60 Back to School Would You Rather Questions

Everyone told me back to school icebreakers had to be low-stakes and easy, gentle little warmups that don’t scare anyone off. So the first year I tried would you rather, I picked the softest question I had. Six kids answered. The rest looked bored. The next day I asked “Would you rather have recess before lunch or after lunch?” Twenty-three minutes later, I finally called a full stop to the debate. Turned out the harder the question, the stronger the connection.

I use these in my first-grade classroom every year. Some we do as a full class poll, some in small groups, and a few I’ve sent home with Eeshan just to see what he says on the drive to school. The ones in the “guaranteed to split the room” section below are exactly that: questions where my class has split 12 to 11, argued genuinely, and never quite landed on a winner.

If you’re looking for a bigger collection across all topics, our main would you rather questions for kids post has over 200 questions. For the fall semester, our fall would you rather questions pair nicely with these once school is underway.

Back to school would you rather questions for the first day

These fifteen questions are specific to the experience of starting school, meeting people, and navigating everything that’s new. They’re designed to open conversations about nerves and first impressions without making those conversations feel heavy.

In my classroom, I use a few of these on Day 1 itself because they normalize the awkwardness everyone is feeling. A child who hears “me too” after answering a first-day would you rather has already made a connection, and that’s the whole point.

1. Would you rather arrive at school knowing absolutely nobody but feel completely confident you’ll make friends, or arrive knowing two people but feel awkward around both of them?
2. Would you rather have the desk right next to the teacher’s desk or the one tucked into the very back corner of the room?
3. Would you rather be the first person to introduce yourself to the class or the very last one?
4. Would you rather forget your locker combination on the first day or forget which classroom you’re supposed to be in?
5. Would you rather trip walking into school while everyone watches, or accidentally call your teacher “Mom” in front of the whole class?
6. Would you rather start the year with a pop quiz to “see what you already know” or have homework assigned on the very first day?
7. Would you rather find out on the first morning that your best friend switched to a different class, or that someone you really don’t like switched into yours?
8. Would you rather be the new kid who nobody knows yet, or the kid everyone already has opinions about because your older sibling went to this school?
9. Would you rather show up in brand-new supplies that everyone notices, or the same worn-in backpack you’ve used for three years that’s finally perfectly broken in?
10. Would you rather know going in that you’ll love your teacher but dislike most of your classmates, or love your classmates but find the teacher really boring?
11. Would you rather everyone in school somehow knows your name on day one but you don’t know anyone else’s, or be completely invisible for the first week and choose when to appear?
12. Would you rather have a locker that jams every single morning for the whole year, or no locker at all and have to carry everything in your backpack?
13. Would you rather have your school year start in July or not end until the following August?
14. Would you rather get the only desk with a wobbly leg all year or the desk right in front of the pencil sharpener?
15. Would you rather find out on the first day that school is now four days a week, or that summer vacation is three months shorter starting next year?

Classroom and learning would you rather questions

These questions get into the details of what school actually feels like day to day. They’re useful as a Thursday morning meeting activity once the class is settled, or a car ride question on the way home when you want to know what your child’s classroom life is really like.

The question about sitting next to a best friend versus acing the test alone is the one I’ve used with my class three years in a row. It splits the room every time, and the explanations kids give for their choice tell me more about how they’re thinking about school than any survey I’ve tried.

1. Would you rather sit next to your best friend all year but struggle on every test, or sit completely alone but ace every single one?
2. Would you rather have a teacher who is really funny and makes class entertaining but sometimes goes off topic, or one who is very strict but explains everything so clearly you always understand?
3. Would you rather give a short presentation in front of your class every Monday or take a quiz every Friday?
4. Would you rather work on every assignment in a group or do every single thing by yourself?
5. Would you rather read out loud in class every day or present a solo project to the whole school once a semester?
6. Would you rather have no homework for a year but hard tests every week, or easy tests but homework every single night?
7. Would you rather sit in the same assigned seat for the whole year or choose a new seat every single day with no guaranteed spot?
8. Would you rather be known as the kid who always asks the best questions in class or the one who always has the best snacks at lunch?
9. Would you rather be the class helper who runs errands for the teacher or the student who gets to manage the classroom library?
10. Would you rather have a classroom pet you have to help care for all year or a fully stocked art supplies station available whenever you want?
11. Would you rather get an A on a hard test where you peeked at someone else’s paper once, or a B+ where you worked completely on your own?
12. Would you rather school start at 6 AM and end at noon, or start at noon and end at 6 PM?
13. Would you rather your parents get an email about something amazing you did, or never hear from the teacher but you get a gold star every week privately?
14. Would you rather learn everything through videos and films or through reading and books?
15. Would you rather your teacher remember your birthday every year or let you pick your own seat for the whole year?

Lunchroom and recess would you rather questions

Ask Vihaan these at home and he answers instantly. Ask the same questions in a classroom and suddenly there are strong opinions and follow-up arguments. The lunchroom ones in particular land really well because cafeteria life is something every child has a specific relationship with, and they all have something to say about it.

1. Would you rather eat cafeteria lunch every single day for a year, no matter what it is, or pack the exact same lunch from home every single day for a year?
2. Would you rather have recess before lunch or after lunch?
3. Would you rather always have a seat saved for you at lunch by someone you like, or always find a brand new person to sit with?
4. Would you rather get 10 extra minutes of lunch or 10 extra minutes of recess?
5. Would you rather be the kid who always starts the games at recess or the one who decides when they end?
6. Would you rather be picked first for every team in PE all year, or never be picked last but also never first?
7. Would you rather drop your entire lunch tray in front of the cafeteria on the first day back from winter break, or forget your lunch entirely on the last day before a holiday?
8. Would you rather have indoor recess with board games every rainy day or outdoor recess in the rain anyway?
9. Would you rather eat your most hated vegetable as the only side dish at school lunch for a month, or have dessert every day but it’s always something just okay?
10. Would you rather have the cafeteria serve only one food for a full school year (your choice, any food), or eat a different surprise meal every single day with no previews?

