28 games
Checked October 2026

Writing Icebreaker

One opener that is itself a short piece of writing, for a class or a workshop.

Writing Icebreaker

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Exactly Twenty-Five Words1. Name a small subject on the board: the desk where you write, the walk to this room.2. Each writer describes it in exactly twenty-five words.3. Swap with a partner, who counts.4. A piece that runs over loses its weakest words. A piece that falls short gains a detail, not an adjective.5. Volunteers read theirs.Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.

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One sentence of your own 8

Exactly Twenty-Five Words 1. Name a small subject on the board: the desk where you write, the walk to this room. 2. Each writer describes it in exactly twenty-five words. 3. Swap with a partner, who counts. 4. A piece that runs over loses its weakest words. A piece that falls short gains a detail, not an adjective. 5. Volunteers read theirs. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
First Line of the Book About Me 1. Each writer puts the first line of a novel about their own life on an index card, with no name on it. 2. Collect and shuffle the cards. 3. Read each line aloud. The room calls out the kind of book it opens: a mystery, a comedy, a travel story. 4. Nobody guesses the writer. Leave the stack out afterward for anyone who wants their card back. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: an index card each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Four Steps to Something Small 1. Each writer picks a small thing they do well: fold a shirt, wrap a gift, pack a bag. 2. Write it as four numbered steps, one sentence each, for a reader who has never done it. 3. A partner reads the steps and acts them out in the air, doing only what the words say. 4. Rewrite the step where the partner got stuck. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 9 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.

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One sentence of your own, continued

Introduce Yourself Without an E 1. Explain the lipogram: a piece of writing that leaves out one letter on purpose. 2. Each writer has three minutes to introduce themselves in one or two sentences with no letter E. A first name with an E in it gets a stand-in. 3. Swap with a partner, who hunts for a stray E. 4. Read the clean ones aloud. Listeners say which swapped word they noticed. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
One-Sentence Portrait 1. Pair up. Each partner asks the other three questions about an ordinary day. 2. Write one sentence about your partner. It starts with their first name and holds one object you could touch. 3. Show the sentence to your partner, who may ask for one change. 4. Read the portraits to the room. Nobody reads their own. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
One-Syllable Self 1. The rule: every word has one syllable. 2. Each writer has four minutes to write three sentences about who they are and why they came to this class. 3. Partners read each other's work aloud and tap the desk at any word of two syllables. 4. Fix the taps together. Each pair reads its best line to the room. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Six Words, Then a Better Six 1. Everyone writes exactly six words about this morning. 2. Now change one word for a stronger one: a verb that moves, a noun you can see. 3. Go around the room. Each writer reads the first six and then the second six, with no comment. 4. Listeners raise a hand for the version they would keep. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
Three Sentences, No Name 1. Each writer draws a card that names an everyday object: an umbrella, a key, a stapler. 2. Write three sentences that describe it without naming it and without saying what it is used for. 3. Trade papers with a partner, who writes a guess underneath. 4. A wrong guess is a note for the writer: add one sentence and trade again. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: object cards, paper and pens. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.

