27 End of the Year Games for Students are here to help you with your countdown to summer! As the school year winds down, excitement builds—and let’s be honest, attention spans start to wander! That’s why the end of the year is the perfect time to mix things up with fun, meaningful activities that celebrate learning, build class community, and create lasting memories.
Whether you’re looking for creative ways to wrap up the learning, reflect on the school year, or just keep your students engaged (and smiling), here are 27 tried-and-true end of the year games for students, including some fun activities, that are perfect for upper elementary students.
First, it’s important to understand why end of the year games for students matter. End-of-year activities aren’t just about filling time—they’re about wrapping up the year with joy, reflection, and connection. These moments help students process their growth, say goodbye to routines and classmates, and leave school with a sense of pride and accomplishment. It’s the final chapter of a shared story—and it’s worth making memorable.
(This post may contain affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
Let students create an end of the year memory book filled with drawings, reflections, favorite class moments, and fun prompts like “My Favorite Memories” or “What I Learned This Year.” My students loved coloring and writing in their memory books!
These printable memory books also have autograph pages where students can get their classmates’ and teachers’ signatures! Turn the traditional yearbook signing into an interactive event. Set up a space with tables and markers where students can exchange books and share memories. Include a photo booth with fun props for fun snapshots, a memory jar for written notes, and a designated area for autographing. This allows students to reflect on the year together and create lasting memories during the last days of school.
Host a fun awards show where every student is celebrated! Create personalized and humorous superlatives like “Best Artist,” “Future Author,” or “Most Likely to Make You Laugh.” Looking for some printable end of year awards? My favorites are these Candy Bar Awards and Class Superlative Awards. SO much fun!
Write fun daily surprises or activities on slips of paper, place them inside colorful balloons, and pop one each day during the last few weeks. Instant excitement and engagement!
Build an in-class escape room with themed puzzles that review content from the year. Think beaches and amusement parks!
Get into the summer spirit with a beach day-themed End of Year Math Escape Room! This fun math escape room gives students the opportunity to work independently or in small groups! Making their way through math challenges and collecting beach items to win the game is a great way to kick off the summer. Have students bring a beach towel for a place to sit as they complete the challenge.
On the hunt for one of the best ways to review reading skills? This Theme Park Reading Escape Room is another fun activity that fits the bill! Once again, students will work to complete reading challenges to collect amusement park items – another great kick-start to summer!
Create a checklist with prompts like “Find someone who can whistle” or “Someone who has a pet lizard.” Students must find classmates who match each one and collect signatures!
You could also do a Memory Lane Scavenger Hunt! Create clues related to events, lessons, or memorable moments from the academic year. Divide the students into teams, and as they solve each clue, they collect a piece of a puzzle. The first team to complete the puzzle wins a special end-of-year prize! This is one of my favorite end of year game ideas to get students up and moving, as well as celebrating a sense of community.
Make a custom Kahoot or Quizizz game using fun facts, class memories, and curriculum content. It’s a great way to reflect and review in a competitive (but fun) way.
Hand out marshmallows, tape, and spaghetti or paper straws. Students race to build the tallest freestanding structure. Teamwork, engineering, and giggles guaranteed. This is a student favorite when it comes to STEM challenges!
Transform your room into a “campground” with flashlights, sleeping bags, and camping read-alouds. Have students complete this Yellowstone Camping Reading Escape Room (this is seriously one of my favorite reading escape rooms!). Add campfire stories and s’mores snacks for extra fun. What a great idea for themed days, too!
Have students write kind words or compliments for each classmate. Everyone leaves with a paper full of positivity from their peers—a great confidence booster that they will want to keep for years to come!
Take the learning (or just the fun!) outside. Let students play hopscotch, write positive messages, or draw their favorite school-year memories in colorful sidewalk chalk.
It’s no secret that kids LOVE claw machine games where they can win prizes. These Prize Machine Mania Games take the claw machines digital and are a great way to review math and reading skills! Students work in small groups to solve the problem on the screen. The answer then appears. There is one secret slide where a toy capsule will magically appear from the claw machine. Super fun for students in a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade level!
With projectable class slides as well as student answer sheets, these Prize Machine Mania games are already created with teacher directions, problems, and interactive prizes for students to find! Not only that, but it is available for both math and ELA for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades! These fun games are also perfect to put in your lesson plans for test prep time!
See the Prize Machine Mania Games here:
Students write letters to their future selves—filled with hopes, reflections, and predictions. You can mail them later or save them for middle school rediscovery!
Have students design board games that review content from the year. They create the rules, game pieces, and questions—then play each other’s games! You can have students make their board game from scratch or use this printable Make a Board Game Packet. Then, plan a board game day, complete with yummy snacks!
Create a trivia game where the subject is YOU! Include fun facts, your favorite color, classroom sayings, or “What’s Mrs. Smith’s go-to snack?”
Let students brainstorm and decorate a list of things they want to try, see, or create over the summer. You can even turn it into a class bulletin board display!
Use summer-themed “Would You Rather” or “This or That” questions to spark conversations and laughs. Would you rather eat only ice cream or only hot dogs all summer? Let the debates begin! These ready-to-go This or That Projectable Slides are perfect for that last week of school!
