Celebrating the End of the School Year: 10 Activities for Unforgettable Fun

The last few weeks of school are filled with excitement, energy, and the potential for chaos.

Here are 10 great classroom activities to foster your students’ excitement and keep things a little more on track! 

Fun End-of-Year Classroom Activities  

1. Teach the Teacher Day ✏️

Swap roles with your students! Give each student a chance to teach you (and the rest of the class) something they love. 

For more on what this could look like in your classroom, check out this blog post! 

Here’s a picture below of one of my students teaching the class step by step on how to draw a bunny 🙂

2. Write Letters or Tips for Next Year’s Class ✍️

Your students are now the experts on how to thrive in this classroom! Empower them to share their wisdom with the students sitting in their seats next year. 

This could also be a great reflection activity to wrap up the year and the time together as a class. 

3. Make a Summer Keepsake

This could be a beach ball, shirt, hat, or poster. Really, anything students could pass around to have everyone sign and take home as a memory of this year! 

4. Do a STEM Activity 🔬

STEM activities are always a great way to change things up, get your students moving, and try something new out! 

I LOVE using beach-ball-themed STEM activities at the end of the year. They bring a great summer feel to the classroom. 

5. Have an Awards Ceremony 🥇

Create unique awards to pass out to your students to celebrate all the learning and growing in your room this year. Students will feel so special having an award that is specific to them!💛

6. Do an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt ☀️

Take advantage of the great weather and enjoy some sunshine! 

7. Do a Classroom Scavenger Hunt 🔍

Ask your students to review in a FUN way. Create a scavenger hunt that sends them looking for things specific to what you taught this year around the classroom. 

This FREE scavenger hunt from Third in Hollywood on TPT is a great option for older students or a model to use to create one of your own!  

8. Make Homemade Ice Cream in Plastic Bags 🍨

Sweeten the end of the year with this fun, action-packed science experiment! 

Teach your students about the science behind why this works and enjoy a sweet treat together for a lasting memory. 

This website is filled with great information about why it works and how to do it. 

9. Play with Shaving Cream on Desks 🧴

Although this may sound strange, it is a way to clean students’ desks- and they LOVE it 🤩

Your students will have so much fun running their fingers through the foamy shaving cream. Definitely have paper towels and wipes on hand for the cleanup.  

10. Game Day or Game Time 🃏

Break out the board games, card games, or whole class games to change things up. 

Play games for an entire day, or just bring them out for a specific chunk of the day. 

Looking for Even More Excitement? 🎈

If you are looking for a way to bring even more excitement to your summer countdown, create a balloon pop. 

Here’s what I mean – blow a balloon for each day of the last X days of school you have left. (The last 10 days is a great countdown amount.) 

Before you tie off each balloon, write a special classroom activity that will happen during that day on a slip of paper and place it in the balloon. You could use this list of 10 ideas for starters!  

Other ideas are simpler things like a PJ day, a popsicle treat, lunch in the classroom, etc. 

Then, have one student pop the balloon the day BEFORE. (So, you are popping the balloon for the 10th day left of the school year right before students leave on the 11th day.)  

This builds anticipation for what’s coming the next day and gives kids time to wear PJs or bring a stuffy in. 

Finally, display the balloons along the top of your whiteboard, or across some cabinets. 

Another Bonus: Fun Ways to Review Math and ELA Content for Elementary Students 🎲

OR, if you are looking for fun ways to review math and ELA content at the end of the year, here are 10 fun ways to review content with your elementary students! ⭐️

No matter what classroom activities you choose to do, your students will love celebrating the end of the school year with you.