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Random group generator for class

A group maker splits the class at random: pairs, threes, fours or a set number of groups. Enter the number of pupils or paste the class list, click Make groups and put the split on the board. Nobody is left alone: with a remainder, one group gets a little bigger, the way you would do it yourself.

Let the class see that the split is chance. «The board chose» stops the bargaining at the door; a split that seems to come from your head becomes a conversation about who may sit with whom.

The group maker

Groups of

How to use the group maker in a lesson

With numbers, no list. Enter only the number of pupils. Everyone takes their number on the class list, or counts off from the window: 1 to 28. The board says who sits with whom, and you type no name.
With names, pasted once. Copy the names from your school system, one per line. They stay in this browser, so next lesson you only click Make groups. The name picker uses the same list.
Pairs for a talk, fours for a product. In a pair everyone speaks; in a four someone can hide, but there are enough hands for a plan or a poster. Choose the size by what the task asks, not by what the class is used to.
Shuffle again when it does not fit. Two pupils who cannot work together today? Shuffle once more, visibly, without explanation. It costs three seconds and saves the conversation about why.

Frequently asked questions

What happens when the number does not divide?

The remainder is spread the way a teacher would. 29 pupils in fours: seven groups, one of them of five. 31 in fours: seven fours and a three. Nobody is ever alone; 25 in pairs gives one three, never a single.

Are the names of my pupils stored anywhere?

Only in the browser you paste them into, so you need not type them again next lesson. They are not sent to our server and not tied to an account. Clear the field and they are gone.

Can I keep certain pupils together or apart?

Not with this maker, on purpose: the strength of a random split is that it is random. If a group really does not fit, shuffle once more. Fixed pairs you choose yourself need no maker.

How do I get the groups large on the board?

After making them, click «On the board». The groups fill the screen in large type; «Shuffle again» sits next to them, and Escape or «Close» brings you back.

Why random rather than self-chosen?

Because self-chosen groups put the same friends together and leave the same pupils over. Splitting at random, often and visibly, turns «with whom» into a habit instead of an event. In the cooperative structures on this site that is the default.

Compiled by Oksana Oliinyk · Last updated 28 October 2026

Inside a structure, the groups are already dealt on the board

Every structure that works in groups opens with a step in which the class watches itself regroup: from alone to pairs, to fours. You set the group size; the player draws the split.

See all structures