12 Fun Activities for the End of the School Year: Your Students Will Love

Here are 25 end-of-the-year classroom activities to help you and your students make the year memorable.

Cleaning out your desk or locker, saying goodbye to friends, and knowing that you have the rest of the year to play (or sleep!) make the last day of school exciting enough on its own.) all you want. But there are many ways to make it even more unique.

Your students will enter the summer with wonderful memories of the school year behind them thanks to these enjoyable activities for the last day of class!

Take a Meaningful Walk

Teacher Courtney G. shares: “The day before graduation, students from our high school enter their elementary school wearing their caps and gowns and walking the hallways. The pupils stand in the hallways and applaud as they pass by students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

On the last day of school, before they leave elementary school, the fifth graders also participate in this activity. My first kinders are now fifth graders because I am in my sixth year of teaching kindergarten at this particular school. I’ll probably start crying!”

Play End-of-Year Classmates Bingo

Students still have one last chance to discover something new about their classmates! Grab the free printable at the provided link, or create your own to suit your class better.

List What You’ve Learned from a to Z

What a wonderful way to review what the kids have learned! For each letter of the alphabet, have them write and illustrate something they learned or did throughout the year. For a free printable template for this project, click the link below.

Create a Memory Book

Your students will feel proud and chuckle as they think back on everything that has happened this year. Your students can personalize their memory books with this lap book-style memory book.

Mailbox Keepsake

Here is a quick yet effective activity for the last week of school. Students can say goodbye in a healthy, heartfelt way by making a memento of the school year.

These “letters” can be short and sweet. Brainstorm ideas together as a class, and provide students with a few prompts:

• Write about a memory of that person.
• Give a compliment to him/her.
• Tell them you’ll miss them and why.

On the final day of class, students can distribute their letters to one another and then take them home in their mailboxes as a unique keepsakes. You could also put a special “letter from your teacher” in each of the mailboxes too.

Class Family Circle

This no-prep social-emotional activity couldn’t be simpler, yet it makes a significant impact during those last days of school! Students should circle up and sit. Once everyone has responded to the reflection question, go around the circle again. Here are some example discussion topics:

• Describe your favorite school year memory.
• Which project did you prefer?
• Do you remember any particular spirit days?
• What day was the most enjoyable?

If you have a microphone, now would be a great time to use it! Kids love talking into it, and you can use it to keep the classroom under control by using it as a talking piece. Only the person holding the microphone is allowed to speak, and it is everyone else’s turn to listen.

Pass the Plate

Pick up some paper plates, and distribute some vibrant markers. Have each student write their name in the middle of the plate. After writing kind words for their classmates, each student passes the sheet to the following student. Each person receives a delightful memento for the academic year!

Sign a T-shirt

You can have kids sign customized T-shirts, or you can just ask them to bring plain T-shirts from home. the kids can then write messages and sign their names using the fabric markers that you have provided. (If you need to, send home instructions on how to set the markers.)

Make Ice Cream

On the last day of school, ice cream parties are a common activity, but there’s a sneaky way to incorporate STEM learning into the fun! Let kids prepare their own ice cream in a bag, then top it with their favorite toppings and spread it out on the grass to eat it.

Party Time

No better way to close out the year than with a good ol’ party! Plan a fun end-of-school-year party to celebrate with students. Here are a few last days of school party themes to get the ideas flowing:

• That’s a Wrap – Candy themed party
• This Year was Poppin’ – Popcorn and a movie party
• Have a Ball this Summer – Beach-themed party

Set up a photo booth for students to use on their last day of school so they can take some fun group photos!

Try a STEM Challenge

For the final day of school, STEM challenges make excellent meaningful and enjoyable activities. Try building a roller coaster from drinking straws.

Try An Escape Room

While escape rooms are enjoyable at any time of the year, they are particularly effective at keeping students interested during the last few days of class. Students will be jumping for joy as they attempt to overcome the challenges and escape from the school in this escape room themed around being trapped in school for the summer.

Conclusion: Happy Ending

As the school year comes to a close, many teachers find themselves Googling easy, low-prep end-of-the-school-year activities and perhaps reaching for more coffee. The end of the year gives teacher tired a whole new meaning!

So, in case it can help you save any time or energy (two things that teachers have much less of as the last day of school approaches), here is a list of my twelve favorite end-of-year activities.

Post your additional thoughts in the comments section below.