30 games
Checked October 2026

End of Year Icebreakers

One closing game for the last week of school or a staff party, with steps, minutes and props.

More filters

Show all 30

The Class Grades the Teacher1. Draw a report card on the board with five subjects: jokes, handwriting on the board, read-aloud voices, finding the stapler and fairness.2. Tables agree on a grade for each subject and write one comment in report-card language.3. Tables read their cards aloud.4. The teacher reads the comments back and sets one goal for next year.Players: 6 to 35. Time: 8 min. Props: paper for each table. Noise: loud.

Next step Funny awards for students

All 30 games

Looking back at the year 11

A Dictionary of Words Only This Class Knows 1. Ask for the words, the nicknames for places and the sayings that only this class would understand. List them on the board. 2. Each table picks one and writes a dictionary entry: the word, what it means and a sentence that uses it. 3. Tables read their entries aloud. 4. Staple the pages together as a guide for next year's class. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 12 min. Props: paper and a stapler. Noise: medium.
A Sticky Note for Every Month 1. Write the months of the school year across the board. 2. Each student writes one thing they remember on a sticky note, with no name, and sticks it under its month. 3. Tables take a month each and read its notes aloud. 4. Find the month with the most notes and the month with the fewest, and ask the class what happened in the quiet one. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: sticky notes and a board. Noise: medium.
Finish the Sentence We Heard All Year 1. Tables list the sentences the class heard again and again this year, from the teacher or from each other. Kind ones only. 2. A reader says the first half of one and stops. 3. The rest of the class finishes it together. 4. Each table gets two turns. The teacher goes last, with a sentence the students always say. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 6 min. Props: paper for each table. Noise: loud.

Show all 30 games (27 more)

Looking back at the year, continued

Graph the Year: One Line, Ten Months 1. Each table writes the months of the school year along the bottom of a sheet. 2. Together they draw one line across it that climbs for the good stretches and dips for the hard ones, and they label three points. 3. Hold the graphs up side by side. 4. Find a month where every line climbs and a month where the lines disagree, and ask why. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and a marker for each table. Noise: medium.
In September I Could Not, Now I Can 1. Everyone thinks of one thing they could not do when the year began and can do now. It may be schoolwork or not: long division, a cartwheel, speaking up. 2. Partners tell each other. 3. Go around the room. Each student reports for their partner: what they could not do in September and can do now. 4. The class claps once after every report. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Keep It, Change It, Drop It: Votes on the Year's Routines 1. Name a routine from the year: the morning question, free reading on Fridays, the way the class lines up. 2. Students vote with a thumb: up to keep it for next year's class, sideways to change it, down to drop it. 3. Ask one student who voted "change it" what they would change. 4. Run through eight routines, and tell the class which ones you will keep. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium.
Our Year in Numbers: Closest Guess Wins the Point 1. Before the group meets, count a few things from the year's records: school days so far, books read aloud, field trips, fire drills. 2. Tables write down a guess for each number. 3. Reveal one number at a time. The closest table scores a point. 4. Let the group name something nobody counted, and estimate it together. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: a few numbers counted beforehand, paper for each table. Noise: loud.
Stand in the Season of Your Best Day 1. Name the four walls fall, winter, spring and this month. 2. Everyone walks to the season when their best day of the school year happened. 3. Each group trades stories and picks one to tell the room. 4. Hear the four stories in order, fall first. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Two Things That Happened This Year and One That Did Not 1. Each table writes three sentences about the class's year: two things that happened and one that could have, but did not. 2. A reader from the table reads all three in the same voice. 3. Every other table votes with fingers, one to three, for the sentence it thinks was made up. 4. The table tells the two true stories in a sentence each. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: paper for each table. Noise: loud.
Which Month Was It? Lines From Old Announcements 1. Before the group meets, pull ten lines from the year's newsletters, calendar or morning announcements. 2. Read one aloud. Tables write down the month it came from. 3. Give the month, and let one person add what they remember about it. 4. A right answer scores a point. Read the ten in a mixed-up order, not by date. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: ten lines from old newsletters, paper for each table. Noise: medium.
The Year as a Four-Panel Comic 1. Everyone folds a sheet into four boxes and labels them fall, winter, spring and now. 2. In each box, draw one moment from that part of the year. Stick figures and speech bubbles are enough. 3. Lay the comics on the desks and walk the room to read them. 4. Back at their seats, students name a panel on someone else's page that they had forgotten about. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 15 min. Props: paper and pencils. Noise: quiet.

