40 Fun and Creative Back-to-School Activities for Kids in Different Age Groups
Easy and clever projects for kindergarteners, elementary schoolers and middle schoolers to start their first day of classes!
Once summer ends, it'll be time for kids to get back into their school routine. Staying organized during this back-to-school week includes buying their school supplies (an everyday backpack and lunch box is a must-have!). It's an exciting yet stressful time where kids can connect with new and old classmates while looking forward to the back-to-school activities their teacher has in store. Luckily, if you're a parent or teacher searching for ways to keep your kindergarteners, elementary schoolers and middle schoolers engaged, we have some of the best projects and crafts below.
These first-day-of-school activities are creative and fun ideas for kids in different age groups. There is a wide range of DIYs, including sponge boats, craft stick buses, photo magnets and construction pencil holders. We've even added a collection of social-emotional learning options, such as health check-ins, guided meditations and personal letter writing. What's more, many of the activities will teach your kids (or students!) the basics of critical thinking, mathematics, science and English. This means they can say goodbye to their first-day jitters and focus on learning and making friends for the school year, instead!
So, let your kids tap into their creativity with the activities below. Some make great at-home learning activities for toddlers, too!
DIY Pencil Holders
A pencil holder always comes in handy in the classroom. Kids can easily DIY their own using recycled cans and Astrobrights color cardstock.
Sponge Boat Craft and Race
Gather the kids for a day of crafts and friendly competition! They'll build boats out of sponges and craft sticks before letting them sail across a water-filled bucket to determine which one is the fastest.
Fireworks in a Vase Experiment
This is a cool experiment that'll have them staring in awe at their glasses for hours. Make underwater fireworks with food coloring and watch the burst of colors when oil is mixed in.
Preschool Counting Activity
Here's a learning activity that will teach them the basics of counting and recognizing numbers. Start by drawing and cutting out your mini kites. Attach them to pipe cleaners before adding beads for the kids to count.
DIY Oobleck
Mix water, corn starch and food coloring to make this slimy oobleck. We can only imagine how long they'll play in the goo once it's finished.
Craft Stick School Bus
Kids will love making these fridge-worthy magnets that feature their school photos (and silliest faces, too!). It's easy to DIY using craft sticks and craft foam.
Back-to-School Survey
The Daring English Teacher suggests having kids complete a first-day-of-school survey so teachers can learn more about their students. The survey can include questions about their hobbies, goals and accomplishments.
Paper Clip Bookmarks
These adorable bookmarks are easy crafts to make using ribbon and paper clips. Plus, kids may find them useful when reading their favorite books or when saving important sections in their textbooks.
All About Me Caterpillar
Let them choose their favorite selfie for the "caterpillar's" face, then have them answer questions about their hobbies for each body part. Consider doing this craft every year to see how their responses may change.
Pennant Glyph
Scaffolded Math and Science shares a fun activity where kids make these math-themed pennants with given instructions. For example, they'll have to color the stars based on their favorite class or color the hearts based on their birth month.
Get the instructions and pennants at Teachers Pay Teachers »
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.
Guided Meditation
After the past couple of years, schools have shifted focus to include more social-emotional learning to help kids with stress and anxiety. Starting off the year with guided meditation might help them ease their first-day nerves.
Kindness Clips
Get kids in the habit of lifting each other's spirits. With this activity, kids can put positive messages on clothespins, then clip them to their friends' backpacks for a mood boost.
STEM Challenge
Get started on their STEM skills right away by challenging them to make a name tag that meets certain criteria. They'll be measuring, designing and engineering in no time!
Set Goals
Keep their eyes on the prize with a goal-setting activity, which involves writing down something they'd like to accomplish this year. Teacher Linda Kamp has her kids write them in self-portraits to decorate the classroom and, in Olympic years, she gives them gold medals to glue on, too.
Sorting Project
Every student learns differently. This sorting activity from Mrs. E Teaches Math gets kids thinking about their own learning styles, and lets the teacher take a classroom temperature, too.
Apple Tag
Students are known to bring an apple to the teacher on the first day of school, but this activity lets them make their own, either for their desks or a bulletin board. Some tissue paper and watered-down glue make for a fruitful activity.
Photo Magnets
Not only are photo magnets a cute memento of the first day of school, but they'll also help everyone in the class learn each other's names.
Beach Ball Questions
Get brains and bodies working in tandem with this activity. Whoever catches the ball has to answer the question that their thumbs land on!
Self-Portrait Paper Dolls
Another way for the class to get to know one another is to create a group "portrait" of paper dolls on a bulletin board. Everyone gets to showcase their style through their dolls' outfit.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.
Mariah Thomas (she/her) is an assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home and lifestyle content. Mariah has more than four years of editorial experience, having written for TLC, Apartment Therapy, Women's Health and Avocado Magazine. She received her master's degree in journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and published her first book, Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts and Emotions, in 2019. She's also the founder of RTF Community, a platform for creatives of color to connect, learn and showcase their work.
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