Go to main content
Blog
September 1, 2025
Blog

How to organize a humorous back-to-school experience for high school students

Organize a return to school

Want to kick off the school year on a positive note with your high school students? Embrace humor! From quirky games to wacky challenges and an '80s-themed day, discover our ideas for organizing a memorable back-to-school experience that will make your students laugh. With a healthy dose of creativity and a pinch of wackiness, transform this often-dreaded moment into a joyful, bond-building experience. So, are you ready to think outside the box for a colorful back-to-school season?

Summary :

  1. Offbeat Icebreaker Games

  2. Crazy inter-class challenges

  3. Offbeat theme day

Offbeat Icebreaker Games

The speed dating of embarrassing anecdotes

Embarrassing Anecdotes Speed ​​Dating is a fun icebreaker for back-to-school fun. The premise is simple: each student tells their neighbor a slightly embarrassing personal anecdote in one minute or less. At the end of the allotted time, the students switch partners and repeat the exercise.

Sharing these small moments of embarrassment or awkwardness has a unifying effect. It allows us to realize that everyone has experienced similar situations and to defuse these memories. The laughter and knowing smiles that result create a climate of kindness and complicity within the class.

Mime of high school clichés

The principle is simple but hilarious: divide the class into several teams. Each team must take turns guessing clichés about high school life by miming them. No talking is allowed, only gestures are permitted!

Clichés can range from the surly cafeteria worker to the sleepy teacher, including the disastrous report card or the dreaded class council. The more caricatured, the funnier! Teams must be creative and humorous.

This game has the merit of making light of the daily life of high school students by making fun of it. Guaranteed laughs, while creating a sense of group bonding. A great way to bring the class together at the start of the year!

Crazy inter-class challenges

Most Creative Costume Competition

To stimulate students' creativity right from the start of the school year, there's nothing like a big competition for the most original costume! Each class will have to compete in imagination to create costumes based on a set theme, such as historical figures, comic book heroes, or unusual professions.

On the big day, a colorful parade will allow a jury composed of teachers and parents to evaluate the costumes. The judging criteria will, of course, be originality and quality of execution, but also humor and the ability to embody the character. Bonus points will be awarded to the most offbeat accessories and crazy staging.

Guaranteed laughter for this unifying activity, which will encourage mutual aid and cohesion within each class. The awards ceremony, with its zany categories like "most unlikely costume" and "most mismatched duo," will round off this back-to-school season marked by good humor!

High school obstacle course

Transform your high school into a playground for a crazy obstacle course! Here are some ideas for crazy challenges to include in your course:

  • Chair Slalom: Weave your way through the rows of chairs in the classroom at full speed. Be careful not to get your feet caught in the bags!

  • Locker Wall Climb: Climb to the top of this steel wall using the handholds. The first person to reach it can retrieve the flag hanging at the top.

  • Zipline: Hold onto a kit and slide from one end of the yard to the other, suspended from a cable stretched between two trees. Thrills guaranteed!

  • Desk Jump: Take a run-up and jump over a pyramid of desks without knocking anything over. Bonus points if you land on the chair on the other side!

With a little imagination, repurpose school furniture to create a fun and original obstacle course. It's sure to make school life a little less routine for a memorable race! Ready to take on the challenge?

Offbeat theme day

The 80s retro theme

For a totally eighties day, bet on these essential elements:

  1. Neon and flashy dress code: colorful leggings, oversized t-shirts, shoulder-padded jackets, hairbands. Everything must scream "80s"!

  2. 100% Retro Hits Playlist: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper... Stream hits from the era all day long for complete musical immersion.

  3. Old-school activities: organize Rubik's Cube tournaments, vintage video game tournaments like Pac-Man, and quizzes on 80s pop culture.

  4. Unapologetically kitsch decor: fluorescent garlands, cult film posters, multicolored ribbons. Recreate the flashy atmosphere so characteristic of those years.

  5. Nostalgic snack break: microwave muffins, colorful cereal, neon soda... Enough to revive childhood taste memories!

Integration of teachers into the theme

To get teachers into the '80s spirit, why not offer them a hair challenge? Each teacher will have to sport a hairstyle emblematic of the decade: a perm, a mullet, a ponytail, or even a blow-dry like Samantha from The Man Who Serves You.

Those who take on the challenge with originality will be able to win a symbolic prize, such as a voucher for a karaoke session to hits by Desireless or Jean-Pierre François. Enough to put everyone in the mood and bring a breath of nostalgia and good humor to the start of the year!

Courses revisited in the 80s style

To give a retro and offbeat look to the first lessons of the year:

  1. Math lesson in giant Rubik's Cube mode: students must solve equations on each face to reconstruct the cube.

  2. English karaoke class: High school students learn vocabulary while singing 80s hits like Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."

  3. History lesson with a cardboard time machine: students "travel" back to the 1980s and relive major events through skits and role-playing games.

  4. French lessons in the style of a teen movie: students study excerpts from cult films like "The Breakfast Club" or write a sequel to an episode of "Premiers Baisers."

  5. Sports classes in aerobics and fluorescent jogging mode: warm-ups to hits by Madonna and Jane Fonda, fluorescent jump rope challenge, and a good gym tonic session to keep in shape!

Back to school doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. With a bit of imagination and a healthy dose of humor, transform this dreaded moment into a memorable experience for your high school students. From quirky icebreaker games to wacky challenges and an '80s-themed day, get creative and bring the group together in a good mood. And don't forget, simplifying administrative procedures with solutions like Emundus is also a great way to start the year on the right foot. So, are you ready to make this back-to-school season unforgettable?

last articles

November 17, 2025

How to combat the isolation of students in elite schools

November 3, 2025

How to set up an effective psychological support service for students

October 6, 2025

Raising student awareness of mental health: strategies and challenges

Categories