40 Creative First-Day-of-School Activities to Get the Year Started Off Right
Whether they're kindergarteners, elementary schoolers or middle schoolers, these back-to-school ideas will break the ice for the new year.
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When back-to-school season rolls around, the first day is both exciting and nerve-wracking. There's a new teacher to suss out, new classroom rules to follow and a new mix of kids to get to know. How can students set the tone for the year ahead, learn all the protocols and procedures for their grade and get to know their teacher and classmates all on the first day?
For starters, these creative back-to-school activities can help. Some are designed to be ice-breakers, where kids can open up about themselves. Others are fun ways to introduce (or create) the class rules and set expectations for behaviors. And others are just for fun, and either help them unwind at the end of a stressful day or get their creative juices flowing. Try these ont he first day, and they'll be raring to go for Day Two.
Apple Books
The old "an apple for the teacher" tradition gets a new twist with these cute, colorful photo books. They're a good way to introduce a class to each other and their new teacher.
Back-to-School Bingo
A fun game is a good way to blow off steam after a long first day. This Bingo board might also help kids get familiar with their new classroom.
Back-to-School Survey
Another way to get to know the class? Just ask them about themselves. This survey by The Daring English Teacher gets students to open up about their hobbies, their goals and their learning preferences.
Visual Schedule
It's one thing to try to memorize the order of the school day, and it's another to see it easily laid out in an easy-to-read format. The students can take turns matching the icon to the activity and placing it on the board as they figure out the shape of their day.
First Day of School Book
After the first day of school is successfully completed, no parent wants to hear the dreaded "I don't know," or "I can't remember," when they ask their students what they did. These little books will spell out their first day activities in black-and-white (and will get kids to practice their handwriting too).
STEM Name Tag Challenge
Making a name tag is usually considered an art activity, but with a little imagination it can be a STEM assignment as well. Challenge kids to make a name tag that is engineered to hold a pencil, is sturdy enough to stand up on its own and be a certain unit of measurement in addition to being well decorated.
About Me Apple
Does the apple fall far from the tree? Can one apple affect the whole bunch? No matter answers, these apples look cute hanging on a bulletin board together, and they let kids introduce themselves to the class.
Notebook Tag
It's always fun to start off the year with a little gift. These notebooks show kids they're starting off the year by turning a fresh, blank page, and they also tags that read, "Just a quick NOTE to say hope your year goes just WRITE." The class can even end the day by journaling about the new school year.
Get-to-Know-You Sculpture
Kids will get a visual reminder of what makes them similar, and what sets them apart, when they follow the instructions for this get-to-know-you sculpture. In this activity, certain attributes are represented by specific features in a sculpture; for example, a green zig-zag means the artist loves to read, and a black arch represents sports-lovers. How they come together will be unique to each student.
"Find Someone Who" Game
The fastest way to break the ice it to make it a timed competition. In this activity, kids have to find classmates with different attributes, like who is wearing brown shoes, who loves to do jigsaw puzzles, etc. Students can even try and brainstorm some of the categories themselves.
DIY Pencil Holders
If they make a pencil holder on the first day, they'll be able to use it all year. Kids can easily DIY their own with recycled cans and color cardstock.
Pennant Glyph
Scaffolded Math and Science shares a fun activity where kids make these math-themed pennants by following instructions. For example, they'll have to color the stars based on their favorite class or color the hearts based on their birth month. In the end, the banners add a lot of color to the classroom.
Craft Stick School Bus
Kids will love making these fridge-worthy magnets that feature a photo from the first day of school (and/or their silliest faces). It's easy to DIY using craft sticks and craft foam.
Get the tutorial at Reading Confetti »
RELATED: The Best Tips for Creative First-Day-of-School Pictures
Back-to-School Alphabet Game
This is something kids can work on as other students are still arriving, or if they have extra time after they've completed work. The challenge is to come up with a school-related word for each letter of the alphabet, so as they look around for inspiration, they'll familiarize themselves with the classroom.
Paper Clip Bookmarks
These adorable bookmarks are easy crafts to make with ribbon and colorful paper clips. Plus, kids may find them useful when reading their favorite books or referencing important sections in their textbooks.
Sticky-Note Expectations
Ask questions on a giant sheet of paper, and let students "fill in the blank" on Post-It notes that they can stick on the page. Beware: This teacher went through 600 notes on the first day!
All About Me Caterpillar
Let them choose their favorite selfie for the "caterpillar's" face, then have them answer questions about their favorites for each body segment. Consider doing this craft every year to see how their responses may change.
Get-to-Know-You Jenga
Jenga is fun on its own, but with a few tweaks, it can also be a good icebreaker. This colorful set comes with different questions to answer based on what color block gets pulled.
Get the tutorial and printable at Teaching With Jennifer Findley »
Guided Meditation
School isn't just about academics; there's social-emotional learning to be done, too. Starting off the year with guided meditation might help them ease their first-day nerves, and it can give them strategies for how to deal with stress and anxiety.
Beaded Name Tags
Guide them through a few different patterns they can try with the beads, then have them proudly display their name necklace for the first week at school. Or, if they're really advanced, see if they can code their names in binary.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
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