Hands Behind, Then Hands Free1. In pairs, one partner explains how to make a sandwich with both hands held behind their back.2. They explain it again with hands free.3. The listener says what the hands added and names one gesture that helped.4. Swap, with a new subject: how to tie a shoe.Players: 6 to 40. Time: 4 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
The Alphabet as a Speech1. Sit in fours. One speaker stands. 2. The speaker says the alphabet as if it were a speech that matters: pauses, a question, a big finish at Z. 3. Each listener gets a few letters said straight to them before the speaker moves to the next face. 4. Listeners say what the speech seemed to be about. Then the next speaker stands. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Everyone Speaks to the Wall1. Everyone stands, spreads out and faces a wall. 2. On "Go", all speak at once, at full speaking volume, about what they ate yesterday. Nobody is listening to anybody. 3. After thirty seconds, call a new subject. Everyone turns to face the middle of the room and keeps talking. 4. Ask what felt different once there were faces. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 3 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Stand, Count to Three, Then Speak1. Sit in fours. The teacher asks an easy question, such as "What could you teach in five minutes?" 2. One at a time, each person stands, counts to three in silence while looking at the group, answers in one sentence and sits. 3. The group holds up fingers to show how many counts the silence really lasted. 4. Go around twice more with new questions. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
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Everyone at once, in pairs or in fours, continued
Three Partners, Three Delivery Jobs1. Stand in two lines, each person facing a partner. 2. Round one: each partner talks for thirty seconds about their route here. The one job is to keep eye contact. 3. One line steps along by one person. Round two: a new subject, and the job is to finish every sentence before starting the next. 4. Round three, with a third partner: the job is to stand still from the waist down. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: a timer. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
You Said, I Say1. Pair up and stand. Partner A speaks for twenty seconds on a small opinion: the best seat in a movie theater. 2. Partner B starts with "You said" and gives it back in one sentence, then adds "I say" and their own twenty seconds. 3. A gives B's view back the same way. 4. Change partners and take a new subject. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Thirty seconds on your feet 9
Accept an Award You Did Not Expect1. Pairs invent an award for each other that is kind and silly: Best Sharpened Pencil, Most Punctual Lunch. 2. In groups of four, each partner announces the other's award in one sentence. 3. The winner stands and gives a twenty-second acceptance speech: thank someone, tell how it began, promise something. 4. The four applaud every speech as if it were the big night. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Heads For, Tails Against1. Write a harmless motion on the board: breakfast is the best meal, summer is too long. 2. A speaker comes up and flips a coin. Heads argues for the motion, tails against it. 3. They speak for thirty seconds with one reason and one example. 4. The next speaker takes the other side, whatever the coin says, and answers one thing they heard. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a coin and a board. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
One Question From the Floor1. A speaker stands and says two sentences about something they like doing. 2. The room must ask exactly one question, and whoever asks it stands to ask. 3. The speaker repeats the question so that everyone hears it, answers in one sentence and says "Thank you". 4. The person who asked is the next speaker. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Something in My Bag1. Everyone takes one ordinary thing from a bag or a pocket: a key, a pen, a bus card. 2. In groups of four, each speaker stands and holds it up for thirty seconds: what it is, where it came from and one thing nobody would guess about it. 3. The group asks one question. 4. When all four have spoken, the group says which object surprised it most. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Stand, One Sentence, Sit1. Go down the rows. Each person stands, waits until the room is looking, says their first name and one thing they could talk about for an hour, and sits. 2. Nobody comments and nobody claps until the end. 3. Go around again. This time each person adds one second of silence before speaking and one after. 4. Finish with one round of applause for everyone. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