Awards and thanks from the group 7

A Paper Trophy for the Next Table 1. Each table has six minutes to build a paper trophy for the table on its left. 2. On the base, they write what it is for: something that table really did this year. 3. One at a time, tables present their trophy and give the reason. 4. The winning table lifts it over their heads for a round of applause. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 12 min. Props: paper, tape and scissors. Noise: loud.
A Plaque for the Door: What This Class Was Known For 1. Each table finishes one sentence: "The class that met in this room this year was known for". 2. Tables read their endings aloud. 3. The class votes for one by a show of hands. Two endings may be joined into one. 4. Letter it on a card and tape it inside the door frame for next year's class to find. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: paper, a card and tape. Noise: medium.
A Thank-You Card for Someone Who Kept the School Running 1. List the adults who helped the class this year from outside the classroom: the custodian, the bus driver, the office, the lunchroom, the crossing guard. 2. Each table picks a different one, so nobody is left out. 3. The table makes one card, and every student signs it with one thing they noticed that person do. 4. A pair from each table delivers the card before the day ends. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 15 min. Props: folded paper and markers. Noise: medium.
Awards for the Year, Not the People 1. On the board, list things from the year that are not people: lessons, lunches, read-alouds, rainy days, field trips. 2. Each table invents an award for one of them and names the winner, such as "Best Rainy-Day Recess goes to the indoor obstacle course." 3. Tables announce their awards. 4. The room votes by applause for the award of the year. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
The Class Grades the Teacher 1. Draw a report card on the board with five subjects: jokes, handwriting on the board, read-aloud voices, finding the stapler and fairness. 2. Tables agree on a grade for each subject and write one comment in report-card language. 3. Tables read their cards aloud. 4. The teacher reads the comments back and sets one goal for next year. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 8 min. Props: paper for each table. Noise: loud.
Draw a Name, Write Their Award 1. A cup of name slips goes around. Everyone takes one and tells nobody whose name it is. 2. Each student writes an award for that person, for something real they did this year: "Best Explainer of Fractions" or "Most Likely to Hold the Door". 3. The teacher reads every award before it is given. 4. Hand them out one at a time. The class guesses who is getting each award before the name is read. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 15 min. Props: name slips in a cup, a sheet of paper each. Noise: loud.
Three Kind Slips for the Three Names After Yours 1. Post the class list. Each student writes a slip for each of the three names after their own. The end of the list wraps around to the top. 2. Each slip names one thing that person did well this year. Writers do not sign. 3. The teacher collects the slips, reads them all and sorts them into an envelope for each student. 4. Everyone opens an envelope holding three slips at the same moment. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 15 min. Props: the class list, three slips each, an envelope for each student. Noise: quiet.

Wishes for summer and next year 6

A Card Comes Back With Summer Wishes 1. Everyone writes their own name at the top of a card. 2. The cards pass around the table. Each classmate adds one wish for that person's summer, in a few words, and signs it. 3. When a card comes home, its owner reads it in silence. 4. Volunteers read aloud one wish they hope comes true. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 8 min. Props: a card and a pen each. Noise: quiet.
A Poster of Hopes for the Next Grade's Teacher 1. Title a poster "Next year we hope to". 2. Each student adds one line: something to learn, to read, to build or to try. 3. Read the poster aloud together, and star the three hopes that came up most. 4. Roll it up. Two students carry it to a teacher of the next grade. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: poster paper and markers. Noise: medium.
Five Tips for Whoever Sits Here Next 1. Each student writes one tip on a card for the student who gets this desk next year. Useful and kind: which drawer sticks, which book to read first. 2. Tables read their tips to each other and fix any that are not clear. 3. Five volunteers read theirs to the class. 4. Tape each card under its desk, or hand the stack to the teacher for the first day back. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 8 min. Props: an index card each, tape. Noise: medium.
One Book for the Summer List, Sold in One Sentence 1. Each student thinks of one book they would tell a friend to read this summer. 2. Go around the room. Each gives the title and one sentence that sells it, without giving the ending away. 3. A classmate writes the titles on the board. 4. Students copy down two they want to find, and the teacher photographs the list for families. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: a board, paper and a pencil each. Noise: medium.
Summer Plan in Three Mimed Clues 1. Everyone thinks of one thing they will do this summer, big or small: swim, sleep late, visit a cousin. 2. A volunteer acts out three clues without a word. 3. The group guesses. Anyone who has the same plan calls "Me too" when it is guessed. 4. The guesser goes next. Stop after eight turns. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Three Questions for the Grade Above 1. Ask what the class wants to know about next year, and list every question on the board. 2. Vote down to three by a show of hands. 3. Two students carry the three questions to a class in the grade above and wait for the answers. 4. Read the answers aloud before the day ends. Players: 6 to 35. Time: 10 min. Props: a board, a sheet of paper. Noise: medium.

