40 Creative and Fun First-Day-of-School Activities for All Grades
Whether they're kindergarteners, elementary schoolers or middle schoolers, these back-to-school ideas will ease them into the 2024-2025 school year.
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The day has finally arrived: Their lunch bags are full. Their backpacks are packed. Their school supplies are organized. Their parents have snapped their photos — featuring those all-important first-day-of-school signs — they've cried their tears, and they've waved goodbye. The students have entered the building and are ready for the first day of school. Now, all that's left to do is celebrate back-to-school season with these the best first-day-of-school activities.
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Some of them are icebreakers, which will help the class get to know each other (and help teachers get to know their students). Others are quick learning activities that will activate their brains right away. Some are back-to-school crafts, so they'll have accomplished something that they can bring home and show off on the first day. Others help create expectations for how things will be run, like class rules or schedules, or look at the year ahead and set goals and objectives. Whether it's their first time in a school setting or they're old pros, there's bound to be an activity on this list that will get the year started off on the right foot. Then, before you know it, it'll already be time to think about celebrating the last day of school.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.
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