Teach Us in Thirty Seconds1. Each person thinks of one small thing they can explain: how to fold a paper plane, how to remember a name. 2. In groups of four, each speaker stands and teaches it in thirty seconds, with the steps said out loud as "First", "Then" and "Last". 3. One listener says the three steps back. 4. If a step is missing, the speaker gets ten more seconds. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Thirty Seconds on an Everyday Object1. Fill a cup with slips that name plain objects: a spoon, a doormat, a paper clip. 2. A speaker draws one, walks to the front, takes one breath and talks about it for thirty seconds. Praise it, sell it or tell its history: anything but silence. 3. A timekeeper raises a hand at thirty seconds, and the speaker finishes the sentence. 4. The speaker picks who draws next. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a cup of object slips and a timer. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Tour Guide for a Picture1. Lay out pictures face down: postcards, calendar pages, magazine photos of places and things. 2. A speaker turns one over, holds it up and gives a thirty-second tour of it as its proud guide. 3. Every tour has three stops: "On your left", "Straight ahead" and "Before you leave". 4. The guide chooses the next guide. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a stack of pictures. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Walk Up, One Line, Walk Back1. Write a sentence starter on the board: "The best meal I ever had was". 2. One at a time, each speaker walks to the front, plants both feet, looks up, finishes the sentence aloud and walks back. 3. The next speaker is already on the way as the last one returns. 4. On the second lap, hold eye contact for a full second after the last word before moving. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a board. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Voice, pace and pauses 8
Hands Behind, Then Hands Free1. In pairs, one partner explains how to make a sandwich with both hands held behind their back. 2. They explain it again with hands free. 3. The listener says what the hands added and names one gesture that helped. 4. Swap, with a new subject: how to tie a shoe. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 4 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Move the Stress, Change the Meaning1. Write on the board: "I did not say you borrowed my blue pen." 2. Go along a row. Each speaker says it once and leans on the next word: first I, then did, then not. 3. After each one, the class says what the sentence now suggests: someone else said it, or it was a different pen. 4. Pairs write a sentence of their own and find how many meanings it holds. Players: 9 to 40. Time: 6 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
One Sentence, Six Deliveries1. Write a dull sentence on the board: "The meeting will begin at four." 2. The whole class says it together as a secret, then as wonderful news, then as a warning. 3. Students suggest three more ways, and the class tries each. 4. In pairs, one partner says it in a way of their choice and the other names the way. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: a board. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Partner Is the Speed Dial1. Pair up. One partner describes their morning in detail. 2. The other holds a flat hand in the air as a dial: raised means faster, lowered means slower, level means just right. 3. The speaker follows the hand without stopping. 4. Swap. Then each tells the other which speed was easiest to follow. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 4 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Reach the Back Wall1. Half the class stands along the back wall and half at the front, each person facing a partner across the room. 2. The front partners all say one sentence at once, each to their own partner, who raises a hand if every word arrived. 3. Say it again, slower and with the mouth working harder, not shouting. 4. Swap sides. Then try it one row of pairs at a time. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Tap for Every Um1. Pair up. One partner talks for thirty seconds about their weekend. 2. The listener taps the desk once for each um, uh, like or you know, and counts the taps. 3. The same speaker goes again on the same subject and tries to beat their own count by pausing instead. 4. Swap. Nobody compares totals with another pair. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Three Sentences, Two Pauses1. In pairs, one partner says three sentences about how they got here today. 2. Between sentences the speaker stops, and the listener counts two on raised fingers before the speaker goes on. 3. Swap. 4. Try it in fours with a pause of three counts. Ask the listeners whether the pauses felt as long to them as they did to the speaker. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Whisper to the Back Row1. The class stands in a horseshoe. 2. Everyone together says one sentence from the board in a stage whisper: no voice, all consonants, aimed at the far wall. 3. Then say it with voice at normal volume, keeping the same crisp consonants. 4. Go around. Each person whispers only their own first name across the horseshoe, and the person opposite says it back aloud. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a board. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
Stories and speeches built together 6