Pass the page 7

A Class Poem, One Line Each 1. Write an opening on the board, such as "In this room there is". 2. Each writer finishes the line on a strip of paper with something they can see, hear or remember here. 3. Collect the strips and read them in the order they come, as one poem. 4. Lay them on a table. The class moves three strips to make the poem better and gives it a title. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a strip of paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Add One Detail and Pass 1. Each writer copies one plain sentence from the board, such as "The door opened." 2. Pass the page left. Rewrite the sentence underneath with one detail added for one sense: a sound, a smell, a texture. 3. Pass again. Each writer adds one more detail and takes nothing out. 4. After four passes, read the first version and the last. Then cross out the one detail the sentence does not need. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
First Line Swap 1. Each writer puts one opening line for a story on a card. No names from this room. 2. Shuffle and deal the cards, so that each writer holds a line from someone else. 3. Write the next three sentences. 4. Find the writer of your first line and read them what their sentence turned into. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 9 min. Props: an index card and a sheet of paper each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Folded Story, Last Line Showing 1. This is the fold-over game known as exquisite corpse. Each writer starts a story with one sentence at the top of a sheet and passes it left. 2. The next writer adds a sentence, then folds the paper back so that only the newest sentence shows. 3. Each new sentence must begin with the last word of the one above it. 4. After six passes, unfold the sheets and read the stories aloud. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Place, Person, Problem 1. Everyone writes a place on one slip, a kind of person on a second and a small problem on a third. 2. Sort the slips into three piles and shuffle each pile. 3. Each writer draws one slip from each pile and writes a four-sentence scene that uses all three. 4. Read the scenes in groups of four. Each group sends its strangest match of slips to the board. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: three paper slips each, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Round-Robin Story With a Rule Card 1. Sit in fours. Each writer starts a story and writes for two minutes. 2. Pass the page left and turn over a rule card: add a sound, add something a character wants, add a problem. 3. Write for two minutes under that rule, then pass again and turn the next card. 4. The last card says: end it. Each page goes home to its first writer, who reads it to the four. Players: 4 to 32. Time: 12 min. Props: paper, pens and four rule cards for each group. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
Why and Because, Unseen 1. Each writer puts a question that starts with "Why" at the top of a strip, folds it over and passes it left. 2. Without looking, the next writer puts an answer that starts with "Because" underneath. 3. Unfold the strips and read each pair aloud. 4. Each writer keeps the oddest pair they heard and writes two sentences that make it make sense. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: a strip of paper and a pen each. Noise: loud. First day: yes.

Games with words 6

A Board of Favorite Words 1. Each writer comes to the board and writes one word they like the sound of. 2. Pairs write one sentence that uses at least five of the words. It has to make sense. 3. Read the sentences aloud. 4. Each writer picks a word from the board that they have never used in writing and uses it before the class ends. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Five Words in Alphabet Order 1. Give each pair a starting letter. 2. They write a five-word sentence whose words begin with five letters in a row. For C: "Clever ducks eat fresh greens." 3. Trade with another pair to check the letters and the sense. 4. Try seven words, then go for the longest run in the room. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
One Long Sentence, Then Three Short 1. Each writer has three minutes to tell their week in one sentence that never stops, joined with and, but and because. 2. A partner reads it aloud in one breath, as far as the breath goes. 3. The writer cuts it into three sentences and decides which comes first. 4. Partners read the three aloud and say what changed. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Retire the Tired Word 1. Write a flat sentence on the board, such as "We had a nice day at a good place." 2. Pairs rewrite it three times. Nice and good are retired, and so are great, fun and very. 3. Each version must say something a camera could record. 4. Pairs read their best version. The class names the detail it could see. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 7 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Same Words, Two Meanings 1. Write this on the board with no punctuation and no capitals: the teacher said the student is late. 2. Pairs punctuate it two ways, so that a different person is late each time. 3. Share the answers. The teacher said, "The student is late." Or: "The teacher," said the student, "is late." 4. Each pair invents a string of its own and hands it to another pair to solve. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Twenty Words to Ten to Five 1. Put a sentence of twenty words on the board, such as: "Every morning before school the old yellow bus rattled slowly down our hill and stopped beside the broken wooden gate." 2. Pairs cut it to exactly ten words that keep the meaning. 3. Then to five. 4. Write the five-word versions on the board and compare what each pair chose to save. 5. Ask which cut hurt most: that word was doing work. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, paper and pens. Noise: medium. First day: yes.

