New Year Activities for Elementary Students

It’s that time of year again – the New Year! It’s a fresh start for everyone, a time to make new resolutions and set new goals. If you’re a teacher, this is also a great time to come up with new ideas for your classroom. Here are some fun New Year activities for elementary students that will help them celebrate and get ready for a successful year ahead.

These New Year Activities are short, easy fillers that provide just the right about

Included in the New Year Activities Resource

This New Year resource has a variety of fun activities, including:

• Word Search
• Making Words (2 formats)
• Kindness BINGO
• Find Someone Who
• New Year Goals (2 formats)
• Plan of Action
• Top 10 for the Year
• Color by Code (add and subtraction below 200 & parts of speech)

Here are some more photos and details.

Word Search

The word search has 20 new year words arranged in a variety of directions. Students can color or circle the words they find.

Making Words

The Making Words activity is available in two formats. One format has six words. Students can repeat the activity with each word or phrase. The second format is a longer phrase and divided into sections of word length.

Kindness BINGO

The Kindness BINGO is a fun activity that can take place over the course of the first few weeks back at school. Students train themselves to be on the lookout for ways they can be kind to others. As students do an act of kindness color in a box. Students can work toward a row or column or a blackout BINGO. The Kindness BINGO can be used as a class board or an individual student board.

Find Someone Who

This Find Someone Who activity is all about the holiday break. Students walk around the room and find someone who did one of the things on the board. Items range from traveling and gifts to reading a book. The first student to complete the board wins!

New Year Goals

There are three goal setting worksheets included. One is open-ended and has students write down four goals. You can ask students to be as specific as you want them to, or allow them to be more generic.

The second goal setting sheet has students set goals for school and for home. Students can create a bulleted list or more of a narrative in each column.

Plan of Action

Along with goal setting, students can zoom in and create a plan of action for their goals. In this section, students write a goal for each of the six areas, then tell their action plan to accomplish the goal. Students can write one action step or several action steps.

Top 10 List

This Top 10 list is available for several years! It’s a fun way to reflect on the previous year and even includes a “choose your own” top 10 list.

While the photo below is from 2019, the resource includes many years, so you don’t need to download it again each year.

Color by Code

This color-by-code is designed for second- and third-grade students who can add numbers under 200 and know basic parts of speech. It includes adding one-digit and two-digit numbers, identifying odd and even, and identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

How to Use New Year Activities in the Classroom

The week before winter break and the first week back in January each have a different energy, and these activities work in both windows for different reasons.

The week before break is not the time for new academic content. What teachers actually need are engaging activities that keep students on task without requiring a lot of setup or complex directions. A goal-setting page or a “year in review” reflection gives students something purposeful to work on independently while the teacher manages the inevitable mix of celebrations, absences, and half-day schedules. These activities work well as morning work, early finisher tasks, or a Friday afternoon wind-down when the class needs something calm and self-directed.

Because the format is familiar — read the prompt, write a response, illustrate if there’s room — students can work through them with minimal redirecting. That matters a lot during a week when the usual routine is already off.

The first week back is where the activities pay off even more. Students return from two or more weeks at home and need a soft re-entry before focusing on new content. A goal-setting activity at the start of January doubles as a classroom community moment. When students share what they want to get better at — in reading, in math, in how they treat their classmates — it sets a tone for the new semester.

One routine worth trying: spend the first 10 to 15 minutes of Monday morning on a goal-setting page, then do a quick share-out where each student names one goal. Post the completed pages on a bulletin board or in the hallway so they stay visible through January. By February, students can look back and check whether they followed through.

The reflection prompts also work well as a writing warm-up during that first week. A “my favorite memory from last year” prompt gets reluctant writers started because the topic is personal and there’s no wrong answer. Students who struggle with open-ended writing will often fill a page when the content is about themselves.

After the first week back, the materials do not need to be removed. Goal cards can move into student writing folders as a reference point during writing conferences, and reflection pages work well as an early entry in a January writing portfolio. Finding ways to extend the use of January activities beyond one week makes the investment worthwhile during what is already one of the most unpredictable stretches of the school year.

Where to Find the New Year Activities

The New Year Activities are available on Teachers Pay Teachers.

While it may not be the first day of school, you will want to reestablish routines after the long holiday break!

Are you Looking for MORE New Year Activities?

Check out the New Year Flap Book. This is also updated for the current year and future years.

Or take a look at this blog post for some winter ideas for the first week back!