Speaking icebreakers

Alliterative name game
Instruct your group to gather in a circle and pick a theme. Each student will introduce themselves by stating their name and a word within the theme that starts with the same letter of their name (i.e. “My name is Luke and I like lemons”). The person next in line repeats the last student’s statement and adds their own. (i.e. My name is Lindsey and I like lettuce and his name is Luke and he likes lemons.”). This continues all throughout the circle until the last person recites everyone’s name and word. 

Two truths and a lie

Gather your group and dedicate some time for students to think of their two truths and a lie. 
Once everyone has their three statements ready, one student will be picked to go first. The first student to identify the speaker’s lie will go next. This continues until everyone has had a turn.
 
i Chose this college because...
Have everyone form a circle. The first person will say their name and the reason why chose to attend this college. Continue going around the group. You can also repeat this by having each student state their intended major and why they chose it. This icebreaker is ideal for groups smaller than 20. 

Three of a kind

Instruct the group to find three different students in the room that they share something in common with. These commonalities cannot be visible (so not hair color, eye color, etc). 

Where in the world...
Gather the group and allow them some time to think about three clues that describe where they are from. Once everyone has their three clues, go around the group and have each student present their three clues for the group to guess where they’re from. The first student who guesses correctly (or close enough) goes next.

One-Word story
This one is pretty simple. Each student will help craft a story, one word at a time. Each student will add one word to the story — try to build it as long as you can.
 
Dinner plans

Ask the group to form a circle. Each person will respond to the prompt “If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, who would it be, and why?” 

Where were you when...?
The orientation leader picks any year or a date before orientation and gives each student a chance to tell the group what they were doing at that time (the summer of 2007, when One Direction split-up, when Lemonade was released — whatever you want).

Sentence Completion
The orientation leader will prepare a list of sentences. The leader will give a different sentence randomly to each student. Some suggested sentences for this exercise include: “Before I came to college, my main interests were…”, “The way I would describe my family is…”, and “The things I value most are…”. 
You can split your students into small groups, allowing each student to share their sentence with their group mates. Once everyone is finished, switch up the groups.  

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pterodactyl

Ask everyone to gather in a circle. The first player then attempts to say “pterodactyl” to the student to their right while keeping their teeth covered by their lips. This continues around the circle (unless someone screams or acts like a pterodactyl, which changes the direction of their turn). If anyone shows their teeth, they are out.

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active icebreakers

 

Human knot
Have your group form a close circle. Each player must put their right hand in the middle of the circle and the hand of a player who is not to their immediate left or right. Repeat this using the left hand, except holding the hand of a different player than before. The group must now untangle themselves into a circle without letting go of one another. (For larger groups, you can split them up into smaller groups.)

zip, zap, zop
Have everyone get into a circle and one person will start. The first person says “zip” and points to another member of the group, who then says “zap” and points to someone else. That person then says “zop” while pointing to a third person. This continues in a repeating sequence (zip, zap, zop).
Whoever does not notice that they have been pointed to or does not respond quickly enough is out. This continues until only a few students are left. 

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Ultimate ninja
In this quick-moving icebreaker, you attempt to (lightly) hit another player’s hand quickly enough before they pull it away — in one motion. Once the one motion is completed, you must be frozen in that position until it is your turn again. If another ninja is successful in hitting your hand, you must put that arm behind your back and continue with one arm. If both of your hands get hit, you are out.
Ask all the students to recite the alphabet until you say stop. Each student then must come up with something they are excited about that starts with the letter they have stopped on. To continue, repeat this, but stop on a different letter.  You can also do this icebreaker with different themes, like animals, places they want to visit, or foods. 

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Rock, paper, scissors tournament
Everyone pairs up or is paired up by the orientation leader and plays regular ole RPS. The person who doesn’t win their round is now a cheerleader for the winner. The winners then take on a new opponent. At some point, the tournament will come down to only two people, with everyone else cheering!

Sing-off
Divide the group into 2-5 teams. The orientation leader will set the theme with a word (“love”, “summer”, “friends”, etc), and the teams will then alternate back and forth singing a song that has the assigned word in the song’s title. Everyone must sing (or try to sing) for the song to count.
No repeat songs or skips! If a team does either of these things, they are eliminated. Keep going around until only one team is left.

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Icebreakers originally from https://www.presence.io/blog/60-awesome-icebreakers-for-orientation-and-beyond/