Ice Breakers Building Cards Back to School STEM Activity for Kids

You’re all ready to go back to school. But are the kids? Help ease them into the first days of a new classroom or club with these Ice Breakers Building Cards. These cards combine fun ice breaker questions with a building activity into a perfect Back to School STEM session. They’re great for distance learning, too! I’ll show you how.

Why Use Ice Breaker Games

Starting something new can be hard. At any age. That’s why quick ice breakers, activities, or games used to welcome or warm up the conversation between people, can be so helpful. They’re especially helpful if they add a layer of entertainment in an ice breaker game or challenge, like building. The ice breaker questions on these cards are fun, sometimes silly, and get kids talking to each other. Who doesn’t like to talk about their favorite video game or whether they’d rather be a unicorn or narwhal? These cards work well as first day of school ice breakers for elementary school, in classrooms, clubs, or anywhere that kids are getting to know each other.

Ice Breakers Building Cards Supplies Needed

• • White cardstock
  • Regular copy weight paper if using the worksheet
  • Printer
  • Scissors
  • 5 mil laminating pouches (optional)
  • Laminator (optional)
  • To have the free printable emailed to you, simply fill out the form below

How to Use the Ice Breakers Building Cards

This is where getting to know each other gets fun and hands-on in this ice breaker activity. Pair up the kids into teams. Then have the kids grab a card and share their answer with their partner. They can write the answer down on the included worksheet as well if desired. Encourage them to share the why behind their answer, too. Then they can start building! Alternate answering questions with their partner to add cards to the structure. Simply insert one card into another at the slots on the sides.

How to Use These Ice Breakers in Distance Learning and Socially Distant Classrooms

It’s a strange year and back to school looks different than usual. But getting to know each other is just as important!! Here are some tips for using this activity in alternative learning situations.

If a printer is an option, either at the student’s home or at school but you want to keep materials separate, try these options:

1. Use the worksheet only, 1 per student. Kids can pair up, chat about their answers, and fill in the worksheets on their own paper.
2. Print one set of building cards per student. They can pair up for the conversation part but build their own structure.

If digital only is the best bet for your situation, we’ve created a Google Slides version of the worksheet, and kids can skip the building part. The questions are fun all by themselves! To have the free printable emailed to you, simply fill out the form below.

How to Make the Ice Breakers Building Cards Last Longer

So I’m guessing that you might want to use these cards more than a few times. So guess what? You can laminate these cards!! You just need to rearrange the steps a little.

1. Print out the cards and cut along the outer lines and inner lines of each card. Do not cut the notches!
2. Arrange cut cards in a 5 ml laminating pouch, leaving some space between the individual cards. Laminate according to your machine’s directions.
3. Cut out individual cards and round the corners.
4. Cut two slots per long edge and one slot per short edge just like in the template.

More Back to School STEM and STEAM

Get the year started off with more fun STEM and STEAM activities like this School Bus Circuit Card.

Or spice up math fact practice time with building cards, too!

Make STEAM Enrichment Easy for You!

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that you can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Explorers!! The coolest creative experience for kids is here! It's a digital book of the month club filled with tons of fun stuff for the kids to do and learn. All engineer, teacher, and mom-approved. And most definitely KID APPROVED!⁣

What’s included?⁣

• A monthly digital magazine with cool themes that are fun to read
• Hands-on, exciting projects the kids will love.⁣
• Science, tech, engineering, art, and math learning YOU’LL love.⁣
• Delicious recipes the kids can make.⁣
• Fun printables and games⁣

Have fun as we reduce, reuse, renew, and recycle in April with the STEAM Explorers Recycle Issue! The kids will love upcycling old shirts into tote bags, building litter bug bots, making bioplastic, eating garbage cookies, renewing plants, making Earth sculptures, and so much more!  You'll love the helpful standards-based learning, printables, and tools that make STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, & math) exploration easy!

We’ve split the issue into four weekly themes:

• WEEK 1: PAPER POSSIBILITIES
• WEEK 2: TRASH OR TREASURE
• WEEK 3: MATERIAL SWAP
• WEEK 4: NATURE'S RECYCLERS