Sitting together and making something out of papier mâché, play dough or clay is not only a relaxing, but inspiring method to get children and teenagers to talk to each other. The setting offers various topics to talk about, including the facilitation of the task, and how to share the responsibilities. While preparing the project, there will be plenty of time for students to have conversations that lie outside the curriculum, which will help them to get to know each others and break the ice. Choose projects that lie within the current biology curriculum, which might include creating a landform, a habitat or body parts and organs.
Mingling allows the students to move freely about the classroom and approach each other in a uninhibited way. To give the mingling a purpose, prepare a card set with animal names and another with the corresponding Latin names. Distribute both card sets to the students who then have to find each other in matching pairs. Alternatively, you can write aspects of various habitats on card sets and the students have to find their teams according to the matching elements. In a noisier version aimed at younger students, you can write animal names on the cards and the children find their group by making the noise the animal on their cards makes.
Take the class out in to the open and assign them some gardening jobs on the school ground or in a nearby park. Jobs can include weeding, garbage picking, planting of flowers and vegetables or taking cuttings from existing plants. Being out in the open will not only inspire students to talk to each other more than in the classroom, but will also give healthy exercise and teach knowledge about local plant life and habitats.
Circle games are excellent ice breaker activities because the students can not only see each other at all times, but they also have to pay attention to what everyone says. Play a game where the students say their name, followed by a fruit, vegetable, plant, dish or other related item in their current curriculum that begins with the same letter. In another circle ice breaker, you can pick one student and quietly assign him a function, name or category within a curriculum topic. The chosen student will then stand in the middle of the circle and the others have to figure out the term by asking questions which he answers with yes or no.