A Class Speech, a Sentence Each1. Give the room a light thesis: this class should meet outdoors. 2. The first speaker stands and opens the speech in one sentence. 3. Each speaker after that stands, adds one sentence that follows from the last, and sits: reasons first, then an example, then an answer to a doubter. 4. The teacher points to someone for the closing line, which must echo the opening. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
A Panel on the Best Day of the Week1. Four volunteers sit facing the room as a panel, and a fifth is the moderator. 2. The subject is light: the best day of the week. Each panelist draws a slip that names the day they must defend. 3. The moderator asks each panelist one question, and each answers in two sentences. 4. Each panelist gives one closing sentence, and five new people come up. Players: 10 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: slips that name four days. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Beginning, Middle, End in Three Voices1. Groups of three get two minutes to plan a forty-five second story about a class trip that never happened. 2. They stand in a row. The first speaker tells the beginning, the second the middle and the third the end, fifteen seconds each. 3. Each handover is a look, not a word. 4. The audience says where the story turned. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a timer. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Only the First Sentence1. Write a speech title on the board: "Why This Town Needs a Bigger Library". 2. Everyone writes the first sentence of that speech: a question, a short scene or a bold claim. 3. Each speaker stands, delivers only that sentence and sits. 4. After every five, the class names the opening that made it want a second sentence, and says why. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
The Same Story, Twice as Short1. In pairs, one partner tells a small true story in one minute: a time they were late. 2. They tell it again in thirty seconds. 3. Then in fifteen. 4. The listener says what survived every cut: that is the point of the story. Swap. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 6 min. Props: a timer. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Three Words From the Room1. Two speakers stand at the front together. 2. The room gives three words that have nothing to do with each other: a place, an object, a feeling. 3. The pair tells a thirty-second story that uses all three, taking turns sentence by sentence. 4. The audience raises a hand each time one of the words lands. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: none. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
How this list was compiled: Written on 2026-10-13 for the first meetings of a speech class or a speaking group, for speakers of 12 and up. Every activity gets each person saying a few sentences aloud, standing in most of them, before anyone gives a prepared speech. The steps and every sample sentence are our own wording. Nobody is out, nobody is graded, and every subject is an everyday one: a route, a meal, an object in a bag. "First day: yes" means that nobody needs a classmate's name and that no turn alone in front of the whole room runs past thirty seconds; it is true of every activity here. "Nobody speaks alone to the room" keeps the 15 activities in which every speaker talks at the same time as others, to one partner or to a group of four. "Nothing to bring" means the teacher brings and prepares nothing. The activities state no facts that need a source. Player ranges and minutes are planning estimates. A size choice keeps an activity only if it works at both ends of that choice: an activity with a thirty-second turn at the front is sized for 6 to 16. Licence: own work
How it works
These public speaking icebreaker activities get every person saying a few sentences aloud before the first speech. In fifteen of them nobody faces the whole room alone.
Read the full guide
Speech class icebreakers for the first week
Start with everyone talking at once: Everyone Speaks to the Wall, then Three Partners, Three Delivery Jobs. Move to groups of four with Teach Us in Thirty Seconds, and only then to the front with Walk Up, One Line, Walk Back. No turn alone in front of the room runs past thirty seconds.
Public speaking icebreaker games for a small group
With six to eleven people, Thirty Seconds on an Everyday Object and Heads For, Tails Against give every member a turn at the front. The voice games are the playful ones: One Sentence, Six Deliveries and Partner Is the Speed Dial.
Questions and answers
What is a fun public speaking icebreaker?
Accept an Award You Did Not Expect. A partner invents a kind, silly award for you, and you give a twenty-second acceptance speech to a group of four, who applaud as if it were the big night.
What is a good icebreaker for a public speaking class?
Stand, Count to Three, Then Speak. In groups of four, each person stands, holds three silent counts while looking at the group, answers an easy question in one sentence and sits. It practices the pause before the first word.
Which public speaking icebreakers have no solo turn?
Fifteen. Everyone speaks at the same time as others, to a partner or to a group of four: Everyone Speaks to the Wall, Partner Is the Speed Dial, Tap for Every Um and The Same Story, Twice as Short are four of them.