For those of us in out-of-school time, it is summer programming (or planning for summer programming!) full steam ahead right now.
BUT, we don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to celebrate an important transition in the lives of youth, the end of a school year. For some, they may be leaving a beloved teacher or friends. For others, moving to a new school altogether. Still others may be excited for something new! Regardless, it is still a time of change and worth pausing to mark. Here are some of my favorite ideas for celebrating the end of a school year that I think would work well in a Boys & Girls Club or Youth Center.
Our friends at CommonSense.org made this template of an end of year presentation yearbook in Google Slides that is fun, especially for older youth. You could do something really similar in Canva, and then allow youth to share their highlights with the group.
This free writing template which is very fun is meant for summarizing books, but you could have youth use it to summarize their year instead.
Another way to get youth thinking and writing about all they’ve learned and done over the year is this ABC Booklet. This creator uses it for learning, but at the Club we can be a bit more casual, and include just stuff they’ve done or liked. There’s also a link to a digital version.
This link will take you to a GIANT LIST of free end of the year award templates on Teachers Pay Teachers. I love the idea of giving every member some type of recognition certificate that is individualized to them. Mix and match, or use it to generate ideas to create your own.
Here’s another recognition idea that lets youth do the recognizing. If you use with older youth be sure to monitor comments.
And THIS one I LOVE for tweens and teens. They will LIVE for all the soda lol.
This list of crafts is great for younger youth.
Of course it’s not a roundup ideas from Sarah without a list of picture books. 🙂
Finally, of course the best way to celebrate anything is with a PARTY!!!!!! We love fun more than anything here on ClubX so we’ve posted a ton of great ideas that are perfect for the end of the school year/beginning of summer that you may have missed.
What are your favorite ways to celebrate the end of a school year? How do you support youth through transitions? We want to share your best ideas! Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org.
This is awesome! We are having a 5th grade grad party and I will use some of these activities. Thank you for sharing.