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10 Ideas of Fun Last Day of School Activities

Jessica Kaminski

Updated on February 5, 2024

Teaching

The last days of the school year always feel unique to students and teachers. After all, everyone is excited about the deserved sun-drenched summer break and carefree mornings!

While being relaxed and looking forward to a few months of leisure, students want to meet friends and play outdoors. They would better leave math classes for the next year, just like teachers who clean up the classroom, anticipating summer holidays.

Did you know there are some end of school year quotes that are sure to capture the interest of your child?

On the last day of school, you can make your last class of the year fun and memorable. Check these ten last day of school activities to spend time with your students like friends rather than colleagues.

#1 Get a Beach Day Party

You can get a beach day as the last day of school activity in the 4th grade. If your school administration is okay with it, the trip might become one of the best days for your students – barbeque, beach volleyball, kite flying, tug of war. Or, you can let your students vote before the party begins.

If you’re skeptical about visiting a beach with kids, you can make an improvised beach day in the classroom. For this, you will need:

1. Swim mats.
2. Beach umbrellas.
3. Beach mats/towels.
4. Sunglasses (optionally).
5. Beach-themed snacks – fruit with decorative umbrellas, lemonade, juice, etc.
6. Beach-themed decorations, like sea posters.

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#2 Fun STEM Activities

The last day of school is an excellent time for fun STEM activities to spark your student’s curiosity for science. Besides, STEM experiments will bring students much more joy at the end of the year than before a math test. Children will be more open to extra science info.

Are you at a loss on what to do on last day of school using science experiments? Check out a few ideas:

Bottle Flipping Challenge

one of the best fun activities for the last day of school is the bottle-flipping challenge. Students can experiment with different bottle’ shapes, sizes, and water levels concerning how well they flip. It’s one of the popular last-day-of-school activities in the 2nd grade.

Bubble Experiment: The Last Day of School Virtual Activities

Ask children to bring dish soap, water, sugar, and a few pieces of color-coated wire. Afterward, let students experiment with the bubble mixture and wand shape. Ask them to discover which bubble wand shape and mixture make the giant bubbles. It’s a fun activity you can organize even during a virtual meeting.

Kite Challenge

You can set another experiment – which kite flies the best? Ask students to construct kites of various shapes and measure their parameters:

1. Shape.
2. Weight.
3. Surface area.
4. Rope length.
5. Extra features like tails.

Set the rules for the contest: the winner is the kite, which flies higher and for longer. Reward the winner with extra points for the next year, snacks, or an improvised medal – it’s up to you.

Paper Plane Contest

Ask students to find paper plane designs and assign them a task to construct the best flying paper plane. Also, ask students to measure their plane’s parameters.

Afterward, go to the field. Let students fly the paper planes and measure their speed and flight distance. Offer students to compete in different categories:

• The largest plane.
• The fastest plane.
• The longest flight.

This challenge would be an excellent chance to practice measurement units – speed, distance, time, mass, surface area, etc.

#3 Make an Award Ceremony on the Last Day of School Activities in the 1st Grade

First-graders have a lot of fun during the school year, so some last day of school fun activities shouldn’t hurt. Arranging an award ceremony with fun awards will help you and your students end the year with a lot of applause. Come up with joke awards and make paper crowns for each kid. Bring a red carpet, decorate the classroom, and set the table.

#4 Make a Time Capsule

Making a time capsule is an excellent idea for the last day of school activities in the 5th grade, as students finish elementary school and make one more step toward an adult life – middle school with its joys and challenges. Let children write notes to their future selves. Tell them that they will open the letters once they graduate from school. It will become a romantic ending to elementary school, saturated with hopes and dreams.

For this, you need:

1. A large bottle and a cork plug.
2. Or a jar with a screw cap.
3. Decorative line.
4. Paper.
5. Scissors.

#5 Set up a Photo Booth for the Last Day of School Activities in Preschool

A fun last day of school activities high school students can participate in is using a photo booth. You can get a fun background to set up a photo booth and have many fun memories.

Check some ideas for a photo booth:

• Science/magician hats.
• Decorative glasses.
• Superhero plastic masks.
• Air balloons.
• A camera and a tripod (optionally).

#6 Watch a Movie

Sometimes, you can go without expensive decorations or days of preparation. If you want the last day of school to be more calming and relaxing, you can do so by watching a movie! That’s it! You can make this day a part of STEM activities by watching science-related movies.

A captivating movie will help you relax on the last day in school as your kids will sit still and watch the action on your screen/wall projection. Or, it can become an excellent addition to the last virtual day of school activities.

1:1 Math Lessons

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learning Math with Brighterly

Let’s start learning Math!

#7 A Dancing Party: The Last Day of School Activities in the 3rd Grade

Many kids love to jump, run, and dance. So, having a dancing party on the last day of the school year will also work!

Check a few party organization ideas:

• Let students make the playlist. Make groups of three/four and let them choose their favorite songs for the party. This way, all kids will have a chance to party it up with engaging music.
• Get some snacks and refreshments.
• Arrange tables in a square pattern with the dance floor in the center. This way, students will pick snacks from the tables easily.
• Decorate the classroom with air balloons.
• Get disco party ball lights.

#8 Water Fight: The Last Day of School Activities in Kindergarten

The last day of school might enlighten students’ mood with the warm sun and birds singing on the trees. You can make your kindergarten’s fun last day of school activities even more exciting with a fun water fight. Let kids shoot water guns or squirt water through bottles with pierced caps.

#9 Make a Treasure Hunt Day

Kids love to hunt for treasure, and you can dedicate the last day of school to this activity. Here is what you need to do:

• Come up with the treasure-hunting location. It might be your house, your classroom, or a school museum.
• Come up with treasures. This step requires some brainstorming. You can pick school supplies for the role of “treasures.”
• Make notes with hints on the location of each treasure and hide them around the hunt area.
• Let kids find treasures!

Note that finding treasures to acquire them won’t probably excite children. Instead, you can come up with a purpose. Kids should gather items to craft something. They should have a goal for the whole thing. It can be a class memory map or a STEM project – it’s up to you.

#10 Visit a Quest Room

If you can’t come up with ideas for last day of school, just order a quest room meeting! It’s fun, and it doesn’t require any preparation except for buying tickets. Children can vote on the quest room theme – horror stories, adventures, treasure hunting, magic lands, etc.

Final Thoughts

The last day of school can be fun and engaging for students and teachers. These ten activities for the last day of school will help you make this day memorable. Organize your previous day of fun school activities depending on your children’s temper – more active students will enjoy water fighting and treasure hunting. In contrast, others will relax and watch a movie. Some activities like STEM projects may suit all children.

Jessica Kaminski

70 articles

Jessica is a a seasoned math tutor with over a decade of experience in the field. With a BSc and Master’s degree in Mathematics, she enjoys nurturing math geniuses, regardless of their age, grade, and skills. Apart from tutoring, Jessica blogs at Brighterly. She also has experience in child psychology, homeschooling and curriculum consultation for schools and EdTech websites.

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