#70Days Icebreaker using Pipe Cleaners

I posted this idea last summer ... and didn't use it. I'm reposting, reviewing, reconsidering!  I like the possibilities this activity affords in getting to know my students.

I found this pipe cleaner activity online - borrowed it from this website.

• Provide each student with three pipe cleaners.
• Give students about five minutes to use the pipe cleaners to create a structure or symbol that represents something about themselves. 
• At the end of the five minutes, set up a sequence of 60-second "speed dates" during which each student tells the other what their symbol is and why they made it. (Sound a bell to indicate when they should switch chairs.)

Alternately, students could create structures, then share them in groups, ask each group to select a "winner" - their favorite and give a reason.

Another alternate idea is for students to work in groups to create a structure ... that represents something that all the students in the group have in common.  Groups share out after 5 - 10 minutes of building.

I would love to hear if you have tried this and how it worked ... or if you have ideas for how to strengthen this idea!

What icebreaker do you use at the beginning of school?