10 Fun End of the Year Activities for Distance Learning

The end of the school year is a happy and exhausting time for both students and teachers. 

This article will go through some of the best end-of-the-year activities for distance learning you can implement in the virtual classroom to make a lasting impression and inspire distance learners to come back next year for more. 

1.Create a Bitmoji Classroom Photo

Best for: All students 

The Bitmoji app is all the rage with teachers who use it to create their avatars and build a welcoming and cosy virtual classroom. Extending the use of the app to create a photo of yourself and your students is a great idea to commemorate the end of a wonderful year together. 

You can either make Bitmojis for your students yourself or ask the children to create them. Once the group picture is done, you can print it out and give it to your class as a parting gift. 

2. End of School Year Selfie Awards

Best for: Year 2 to Year 9

For this easy and fun activity, you can use editable Google Slides to create memorable and personalised end-of-year awards. 

In addition to customising the awards with a stunning student selfie, you can further tailor them to your students with some truly unique awards, such as naming the best student with computers the Tech Guru of the class or giving a Sleeping Bear award to the student who is always late. 

After adding names and editing photos, you can save the awards in PDF and send them to parents and students or post them in Google Classroom. 

3. Digital End of Year Memory Book

Best for: Year 3 to Year 6

Memory books are an interesting and exciting way for children to reflect on the school year and assess how far they’ve progressed. They’re also a unique memento for students and their parents, both as a printed or digital version. 

What’s more, there are endless possibilities when it comes to the content: from memorable moments and teacher impressions to virtual field trips and favourite lessons—this is a chance for your students to pick the events and moments that made the year special. 

4. Virtual Talent Show

Best for: All students 

As far as no-prep, end of year virtual celebration ideas go, this is one of the best.

Virtual talent shows are online events in which distance learners take turns to showcase a skill or talent they are particularly proud of. Held over Zoom, Skype or any other conferencing platform, these unique classes are a great way for participants to really demonstrate what they can do or to show off a new skill they picked up while learning remotely. 

Performances can range from singing to stand-up comedy and everything in between and can even include unplanned acts, which are sure to add to the excitement. Plus, they are fun to watch and allow you to end the school year on a high note. 

5. Dress-Up Day

Best for: Preschool to Year 2

If you need ideas to make Zoom and Google Meet meetings more interesting, give Dress-Up Day a try. 

You can ask your students to dress up around a specific theme and then build the day’s lesson around that subject matter. For instance, children can dress as their favourite seasons and write a short essay about why they love that time of year, or they could use their favourite books or films for inspiration. Whichever idea you go for, your students are in for an extremely fun day that will definitely stay with them through the summer holidays. 

6. Virtual End of Year Awards

Best for: Preschool to Year 5

Similar to Selfie awards, this activity is a great way to celebrate the end of the year with your students and honour their achievements. 

You can make your own awards, choose online templates or have your students create them themselves. Personalise them with your students’ names or add a unique award title to each class member. After that, you can share them, print them out and colour them or hold a virtual awards ceremony over Zoom and hand them out in style. 

7. Virtual Field Trip

Best for: All students 

Virtual field trips are a  great informal learning experience that allows students to explore their interests and the world around them. They are also an amazing and fun way to round off a successful year of remote learning. 

Your students can tour some of the most famous museums in the world, learn history and science, and even explore space and the mysteries of the ocean. There are plenty of guided virtual tours available, so you are sure to find one that matches your class requirements, students’ age and interests. Even better, most of these online resources include extra practice materials, making this one of the easiest end of the year activities for distance learning. 

8. Virtual Dance Party

Best for: All students 

One of the most exciting and original remote learning end of year activities, a virtual dance party on Zoom or Google Meet is guaranteed to make the last day of school an unforgettable experience. After all, who doesn’t love a good party? 

You can try your hand at DJing and play your students’ favourite songs. Have everyone join in or schedule a dance-off to up the excitement and bring a tone of competition to the party. 

If you need a more organised experience, though, you can find an interactive dance party activity online. These activities typically come with editable dance backgrounds, interactive dance floors and even lights to get the atmosphere just right.

9. Virtual Escape Rooms

Best for: Year 5 to Year 7

A virtual escape room is an online game in which students must solve a series of puzzles to uncover clues that will enable them to “escape the room”. Suitable for all types of students, this is a great team-building game, as well as a super fun and engaging activity that can be adjusted to any event, including the end of the year. 

And with so many virtual escape rooms to choose from, the biggest problem will be picking just one.

10. Digitally Countdown to the Last Day of School

Best for: Year 2 to Year 4 

The last day of school is the most anticipated event of the year, but how to keep your students interested and active until that day comes? Enter the digital end of year countdown survival kit. 

Composed of several resources, from reading and writing to maths, this kit is an excellent way to ensure that your students are engaged with last week of school distance learning activities. There are instructional exercises and projects included as well that will keep children interested in attending class until the virtual bell for summer break rings.

Before Class is Dismissed 

There you have it, some of the best, most practical and most exciting end of the year activities for distance learning. Have you tried any in the virtual classroom? Do you have a favourite that didn’t make it on the list?

Let us know in the comments!