement continues.
Don’t Get Stuck – Set up chairs like “Move If,” but give the student in the center a ball. The student calls out another student’s name and puts the ball on the ground. All students must move to a new seat (make the rule that it can’t be right next to them). The elected student has to go and grab the ball. If everyone is, they are “stuck” in the middle and have to call a new name. If not, the person can call out a new name of someone not in a chair. The round is over when everyone is seated except for the “stuck” student.

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 in a circle. The person who begins has to say something about 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 student holds some of the yarn, symbolizing that the class may be full of differences, but they all have a common thread to unite them.
Paper Dolls – Cut out paper dolls of similar sizes, anything from life-sized to 6 inches tall. Each student will color their doll. You can have them be life-like drawings, or you can have them attach symbols of what they like. Then take the finished dolls and hang them up attached at the hands to represent that they are unique but united.
Museum Exhibit – Gather a slew of magazines and cut-outs. Provide these to your class and give each student a poster board or a bigger sheet 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 Lunch – Give each student a lunch-sized brown bag. The student takes it home and returns the next day with items that represent them. You may want to include rules such as how they shouldn’t bring in any living things or food that can spoil. I say this from experience!

Movement Activities

Questioning Beach Ball – There are two ways to do this. First, though, you need to get a beach ball. Write questions on the beach ball. Toss the beach ball, and students have to answer the question about 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 red, orange, purple, or pink as a favorite color. Students have to move to the corner that has their favorite color. If they have a different favorite color, they either have to choose their favorite of the four mentioned or wait in the middle and say what it is.
This or That – This is very similar to Four Corners, except there are two options. For example, go to one side of the room if you like cats, and the other if you like dogs.
Partner Cards – Create a set of cards so each student gets one card; however, this set differs. Each card has a partner. For instance, one card would be a picture of peanut butter, and the other would be a picture of jelly. Different sets could be a washer and a dryer, a toothbrush and toothpaste, rain and lightning, etc. Students walk around the room looking for their partner, talking about their pictures and themselves the whole time.

More Movement Activities

Scavenger Hunt – Create a scavenger hunt with the main parts of your room, from different learning stations to the calendar to the art supplies, etc. Have something at each station, such as stickers or stamps, that they put on their card to mark things found.
Card Tower of Commonalities – Divide students into small groups and give them a set of index cards. The end goal is to build the tallest card tower. The catch? Before they can use a card, they need to find something in common and write it on the card.
Jenga – You can buy small 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 block has a question or a number corresponding to a question. Post questions on the board or a sheet.

Question Activities

The Nutty Name Game – State your 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 have your students ask one another, then have the students report what they learned. Variations: Have kids create the questions to ask.
Why/Why/Why – For each answer, the student has to ask “why” at least once and up to three times. This way, we get beyond the fact that Jane likes cats, but we now know that she loves them because her neighbor had soft and sweet kittens, and she got to play with them regularly.
Wordsearch – Create a word search with all of your student’s names on it and have it waiting at each desk. As they enter, they can begin working on it. Eventually, they won’t be able to resist helping one another find words, exclaiming who they are and whatnot. Great time-filler for that first day as you are waiting for everyone to appear!

Luck of the Draw

M&Ms or Skittles – Have students grab a handful of this yummy candy. Assign each color a category such as favorite animal, family information, etc. For each piece of candy, a student has to share information from that category.
Toilet Paper – Students take as many squares of toilet paper as they want. You can tell them to grab a few or say to grab enough to survive a hike where they’ll go potty. For each square grabbed, the student has to share something.
Dice – Create six guided questions corresponding with the numbers 1-6, or 2-12 if you want to use two die. Have students roll the die and answer the question associated with each number. It can be done as a class or in smaller groups with a shout-out of what was learned in the end.

Classical Group Games for Kids

Here are some fun and engaging group games suitable for kids in grades K-2 to consider incorporating into your lessons or free time.

Remember to adjust the rules and complexity of the games based on the age and skill level of the kids. These games not only promote physical activity but also help develop social skills, cooperation, and creativity in a fun and interactive way.

Duck, Duck, Goose – A classic game where children sit in a circle; one child walks around tapping others on the head and saying “duck” until they choose someone to be the “goose.” The goose then chases the tapper around the circle, aiming to catch them before they reach the empty spot.
Simon Says – An interactive game where the teacher gives commands starting with “Simon says.” Children must only follow commands that begin with this phrase. If the teacher gives a command without saying, “Simon says,” anyone who follows the command is out.
Musical Chairs – Arrange chairs in a circle, with one less chair than the number of kids. Play music while kids walk around the chairs, and when the music stops, they must quickly find a seat. The child left standing is out, and one chair is removed for the next round.
Red Light, Green Light – One child is the “stoplight” and stands at a distance from the others, with their back turned. When the stoplight calls “green light,” kids move forward; when “red light” is called, they stop. The stoplight tries to catch someone moving during “red light.”
Freeze Dance – Play music and have kids dance around. When the music stops, they must freeze in place until the music starts again. It’s a lively way to encourage listening skills and following instructions.

More Fun Group Games for Kids

Obstacle Course – Set up a simple obstacle course in the classroom or playground using cones, hula hoops, and other safe items. Kids take turns navigating the course, developing motor skills and coordination.
Bean Bag Toss – Create targets on the ground using hula hoops or drawn shapes. Kids take turns tossing bean bags or softballs into the targets from a designated distance.
Balloon Volleyball – Hang a string or rope across the room and use a balloon as the “ball.” Kids work together in teams to hit the balloon back and forth over the rope without letting it touch the ground.
Animal Charades – Have kids take turns acting out different animals without using words while the rest of the group guesses what animal they are imitating.
Parachute Play – Use a large parachute or sheet to engage kids in cooperative activities like making waves, bouncing balls, or even playing popcorn by tossing soft objects onto the parachute and trying to make them bounce.

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

Back to School Community Building Resource

Help kids get to know each other and build important social and emotional skills with the back to school social emotional learning resource, the perfect companion to your start of school 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!

back to school sel resource for k-2 — Back to School SEL resource for K-2

The mind+heart SEL back to school resource and activities will support kids as they learn to be positive members of the classroom community, develop self-awareness, build new relationships, and act with kindness and empathy. Click HERE to check it out!