18 of the Best End of School Year Ideas to Keep Students Busy

How do you keep students busy while you’re packing up the classroom, doing end-of-the-year assessments, cleaning out closets, and all of the last week of school activities? 

Over the years, I have strategically planned in-depth and independent end of the school year activities to give myself some breathing room to get it all done! Read on for some fabulous end of the year ideas!

While you can plan to do these activities during the last week of school, I plan to do them over the last two to three weeks of the school year to give kids space to think about the activities and do quality work.  You can plan several activities throughout the day to give yourself incremental times of breathing room over the last few weeks of school.

The Best End of the School Year Picture Books to Share with Students

Are you looking for fantastic picture books to read aloud to elementary students at the end of the school year? Look no further!

Our handpicked selection beautifully captures the mixed emotions experienced during this time, from bidding farewell to classmates and beloved teachers to the excitement of summer vacation.

Each book on our list offers a unique perspective on this milestone, engaging young readers with relatable characters, vibrant illustrations, and heartwarming stories. Don’t miss out on these perfect end-of-year reads!

End-of-the-Year Art Projects

Art projects are some of my favorite end-of-the-year activities. I love choosing projects that take several days to complete. We do a little bit each day and end up with a fun, colorful project.

Several of the art ideas in this post are collaborative, which means students work together to create a classroom display. They are perfect for an open house and also give students some final experiences working together as a team.

End of the School Year Activities for Virtual Learners

If you are teaching online, I have a few end of the school year activities that are completely online.

Despite the distance, teachers can still give their students some fun, engaging digital end of the year ideas to celebrate the last week of school. This post has quite a few ideas that you can use with your virtual learning students.

Create Writing Portfolios to Showcase Student Work

Have your students been doing a lot of writing this year? Do you have oodles of writing samples collected in piles around your room?

Have students build writing portfolios out of pizza boxes! Here is a cute idea of how we implemented these writing portfolios in our classroom.

Fun End of the Year Writing Portfolios

Have Students Help You Prepare for Next Year

If you have older students, have them help you assemble things for next year.  I often had my second-grade students add labels to notebooks, sharpen pencils, create toolboxes, and re-organize my classroom library. 

The possibilities are endless. By the end of the school year, your students know you. They know your routine and your expectations.  They also know how you like your classroom to be and can help you set that up for the next school year!

In fact, consider asking students their opinion on what went well this year and what to change for next year. Then have students start to implement some of those changes in your classroom!

Plan Independent Rotations or Centers

If you have a day, or a block of time during several days, consider setting up some centers through which students rotate. Do this in your classroom or collaborate with other teachers to cut down on the prep work.

Set up several centers and randomize how students are grouped within each center.

I basically put everything in a basket and give students about 20-30 minutes at a center to complete the work of that station. Do one a day, two a day, or make it an all-day affair.

Build a Repertoire of Sponge Activities to Add to your End of the Year Ideas

Have you ever heard of sponge activities? The term itself may be unfamiliar, but I bet the concept is one you know well. The basic idea is short 10-15 minute activities that you can do with students to fill up some time. Some of these may even make great center activities above!

Here is a post with 80 Sponge Activities that you can use at any time of the school year!

Create a Travel Plan to a Far Away Place

This may not be the year to travel, but it doesn’t mean that students can’t dream a little bit!

Have students pick a place to travel, research all about that place, and then give a report about how to get there, the best places to see, things to do, etc.  Most cities and regions have tourism and travel websites where students can find information about the place. 

Use this as a Project Based Learning activity and work in some math (distance to the place, time it takes to get there, meal plans, spending money per day, etc.), some social studies (history of the location), science (animals that live there) and more!

Build a Game Room in Your Classroom

This is by far one of my favorite end of the year activities.  I only did it for one year, but we had so much fun!  Using a YouTube video as inspiration, students built arcade games.  We had days of planning, building, and playing.  

I have some notes and reflections at the end of the blog post that will hopefully help you plan a very fun end-of-the-year game room in your classroom!

End of the Year Memory Book & Activities

The following is more of a traditional option. Have students create a memory book and engage in some fun end-of-the-year activities. The memory book comes in several different versions with many options for students to reflect and write about their school year.

During the last few weeks of school give students some fun traditional activities like writing a letter to next year’s teacher or next year’s students, during a survey, making a comic strip and more!

End of the Year Memory Flap Book

For a non-traditional memory book, check out this memory flap book option. This version requires a bit more cutting but creates an awesome final project. It’s perfect for older students who can cut all the angles and write in smaller spaces.

Summer Bucket List

This Summer Bucket List is another one of my favorite craftivities. I love seeing what students want to do during summer and it makes a great parent communication as well!

End of the Year Class Party Ideas

If you want to reward your students with a classroom party and still have an academic focus for it, check out these ideas.

Your students will absolutely LOVE these creative and engaging party ideas! Each suggestion offers a unique way to celebrate in the classroom.

While some may be simpler to organize than others, every classroom party idea is designed to assist you in effectively managing your classroom.

More Ideas for Activities to do at the End of the School Year

Here are a few more traditional, well-known ideas that are perfect at the end of the school year.  Some are easy to implement with little prep work, others take a bit more planning.

• Do themed days (beach day, camping day, water day, sports day, art day, travel day, etc.)
• Create a countdown system (paper chain or balloon board).  Fill each balloon or strip of paper with a short fun sponge activity for the day.
• Celebrate the students in your classroom and dedicate a day to each student.  Depending on the number of students you have in your classroom, this might take some more advanced planning. During that day have students write notes of encouragement, give compliments, etc.  It’s like star of the day, but just for the end of the year. 
• Minute to Win It are very popular and active games to play in the classroom. Here are a bunch of games on Pinterest.
• Have teams of students create end-of-the-year videos for the class.  Give students access to photos that you have taken throughout the year and let them plan their own videos to show the class!
• Paint rocks and leave them around the school to encourage other students!
• Do random acts of kindness around the school and to other students and classrooms. This Seeds of Kindness Craftivity will plant the seeds (see what I did there?) and get you started. 
• Do a read in day or hour.  If you make it a day “read in” change the location each day.  Go outside on one side of the playground, go sit next to the playground, or work it into the themed days above. 

These ideas and resources go way beyond the end of the year party and provide the classroom teacher with hours of engaging, meaningful activities to keep students busy those last few days of school!