Inspire your students after 6 long weeks of summer

If you’re looking for some creative ways to inspire and engage your students after 6 long weeks of summer fun, we’ve found some great activities for you to try out! They’re all created by teachers around the world, and offer some great ways to break the ice, get to know your new pupils and have some back to school fun.

• Start the year with this amazing pupil puzzle activity to show every student how important they are to the classroom. Follow the puzzle piece design in the image and make enough shapes for everyone in your class. Have each student write their name and draw a self-portrait on their puzzle piece. Then bring everyone together to stick their piece onto a colourful paper display, taking it in turns to put the puzzle together!

 

• These super cool sunglasses are a great way to get to know your pupils better! Have them share what they saw over the summer or ask them to draw pictures of their hobbies and interests on their own pair of glasses!

 

• How about starting your very own collaborative classroom newsfeed? This great idea is adapted from Facebook’s timeline, so it’ll be cool for older pupils too! Mark out a wall in your classroom and use this to display all the important classroom moments throughout the year. Ask your class which important dates they think you should mark off on the timeline, such as Halloween, Christmas, school trips and exam results day!

 

• This activity is great for pupils who are a little bit older. It’s a creative and visual way to have them think about their aims and aspirations for the term. Pair students up and then have them take turns at tracing around each other’s hand and arm on a large piece of coloured paper. Once everyone has cut theirs out, get them to then write their main aims on their colourful arm, along with any extra doodles and animations that the activity inspires!