Creative Ways to Create Groups

By Janina Cousins

Looking for some creative ways to pop your students into groups or pairs? Here’s some ideas that will add some fun into your day!

Team Shake

This an app that you can download onto your phone – you can enter the names of the students in your glass or group, and then it will create groups for you, depending on what you’re after. For example, you can ask the app to create five teams for you, or you can ask it to put students into groups of four. Groups are also colour-coded. You can also randomly select individual students for activities or tasks, and group students based on particular strengths. When you want to create a group, you simply shake your phone – and it presents the list! I highly recommend this app for its usability and novelty factor!

Line Up

Ask students to make a line, ordering themselves using the following ideas:

-          By the letter of their first name (A-Z)

-          By the number of letters in their name (longest to shortest)

-          By the number of cousins they have (greatest to least)

-          By the last time they ate pizza/ice-cream/chocolate (most recent at the start of the line)

-          Where they went on their most recent holiday (furthest away to closest to home)

-          By hair colour (darkest to lightest)

Once students have made a line, divide them into groups. You can always create your own ideas too!

Make A Face

Print and cut out a variety of emojis, and pop them into a bowl. Students take turns selecting an emoji, and then find the other students who have the same emoji – making up a group.

Another option is to print and cut out a set of emojis, and then cut each one in half. Students take turns selecting a half, and then have to find the other half – making pairs.

Sweet Treats

As your students enter the room, ask them to select a wrapped lolly or chocolate out of a basket. To find their group they must find the other students with the same sweet. Yum! 😊

Seasons

Ask your students to form groups based on which season they were born in. If you’d like to use this as an ice-breaker, you can ask your students the following questions:

-          What do you like best about the season you’re born in?

-          Is it your favourite season? If you’re answer is no, what’s your favourite season?

-          If you could create your own season, what would it be like?

 Hidden Stickers

Source a selection of stickers, and place them under your students chairs at the start of the day. When you’re ready to place everyone in groups, ask students to look under their chair and peel off their sticker – and find the other students who have the same sticker as them – their group!

Find It

Create a series of team names, and write them on slips of paper. Pop them into envelopes, and hide them around the room. On ‘go’ ask your students to run around and find one envelope each – they’ll discover which team they are in!

Balloon Pop

Disclaimer: this one is not for the faint of heart!

Say you have 12 students, and you’d like to make three groups. Come up with three group names, and write each name on four pieces of paper. Fold up each piece of paper, and insert them into balloons – then blow them up. When it’s time to create your groups, throw all the balloons out to your students, asking them to grab one each. They then have to pop their balloon to find out their group name. Just be mindful that some students might not like balloons popping around them, so be sure to know your group before using this activity!

 © Janina Cousins