Fun End of the School Year Activities for the Classroom

I’ve written a lot over the years about different ways to mark the end of the school year, from printable award ribbons to making books, writing memories on stars, counting down to the end of the year, and activities for older kids to mark the end of the year.

It would be easy to say just go read all of those and call it a day, but there are lots of other fun things you can do with kids of various ages to mark the end of the school year.

Life Between Summers has a post with a variety of ideas for early elementary but I like the part that talks about the book A Letter from Your Teacher on the Last Day of School. How sweet for teacher to write a letter to each student, and the students can write letters to each other as well. It also has activities around Our Class is a Family by the same author.

You can also have kids write letters to the future students in your classroom that can be shared on the first day of school. This idea comes from Jennifer Findley, who has other end of the year literacy activities in her post as well as a free printable you can use for student letters.

For older kids I think it would be super fun to build a class play list and share with everyone to listen to over the summer. Kids can submit what song they think represents their class or holds a memory from the past year for them, and write about and/or share with the class why that song is meaningful to them. I got this idea from We are Teachers, and they have a sample playlist to get you started or if you want to add some songs to make the list longer.

I love the idea of a collaborative project for the end of the year that allows kids to share memories or things they’ve learned over the school year. The Eagle’s Nest has a bulletin board with cameras to have kids write and draw “snapshots” of the year, but I also love this puzzle printable where each student can draw something meaningful to them, and you can include a picture of the class in the center. You can get this printable from Top Teaching Tasks.

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Last month I shared a collection of beach crafts that used items from the beach like seashells and sand. This month’s collection is all about beach animals and things you might see at the beach that don’t require beachy materials to make. In fact you’ve probably got what you need to make most of these beach crafts in your house already.

How about paper plates? With a paper plate you can make this cute watercolor seashell from The Educator’s Spin on It, or an adorable seagull like this one from Glued to My Crafts.

Add some white beans and you can make paper plate sand dollars like Crafts by Amanda. Or use a paper plate as a frame for a sweet beach scene like this crab and turtle one from Artsy Craftsy Mom, which includes a downloadable template and instructions to make it super easy.

Or grab a paper plate and some bubble wrap to make a jellyfish like this one from Happy Toddler Playtime. If you have paper bowls instead of plates, you can also make a jellyfish from one of those, like Natural Beach Living did.

Use your stash of craft sticks and googly eyes to make crabs, fish, sharks and more with this craft idea from The Keeper of the Cheerios.

I love this little crab made with a cardboard tube from Hunny I’m Home. With this same idea I’ll bet you could make lots of different creatures.

Grab some construction paper to make the loopy tentacles on this watercolor jellyfish from Craftsy Hacks. Or make a stained glass jellyfish like this one from Life Anchored.

Make easy puffy paint to make these fun fluffy starfish from I Heart Crafty Things, or use cupcake liners to make cute little crabs (also from I Heart Crafty Things).

Turn an old pool noodle into some super cute fish with this tutorial from Happy Toddler Playtime.

And if you’ve got some leftover yarn lying around, make pompoms and turn them into turtles like these from Craftsy Hacks. (And check out my post on different ways to make pompoms if you need a refresher!)

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