Make It Count: 5 Engaging Student Activities to End Big
Whether it’s the end of term or the end of the school year that is just around the corner, students can feel it—and let’s be honest, so can we. The classroom walls feel a little closer, attention spans a little shorter, and the energy a whole lot wilder. The worst part, often it can seem like nothing will engage your students anymore. That’s when it’s time to shake things up with some engaging student activities that take learning outside, gamify your lessons, and get everyone moving.
Whether you’re looking to review content, build classroom community, or just make the most of the season, I’ve got your covered for the end-of-year stretch. Even better, they check all the boxes: low-prep, high-impact, aligned to learning standards, and FUN.Here are five of my low-prep, tried and actual favorite activities that get kids moving, thinking, and soaking up every last bit of sunshine and classroom magic.
1. End of Year Scavenger Hunt Around the School
Engaging student Activities with gamification of learning
Scavenger hunts are a classic for a reason—they combine movement, problem-solving, and collaboration. But this isn’t just any hunt. This end-of-year scavenger hunt is designed to get your students working together, using critical thinking, and solving riddles and they dash around the school to the next riddle location!
Each clue leads them to a new location around the school, with short, clever puzzles to solve. Each location gives them another key to the final spot. At the final location, surprise them with a small treat or note celebrating their growth this year.It’s the perfect mix of gamification of learning and nostalgia—your students will be all in. Make your own, or I’ve go them for every celebration imaginable in my TPT store.
2. Simple Engaging Student Activities – Create a Learning Hopscotch
Chalk? Check. Sunshine? Check. Academic content? Also check!
Learning Hopscotch is a playful way to reinforce tough concepts through movement and peer teaching. Here’s how it works: Have students draw hopscotch paths with chalk outside, but instead of numbers, each square has a letter, symbol, or image that relates to a learning target.
For example:
- Math: Use D, M, S, C, B for each step in long division (Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Check, Bring down).
- Science: Life cycle stages—Egg, Larva, Pupa, Adult.
- Multiplication: Have each square be a problem to solve.
In groups, one student is the “hopper” who jumps while explaining or solving the concept. Their teammates prompt them with questions or challenges at each stop. It’s collaborative, active, and surprisingly effective.
Why it works
This engaging student activity is the perfect blend of gamification of learning and physical activity. Plus, kids love being the creators of their own learning paths.
3. Outdoor Sketching: Zooming in on Detail
For a quieter moment outdoors, turn to nature and art. This outdoor sketching activity helps students slow down and focus on observation, fine lines, and tiny details.
Prep with a quick lesson on shading, texture, and sketching techniques. Then take your students outside and let them choose one object to study and draw. It could be a leaf, a flower, tree bark, or even a bug (if they’re brave!). Bring along magnifying glasses to help them zoom in and see the hidden details.
This works beautifully as a science-meets-art activity, especially if you’ve been talking about ecosystems, plant life, or insect anatomy. Alternatively let them choose other type of found objects in the yard to hone in on, an empty chip packet, forgotten lunch box.
Extension idea:
Have students label their sketches and add descriptive paragraphs using all five senses. It makes a great bulletin board display or addition to a memory book.
4. Media Arts Movie Trailer Project
If you’ve got access to iPads or school tablets, this one is a student favorite. Using the trailer feature in iMovie (which handles most of the editing for them), students plan and produce their own short trailers for an imaginary film.
Start by watching a current movie trailer together—something fun like the Minecraft movie or Dog Man. Break down what they notice: types of camera shots, music, pacing, and how emotion is conveyed. Create a whole class storyboard for the trailer together.
I spend some time teaching my students about camera angles and emotions looking at examples and even do an interactive scavenger hunt with the examples to keep them engaged and ensure a better understanding. I put up visual examples of each and students walk around the room and have to match them with the correct type and write their own description. (Don’t have time to make them yourself? Grab mine from my TPT store here.)
I then put them into groups of around 4 or 5 and have students storyboard their trailer. They choose a genre, sketch out scenes, pick locations around the school, and think through what emotions and angles to include. Then it’s filming time!
Why it works
It taps into creativity, tech, writing, and storytelling. But more importantly, it gets them collaborating and moving as they act out scenes all around campus.
Teacher Bonus: You can host a mini red-carpet premiere at the end of year class party!
5. Writing with the Senses: Setting Walks
Take your writing lesson to the next level by taking it outside. Choose a different location each day around the school—under a tree, by a fence, on a bench in the courtyard. Have students sit, breathe, and observe their surroundings.
Then challenge them to write a setting-rich paragraph where they use all five senses. What do they hear? Smell? Feel? How does the sunlight shift the mood of the place? What makes this spot special?
This is a great way to practice building atmosphere and detail in narrative writing. You can even revisit these same spots across a few days to help them build a bank of settings they can use in a longer end-of-year story.
Extension idea
Use these descriptive paragraphs to write setting-focused poetry or add them to final writing portfolios.
Final thoughts on low-prep engaging student activities
The end of year or end of term doesn’t have to be a countdown to holidays, but it does need a shift in gear to keep students engaged (or you may be the first to lose your mind). It can be a celebration of how far your students have come, a chance to reflect, and the perfect excuse to get outside and learn in joyful, creative ways.
These five engaging student activities combine movement, collaboration, and real learning. They reinforce content, strengthen relationships, and leave your students with the kind of memories that last way longer than a worksheet. And most importantly – they are low prep and high engagement.
So grab the chalk, cue up the iPads, and let the sunshine guide your lessons. You’ve made it through the hard part—now it’s time to play, explore, and make learning unforgettable.
Want more ideas like these? Check out my end-of-year resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, or browse more gamification of learning tips and activities on my blog.
Let’s finish the term or year strong—and have some fun while we’re at it!
Happy teaching!
