A Maze of New Friends: Back to School Activity
Have you ever played Classmate Bingo with your class during the first week of school? It's a pretty common back to school activity, where each student tries to find classmates who match the clues on their bingo board. You know... "find someone who is an only child," or "find someone with blue eyes."
I like a lot of things about Classmate Bingo: it gets students up and moving around the room, and it gets students interacting and learning things about their new classmates in a low pressure situation.
The only thing I don't love about it is that it's a bit... tired. Some may say, "It's an oldie but a goodie," and that's fine, but I've come up with a fresh twist to re-engage students. I call it... A Maze of New Friends. It's part of my Fun and Fresh Get to Know You Activities.
Here's how it works:
Each student gets a maze and the "page of doors."
The goal is to simply get through the maze. Many different routes can lead to the maze's exit. However, spread throughout the maze are 26 different doors (one for each letter of the alphabet). In order to pass through a door and continue through the maze, the student must find a classmate who fits the particular door's clue.
So let's say Maddie wants to try to get through Door T, for instance. On the "Page of Doors," Maddie sees that in order to unlock Door T, she needs to find someone who currently has a messy bedroom.
So Maddie takes her clipboard and mills about the room (as do her classmates), and she sees Kenzie at a table. Maddie walks over and says hi (or introduces herself if she doesn't know her name yet).
"Hi Kenzie. I was wondering, do you have a messy bedroom?"
Kenzie giggles. "Um, yes! I definitely do!"
"Oh perfect!" Maddie says. Maddie writes Kenzie's name inside Door T on her Page of Doors, and then travels through Door T on her maze.
On Kenzie's maze, she has come to a branch that could lead to Door K or Door L. Door K says, "Find someone who likes books more than movies," and Door L says, "Find someone who likes movies more than books."
Kenzie finds out that Maddie likes books more than movies, so Kenzie records Maddie's name in Door K and takes the corresponding route on her maze.
Kenzie and Maddie then go their separate ways and find more classmates to help them unlock doors and make it through the maze!
A Maze of New Friends is just ONE of my fun and fresh "get to know you" activities for back to school. And I don't take those two words lightly: fun AND fresh.
You can check out the bundle of all 14 activities right HERE. which includes the following:
I like a lot of things about Classmate Bingo: it gets students up and moving around the room, and it gets students interacting and learning things about their new classmates in a low pressure situation.
The only thing I don't love about it is that it's a bit... tired. Some may say, "It's an oldie but a goodie," and that's fine, but I've come up with a fresh twist to re-engage students. I call it... A Maze of New Friends. It's part of my Fun and Fresh Get to Know You Activities.
Here's how it works:
Each student gets a maze and the "page of doors."
The goal is to simply get through the maze. Many different routes can lead to the maze's exit. However, spread throughout the maze are 26 different doors (one for each letter of the alphabet). In order to pass through a door and continue through the maze, the student must find a classmate who fits the particular door's clue.
So let's say Maddie wants to try to get through Door T, for instance. On the "Page of Doors," Maddie sees that in order to unlock Door T, she needs to find someone who currently has a messy bedroom.
So Maddie takes her clipboard and mills about the room (as do her classmates), and she sees Kenzie at a table. Maddie walks over and says hi (or introduces herself if she doesn't know her name yet).
"Hi Kenzie. I was wondering, do you have a messy bedroom?"
Kenzie giggles. "Um, yes! I definitely do!"
"Oh perfect!" Maddie says. Maddie writes Kenzie's name inside Door T on her Page of Doors, and then travels through Door T on her maze.
On Kenzie's maze, she has come to a branch that could lead to Door K or Door L. Door K says, "Find someone who likes books more than movies," and Door L says, "Find someone who likes movies more than books."
Kenzie finds out that Maddie likes books more than movies, so Kenzie records Maddie's name in Door K and takes the corresponding route on her maze.
Kenzie and Maddie then go their separate ways and find more classmates to help them unlock doors and make it through the maze!
* * *
A Maze of New Friends is just ONE of my fun and fresh "get to know you" activities for back to school. And I don't take those two words lightly: fun AND fresh.
You can check out the bundle of all 14 activities right HERE. which includes the following:
- "A Maze of New Friends"
- "Who's In Your Circles?"
- Word Makers: "Names" Edition
- Classmate Crossword
- "A Map of My New Classroom"
- Back-to-School Pen Pals and Text Chats
- "Who Am I?" Poster
- Memory Item Mix-Up
- "About Me" Dice
- Truth, Twist, or Total Fake!
- "School Rules" Skits
- Build-a-Story: "Secret Words" Edition
- 3-D Dream Bedroom
- Time Capsule
Have a great beginning to your year!
