Easy End-of-the-School-Year Crafts for Elementary
Plan a few crafts during the last days of school that encourage students to reflect upon their favorite moments from the last school year. Many end-of-year crafts make suitable mementos for the students and their parents to look back on as they remember these early years of school.
-
Class Shirts
-
Help students create class shirts with plain white t-shirts and fabric paint. Insert a flattened paper grocery bag inside each shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through. Students decorate the front with the year, the name of the school and their grade. Paint on handprints or any other desired designs. Students take turns signing one another's shirts and adding small pictures if desired. Make sure the teacher and any other faculty that spent a lot of time in the classroom sign the shirts, too. Once the paint dries, the kids can wear their memories all summer long.
Memory Book
-
Create memory books out of construction paper. Fold several sheets of paper in half and staple in the center. Alternatively, hole punch along the fold and tie the pages together with yarn. Take class or individual photographs and make a copy for each child. The students glue pictures in their books and write in some of their favorite memories from the school year. Students can also pass around the books and let their classmates add comments and memories.
-
Time Capsule
-
Use a recycled container with a lid for the time capsule. Oatmeal canisters and coffee cans work well, but any container works. Decorate the outside of the capsules with paint, construction paper or stickers or glue copies of school photographs on the outside collage-style. Instruct students to write their names, year and grade on the lid of the capsule with marker or paint. Fill the inside with class pictures, school work from the past year, and any small items the students wish to add for the memories. Once the students finish filling their capsules, close the lids. Set a timeline for opening the capsules, whether in one year or when they finish elementary school.
Handprint Flowers
-
Cut pictures of each student into a circle shape. Older students are able to cut out their own pictures. Draw a large flower shape onto construction paper and cut it out. Glue the picture to the center of the flower. Instruct the students to trace around their hands on green paper, making two handprints. Cut out each handprint. Glue the flower to the top of a wooden chopstick. Glue the hand cutouts beneath the flower, forming the leaves. Have the students decorate a paper cup as desired. Place a lump of clay inside the cup and insert the bottom of the chopstick into the clay, so the cup forms the flower pot. Add the student's name, grade and year to the flower or write it on the pot.
-
