Looking for fun first day of summer school activities for elementary students? I’ve put together a list of engaging activities to make your first day memorable. Let’s dive in!
1. Icebreaker Bingo
Icebreaker Bingo is a fantastic way to break the ice and create connections among students on the first day of summer school. Each square on the bingo card contains interesting facts or characteristics, such as “has a pet,” “loves ice cream,” or “visited a new place recently.” Have students walk around with their classmates and try to find someone who matches the description in each square and fill out their bingo card. This game is fun because it helps students discover common interests within the group.
2. Summer Bucket List Collage
Have students create a Summer Bucket List where they can color and write out their goals or hopes for the summer.
3. Beach Ball Toss Introductions
Use a beach ball as a fun way for students to introduce themselves. Each student catches the ball, shares a fun fact about themselves, and then tosses it to another classmate. Fill out a fun getting to know you sheet too!
4. Sun-Sational Self-Portraits
Encourage students to draw self-portraits with a summer twist. They can include elements like sunglasses, beach hats, or ice cream cones to reflect themselves. Anything goes, as long as it has a summer theme!
5. Storytelling Seashells
Provide students with seashells to use as storytelling props. Each student picks a shell and creates a short story inspired by the shell’s shape or texture. Don’t have easy access to seashells? That’s okay! You can print off some pictures, or display some on your smartboard.
6. Sandcastle Building Contest
This one costs money—but if you or your school have a budget for summer school fun, then you can pick up some packs of kinetic sand. Organize a friendly competition where students work in teams to build the most creative sandcastles using kinetic sand.
7. Summer STEM Challenge
Challenge students to design and build a device that can keep an ice cube frozen the longest under the summer sun. This STEM activity combines science and creativity. Students can build a shade structure using every day materials!
8. Summer Reading Scavenger Hunt
Kickstart a love for reading by organizing a summer reading scavenger hunt in your school library. Students can search for books related to summer themes or topics of interest. (i.e. islands, sea turtles, sharks, sailing, camping, outerspace, etc…)
9. Nature Walk and Journaling
Take students on a nature walk around the school grounds to observe and jot down their observations in a summer-themed journal.
10. Watch the Brooks Falls Bears
Pull up the live stream of the Brooks Falls bears from Katmai National Park in Alaska and watch grizzly bears catch salmon jumping up the waterfall! (There are times when you can see 20+ bears at the falls at once!) The bears come to the waterfall when the yearly salmon migration occurs, usually in July! Learn more about that and my fun Brooks Falls Bears activities here!
11. Summer Math Practice
Introduce a fun math challenge where students solve summer-themed math problems or puzzles. Get some ideas for third grade here.
12. End-of-Day Beach Party
Wrap up the first day of summer school with an end-of-day beach party complete with music and refreshing popsicles. Celebrate the start of a fantastic summer of learning and enjoyment!
I hope these activities bring joy, creativity, and a sense of adventure to your summer school experience.
Looking for fun themes for your summer school lessons? Check out this post!