Set up a classroom photo booth with props like sunglasses, signs, graduation caps, and silly hats. Snap fun photos as keepsakes or for an end-of-year slideshow.
Set up fast-paced, silly challenges like stacking cups, moving cookies from forehead to mouth, or balloon races. These fun end of year activities are great for stations or class competitions.
When kids need a brain break, go with a crowd favorite like Freeze Dance (with upbeat music) or Silent Ball for something more calm and focused.
Have your current students write advice letters or welcome notes to next year’s class. It’s a meaningful way to pass on knowledge and traditions, plus it’s always fun to read the advice kids think is worthy of passing on!
Combine learning and fun with a math-themed carnival. Set up booths with math games like “Fraction Toss,” “Geometry Ring Toss,” and “Math Bingo.” Students can earn tickets for solving problems or winning games, and they can redeem their tickets for prizes at the end. This engaging and educational event adds an exciting twist to the end of year game ideas! You could even go all out and transform your classroom with colorful carnival decorations.
Give students the opportunity to show off their skills and talents in a classroom talent show. Whether it is juggling, solving a hard math problem, or playing the ukulele, each child’s special talent is worth celebrating!
Cover a wall with butcher paper and let students “tag” it with memories, doodles, funny jokes, and favorite moments from the year. It’s collaborative, creative, and a beautiful display of classroom culture.
Send students off with optional, fun-focused summer packets that include reading challenges, creative writing prompts, and fun math worksheets to keep their minds active—without feeling like extra homework. Choose from 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade summer packets! They can also be used as an end of year fun packet.
Compile photos, videos, student work, and quotes into a class slideshow. Add upbeat music and watch it together for a meaningful walk down memory lane. Older students love seeing themselves in a slideshow – my 5th graders enjoyed this fun activity looking back on their favorite memories!
Give each student a large paper puzzle piece and have them decorate it with highlights from their year. Put the pieces together to form a class “puzzle mural” that shows how each student is a vital piece of the community. You could even arrange the finished puzzle pieces on a fun end of the year bulletin board display!
Organize a day of outdoor fun with classic field day events like relay races, tug-of-war, or sponge tosses. Include popsicles or a sprinkler station for that sweet summer energy!
Find 24 fun end of year REVIEW activities in this blog post.
You might be feeling overwhelmed with getting through the end of the school year. It is a LOT! Not only do you have planning and teaching to do, but you have extra activities, packing up your classroom, and so much more to get done.
Don’t let the overwhelm take over! Take a deep breath and put some of the 10 tips below into practice. You’ve got this!
1. 🌟 Prioritize What Matters Most
Let go of the pressure to “do it all.” Focus on meaningful activities, key review content, and memorable moments. Not everything needs to be finished perfectly.
2. 🗂️ Stay Organized with a Countdown Checklist
Create a checklist of all your must-dos: report cards, cum folders, classroom inventory, student gifts, etc. Crossing off tasks keeps you on track and motivated.
3. 🧠 Review Through Games
Turn review into play! Use Kahoot, Jeopardy-style games, or review scavenger hunts to reinforce skills in an engaging way.
4. 💬 Communicate Clearly with Students and Families
Send home an end-of-year calendar or newsletter so everyone knows about important dates, celebrations, and expectations. It helps reduce confusion (and parent emails!).
5. 🧼 Start Cleaning and Decluttering Early
Tackle one small area of your classroom each day—desk drawers, bulletin boards, supplies. Your future self will thank you
6. 🎒 Let Students Help You Pack Up
Kids love to help! Give them jobs like sorting books, wiping desks, or organizing supplies. It gives them ownership and saves you time.
7. 🧘♀️ Schedule Calm Moments
Amid the chaos, sprinkle in quiet, reflective time—read-alouds, journaling, gratitude circles. These slow moments create balance and connection.
8. 📆 Plan Fun with Structure
Keep students engaged with themed days, choice boards, or scheduled activities (like a “Fun Friday”). Structured fun helps avoid behavior issues.
9. 🤝 Lean on Your Team
Collaborate with grade-level teammates to share the load—co-plan review activities, divide tasks, or host joint celebrations.
10. 💖 Soak Up the Moments
Take time to notice the laughter, growth, and little moments of joy. This chapter is closing, and your students will remember how they felt during these final days.
As the final days of school approach, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of checklists, paperwork, and emotions. But this season—while often busy—is also incredibly special. It’s a time to reflect on the year you and your students have had together, to celebrate growth both big and small, and to create lasting memories that students will carry with them for years to come.
Whether you’re winding down to the last day of school with games, cleaning up the classroom chaos, or watching your students shine during year-end celebrations, remember that you’ve made a difference—every single day. So take a deep breath, lean into the joy, and finish strong. You’ve earned it. And your students? They’ll never forget the way you made them feel. 💛
Now. . . get ready to enjoy that beautiful summer break! You deserve it after all your hard work, especially during these last weeks of school.
Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.
©2022 Shelly Rees. All Rights Reserved.
