This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 5th grade / 5 - 10 years Celebrate the end of another great year by staging your own classroom Olympic Games! Divide the class into a few groups, and let them choose a name and make a flag for their group. Start the games with an opening ceremony, letting kids march around the playground or classroom, waving their group flags. Next, have the teams compete in a series of events. Below are some possible events you might stage. Balloon Race: Kids put a balloon between their knees and run or hop to the finish line. Children can compete as individuals or as relay teams. (Note: Don’t inflate the balloon all the way. Leave some room so that the balloons can be held comfortably between kids’ knees.) Balloon Hug Relay: Place a balloon between two kids’ bellies. Have the kids move sideways to the finish line without dropping the balloon. The first team across the finish line wins! Drinking Straw Race: Have each child hold a drinking straw, balanced on her upper lip. Show kids how to curl their lips to hold the straw in place. Then have a race to see who can run to the finish line without letting their straw slip. Feather-In-My-Toes Race: Have racers take off one shoe and sock, and fit a feather in between two toes. They then race, trying to cross the finish line without losing their feathers. (If they do, they have to go back to the start.) Egg-On-A-Spoon Race: Have children try to balance a plastic egg on a spoon while walking to the finish line. This can also be done as a team relay race. In a relay, children have to transfer the eggs from their spoons to the next child’s spoon before the race continues. Backwards Race: Have children walk backwards to the finish line. Make sure that kids don’t try to run—they are likely to fall if they try to go too fast! After the games are over, have a closing ceremony. Let everyone march around with their teams and flags again. You may want to encourage kids to sing songs or chants to help make things festive! Healthy snacks can also be served at the closing ceremony.
This activity is appropriate for: 2nd - 6th grade / 7 - 11 years Children can learn a lot about their new classmates with this fast-paced activity for 2nd–5th grade classrooms. Start by printing a copy of the Getting to Know You Scavenger Hunt list for each student. Pass out the lists, and let students know that they will have fifteen to twenty minutes to approach each other in hopes of filling in the entire list. Some of the items on the list are physical traits such as finding the tallest person in the class, but others will require that students ask each other questions. For example, students must find “someone who went camping this summer.” When students find a match, they fill that person’s name in the blank. The first student to fill in all the blanks “wins,” but you may want to continue the game until many students have completed their scavenger hunt lists. For preschool and kindergarten classrooms, write these questions on butcher paper or chart paper. Meet together on the rug and fill in the scavenger hunt together as a whole class.
This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 5th grade / 5 - 10 years Have an end-of-the-year party in the park—and try out some of these fun outdoor games! Sponge Race: Divide students into 2 teams and have each team stand in a line. Place a bucket of water and a sponge at the front of each line. The student in front dips the sponge into the bucket. The sponge is then passed to the back of the line, with students alternating passing it over their heads and between their legs. When it reaches the back of the line, that student runs to the front and the race continues. The first team to have their original student in front again wins! Towel Toss: This game is played by two teams of two students. Give each team a beach towel, and have each student hold one end of the towel. Then place a beach ball on one of the towels. Students try to pass the ball back and forth by using their towels to “toss” it. If a team doesn’t catch the ball, the other team gets a point. The first team to score three points wins! Sand Relay: Divide students into 2 teams and have each team stand in a line. Place a container full of sand at the front of each line, and a small bucket at the end of each line. When the race starts, the first student in line grabs a handful of sand and passes it to the student behind him. The team passes the sand from hand to hand, until the last student in line dumps it into the bucket. The first team to fill up their bucket wins!
This activity is appropriate for: 1st - 6th grade / 6 - 11 years As the school year comes to a close, try a few of these culminating activities to get your students reflecting on their progress! Grade-Level Graduation Encourage students to celebrate the end of a successful school year by hosting a graduation party! Purchase inexpensive graduation-themed paper plates and cups from a local party store and order a cake from a supermarket bakery. Then invite students to take turns sharing the accomplishments they are most proud of from the past year. Print out the End-Of-The-Year Diploma and present one to each student. Student Reflections Give a copy of the student memory book to each student, and encourage students to record their favorite memories and proudest moments from the past school year. Then have students take them home as keepsakes to share with their parents! Mixed Math Review Help students recall the many math concepts they learned this year with a fun-filled quiz game they create! Divide the class into small teams and distribute several copies of the Mixed Math Review! cards to each team. Then assign each team a chapter or section of their math textbook, and have them write down a question or problem on the back of each card. (Be sure to have each group create an answer key for their cards.) Simply place the cards in a pocket chart to create a quiz game that’s played just like a TV game show—and let students take turns answering questions for their teams! Tip: No time to create your own game? Check out our ready-made Math Quiz Game Shows for Grades 1-3 and Grades 4-6—each with over 200 level-appropriate question cards covering tons of essential math concepts!