For the staff's end-of-year party 6

Best Door, Bravest Plant: Awards for Classrooms 1. Each table invents three awards for rooms, not for people: the best door, the bravest plant, the shelf that held the most. 2. The table names a winning room for each award and writes it on a slip. 3. Read the slips out. A room may win only once, so tables bargain. 4. Tape the slips to the winning doors on the way out. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: paper slips and tape. Noise: loud.
One Tip for the Teacher Who Gets My Class 1. Each teacher writes one tip for whoever teaches their students next year. It is about the group, never about one child: "They will do anything for a read-aloud." 2. Read the tips around the table. 3. Tables choose one tip each for the whole room to hear. 4. Hand the cards to the teachers of the next grade before anyone leaves. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: a card each. Noise: medium.
Retire One Lesson: The Table Gives It a Send-Off 1. Each teacher names one lesson, worksheet or routine they will not use again. 2. The table asks one question about what went wrong with it. 3. Each table picks its best story and gives it a ten-second send-off: a slow clap, a salute or a moment of silence. 4. The storyteller says what will replace it. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Stand If It Happened to You This Year 1. Everyone sits. The host reads a teacher moment, such as "The copier jammed on your last page", "A fire drill came in the rain" or "You taught a whole lesson with a marker that was nearly dry". 2. Stand if it happened to you this year. Look around, then sit. 3. Read twelve moments, and let tables call out two of their own. 4. End with one that everybody stands for: "You made it to the last week". Players: 6 to 60. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: loud.
Supply Closet Swap: One Unused Thing Finds a New Room 1. Ask each teacher ahead of time to bring one thing from their room that they never used this year. 2. Lay everything on one table. Each owner says in a sentence what it is and why it never left the shelf. 3. Draw numbers. In that order, each person takes one thing they will use next year. 4. Whatever is left goes on a shelf in the staff room. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 12 min. Props: one unused classroom item from each teacher, numbered slips. Noise: loud.
Whose Classroom Is It? Three Things on the Desk 1. Each teacher writes on a card three things that are on their desk right now, and no name. 2. Shuffle the cards and read one aloud. 3. Tables write down whose room they think it is. Then the owner stands. 4. A table scores a point for each right guess. The owner of the card that fooled the most tables takes a bow. Players: 6 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a card each, paper for each table. Noise: loud.

How this list was compiled: Written on 2026-10-14 for the last week of school with a class, grades 3 to 8, and for a school staff's end-of-year party. These are closing games for a group that already knows each other: they look back at the year, hand out awards and thanks that the group writes itself, and send wishes ahead. The games and their steps are our own wording. Nobody is out. Every award, slip and card is about something a person did, never about how they look, and the teacher reads every award and slip before a student receives it. The two games in which students receive something from classmates, Draw a Name, Write Their Award and Three Kind Slips for the Three Names After Yours, give every student the same number. "A staff party" keeps the six games made for teachers and six more that suit adults as they stand. "Nothing to bring" means the leader brings nothing; a board in the room is not counted. A size choice keeps a game only if it works at both ends of that choice. The list states no facts that need a source. Player ranges and minutes are planning estimates. Licence: own work

How it works

These end of year icebreakers close the year for a group that already knows each other. They look back, hand out awards and thanks that the group writes itself, and send wishes on to summer and next year.

Read the full guide

End of the year icebreakers for school

In the last week with a class, begin with A Sticky Note for Every Month, which gets every student remembering. Then let the tables do the honors with A Paper Trophy for the Next Table. Three Kind Slips for the Three Names After Yours gives every student the same number of kind words, read by the teacher first.

Fun icebreakers for teachers at an end of year party

12 of the 30 suit a staff party, and six were made for one. Stand If It Happened to You This Year needs nothing but a reader, and Supply Closet Swap sends an unused thing from one classroom to another.

Questions and answers

What is a good end of school year icebreaker?

In September I Could Not, Now I Can. Partners tell each other one thing they learned to do this year, each reports for the other, and the class claps once for every student. It needs nothing and is planned at eight minutes.

What is a quick end of the year icebreaker with nothing to bring?

Keep It, Change It, Drop It. Name eight routines from the year, and students vote with a thumb on which ones next year's class should inherit. It is planned at six minutes.

How do end of year awards from classmates stay kind?

In Draw a Name, Write Their Award every student draws one classmate, so everyone gets exactly one award. Each award is for something the person really did, and the teacher reads all of them before any is handed out.

What end of year icebreakers look ahead to next year?

Six do. Five Tips for Whoever Sits Here Next leaves a card for the next student at each desk, and Three Questions for the Grade Above sends two students to the next grade to bring back answers.