Fun Back To School Project Ideas and activities for Teachers and Parents

Going back to school after summer vacation is an exciting time for elementary children, their teachers and school staff members. For many children this is their first year in a structured educational environment and it's important that they make the transition from school to home both fun and successful. Activities designed to help students get to know one another, get to know their teacher and school staff, and and become familiar with the school environment help make the transition back to the classroom easier for everyone.

An effective way to help children get to know one another is by having them play "Getting to Know You" bingo. Supply each student with a bingo card that has different facts written in each box. For younger students supply cards with pictures in the boxes.  Facts and pictures may include things like “has a dog,” “has two brothers” or “likes chocolate milk.” Students mingle with one another and find someone to sign their name in one of the boxes that relates to them. Younger students can put their initals.  The student who fills in each box first wins.

As a teacher, this is my favorite back to school activity. I use it every year and it's always been a huge hit with the students. Use the first week of school to create fun bags for students to open during the last week of school. Ask students to decorate a paper sack and fill it with a self-portrait, a photograph, their height and weight, and a worksheet that lists various things such as what they hope to learn during the year, their favorite song and television show and names of their friends. Students also may put various items in the bag such as bubbles, balloons, candy and nonperishable snacks. When the bags are finished, put them into a sealed storage bin. Bring out the bin during the last week of school so students can open them to see how they have changed during the year.

This is an awesome activity to help students get to know the school environment in a fun way. You can even pair upper grade elementary students and lower grade students together, or students who are new to the school with returning students.  Break students into groups of four and provide each group with a map of the school and a list of clues describing people and places in the building. The groups must figure out the clues, visit the destinations and retrieve an item, then return back to the classroom. Possible "treasure" items you can use include pencils, pencil boxes, crayons, markers, scissors, glue and various other things the students will need for use in the classroom. Destinations to visit can be the office, the nurse's office, the cafeteria, the library, the computer lab, and the gym.

Get parents involved in back-to-school activities by providing them with questionnaires about their children's strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Knowing what the students like and are interested in is helpful when picking books for the classroom library and designing yearly incentive activities. When a family turns in their completed questinnaire give them a special "back to school" pencil and treat.