For an essay or academic writing class 7

Claim, Objection, Reply on One Card 1. Each writer puts a one-sentence claim about something small on a card: pencils beat pens for a first draft. 2. Pass the card left. The next writer adds the strongest objection in one sentence. 3. Pass it back. The first writer replies in one sentence that grants what is fair in the objection. 4. Pairs read their three sentences to another pair as a small argument. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: an index card each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Paraphrase Telephone 1. Each writer copies one sentence from the course reading at the top of a sheet and passes it left. 2. The next writer puts it in their own words underneath, then folds the original out of sight. 3. Pass again. Each writer paraphrases only the sentence they can see. 4. After four turns, unfold. Compare the last version with the first and mark where the meaning slipped. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper, pens and a page of the course reading. Noise: quiet. First day: yes.
Quote One Classmate, Paraphrase Another 1. Each writer puts one opinion about writing on a card and signs it: "First drafts should be fast." 2. Everyone walks, reads cards and copies down two opinions from two people. 3. Back at the desk, write two sentences. One quotes the first classmate by name. The other paraphrases the second, also by name. 4. Show each classmate their sentence. They say whether it is what they meant. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: an index card, paper and a pen each. Noise: loud. First day: yes.
Rebuild the Cut-Up Paragraph 1. Before class, cut a five-sentence paragraph into strips and put one set in an envelope for each group. 2. Groups of three put the strips back in order. 3. On each strip, they underline the word or phrase that told them where it goes. 4. Groups compare their orders and defend any difference with the underlined clues. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: an envelope of sentence strips for each group. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Tabloid, Textbook, Text Message 1. Each writer chooses one true and harmless fact about their week. 2. Write it three ways: as a tabloid headline, as a line in a textbook and as a text to a friend. 3. Partners swap and label which is which without being told. 4. Together, list three things that changed between the versions: the words, the length, who is speaking. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 9 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Three Rounds of So What 1. Each writer puts a subject they care about in one sentence: "My town closed its only bookstore." 2. A partner writes "So what?" under it and hands it back. 3. The writer answers in one new sentence. Do this three times. 4. Read the first sentence and the last one aloud, and decide together which could open an essay. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.
Topic Sentence About a Classmate 1. Pair up and interview each other for two minutes about how each of you writes: when, where and with what. 2. Write one topic sentence that makes a claim about your partner as a writer. 3. Add two sentences of evidence, one of them a direct quote. 4. Your partner checks the quote and signs the paragraph if it is fair. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and a pen each. Noise: medium. First day: yes.

How this list was compiled: Written on 2026-10-13 for the first meetings of a writing class or a writing workshop: creative writing, an essay or academic writing course, or a class of ESL writers. Every opener is itself a short piece of writing, from six words to a short paragraph. The steps and every sample sentence are our own wording. Nobody is out, nobody is graded, and no game asks a writer about home or family. "First day: yes" means that no writer needs a classmate's name or a lesson taught earlier; it is true of every game here. A game is listed for ESL writers when it asks for no more than four short sentences in plain words. "Paper, pens and a board only" means the teacher prepares nothing before class. Read on 2026-10-13 at Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse (each collaborator adds to a composition in turn, seeing only the end of what the last person wrote, or following a rule), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin_story (a story written by several authors taking turns) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogram (writing that leaves out a letter on purpose). The word counts in the sample sentences were checked by counting. Player ranges and minutes are planning estimates. Licence: own work

How it works

Each writing icebreaker here puts words on paper in the first ten minutes: six words about this morning, a first line handed to a stranger, a sentence cut from twenty words to five. Each press deals one, with steps.

Read the full guide

Creative writing icebreakers

For a creative writing class, start under Pass the page in the full list. In First Line Swap each writer continues a stranger's opening line, and in A Class Poem, One Line Each the strips are read as one poem, so nobody reads out a page that is theirs alone.

Icebreakers for an academic writing class

Seven openers practice a move an essay needs: a claim and its objection, a paraphrase, a quote with a name on it, a topic sentence with evidence. For ESL writing icebreakers, fourteen games ask for no more than four short sentences in plain words, such as One-Syllable Self.

Questions and answers

What is a good icebreaker for a creative writing class?

First Line Swap. Each writer puts an opening line on a card, the cards are shuffled, and everyone writes the next three sentences of someone else's story. Then each writer finds the person who began theirs.

What are good icebreakers for writing workshops?

With four to eleven writers, pass pages around one table: Round-Robin Story With a Rule Card or Add One Detail and Pass. By the time the pages are read, everyone has written on several of them.

What is a writing words icebreaker?

A game played with single words. In A Board of Favorite Words each writer puts up one word they like, and pairs build a sentence from five of them. Retire the Tired Word bans nice, good and very.

What are fun writing icebreakers?

Why and Because, Unseen is the noisy one: each Why question gets a Because written without seeing it, and the pairs are read aloud. Five Words in Alphabet Order and Retire the Tired Word are quick games for pairs. None needs anything prepared.