Funny and silly back to school would you rather questions

These are the ones Eeshan asks his friends on the bus. They don’t require any bravery to answer, they’re just ridiculous, and that’s exactly what makes them useful for the kids who are too shy to engage with a real-stakes question on day one. Silly first, real later.

1. Would you rather arrive at school one hour early every single day or be exactly three minutes late every single day?
2. Would you rather carry a backpack full of actual rocks to school all year or carry nothing and have to remember every single thing in your head?
3. Would you rather hiccup every time you try to answer a question in class or sneeze every time you try to write something down?
4. Would you rather high-five your teacher at the door every morning or fist-bump every single classmate before you can sit down?
5. Would you rather have a locker that plays your favorite song every time you open it or one that shoots a small cloud of confetti?
6. Would you rather every pencil you touch immediately break or every eraser immediately fall off?
7. Would you rather swap backpacks with the person sitting next to you for a full week without looking inside first, or wear your backpack on your front all day?
8. Would you rather have a hall pass shaped like a giant banana or a giant fish?
9. Would you rather your entire class sing the answer every time the teacher asks a question, or everyone has to stand up and spin around before sitting back down to answer?
10. Would you rather have gym class taught by a professional wrestler or art class taught by a mime?
11. Would you rather your school have a slide between every floor or a zip line from the top of the building to the playground?
12. Would you rather wear the same outfit as your teacher every Friday for a year or wear the same outfit as your least favorite person in school?
13. Would you rather school have a free popcorn machine in the hall or a free smoothie station in the cafeteria?
14. Would you rather hop everywhere on school grounds for a week or skip everywhere for a week?
15. Would you rather your school be on a boat that moves to a new city every month or in a building that is slowly, extremely slowly, rotating?

How to use these back to school would you rather questions

For the classroom, I recommend starting the first week with one question during morning meeting. Not a list, not a poll, just one question. Let two or three kids explain their reasoning out loud before moving on. By Thursday of week one, students are usually asking each other would you rather questions without being prompted.

For parents, these work best in the car. Specifically, on the drive home from the first day when kids are often too exhausted or overwhelmed to answer “how was school?” directly. A would you rather question takes the pressure off and usually opens into something real. Eeshan is famously reluctant to talk after school, but he will absolutely tell me whether he’d rather have recess before or after lunch, and that conversation usually leads somewhere useful.

For more first-week ideas that work alongside these questions, our back to school read alouds list pairs well with would you rather as a two-part evening routine: one book, then one question. And if you’re looking for something to share with your child’s teacher at the start of the year, our early childhood education quotes collection has ideas worth printing out.

Frequently asked questions about back to school would you rather

What is a good would you rather question for back to school?

The best back to school would you rather questions are the ones with no obvious right answer. “Would you rather be the smartest or the funniest kid in class?” works because both choices are genuinely appealing, and the answer tells you something about what your child values. Questions where one option is clearly worse (like “would you rather step on a lego or eat a bug”) tend to get quick laughs but short conversations. For the first week of school, aim for questions that two reasonable kids could genuinely disagree on.

How many would you rather back to school questions should I use at a time?

One to three questions is the sweet spot for a single session, whether you’re in the classroom or in the car. More than three and the format starts to feel like a survey. The goal is conversation, not completion. In my classroom, I pick one question for morning meeting and let the discussion run wherever it goes. At home, one question on the drive back from school is usually enough to get a real conversation going.

What is the would you rather back to school edition?

The “back to school edition” just means would you rather questions that are specifically about school life, rather than general-topic questions. This post is exactly that: 60 questions about first-day scenarios, classroom life, lunchroom choices, and silly school situations. Unlike a general would you rather list, these questions assume a shared school experience, which is why they’re particularly effective as icebreakers during the first week of class.

What would you rather questions work best for back to school icebreakers?

For icebreakers, choose questions where kids have to explain their reasoning, not just pick a side. “Would you rather have the desk next to the teacher or the back corner?” is a better icebreaker than “would you rather have no homework or no tests?” because the first one invites stories and the second just invites obvious answers. The first-day section of this list is specifically designed for icebreaker use, with questions that are school-specific enough to feel relevant but low-stakes enough that nervous kids can engage.

How do you use would you rather questions for back to school with younger kids?

For kindergarten and early first grade, stick to the silly questions section at the bottom of this list. Younger kids engage best with physical humor and absurdity: “Would you rather hiccup every time you try to answer a question or sneeze every time you write?” gets an immediate response even from very shy kids, because it’s ridiculous enough to be funny without requiring any personal disclosure. Save the more thoughtful questions (the first-day and classroom sections) for second grade and up, when kids have enough school experience to relate to the scenarios.

The morning after Eeshan used his first would you rather question at his new school, he came home and told me the whole conversation. He’d asked someone whether they’d rather have recess before or after lunch. They argued about it for the whole bus ride. By the time they got off, Eeshan knew the other kid’s lunch order, his opinion on the cafeteria pizza, and his name.

That’s what a good question does. It doesn’t force connection. It just gives two people something real to disagree about, and the rest takes care of itself.

Which of these landed hardest with your kids? Drop it in the comments.