Need some fun ways to celebrate student birthdays? We all know that kids love celebrating their birthdays during the school year. It’s their one special day to be recognized by their teacher and classmates. But what happens to students who have a summer birthday?
As someone with a summer birthday and a whole family who also has summer birthdays, I can tell you that we often weren’t celebrated in school. I know firsthand that every student wants a day to feel recognized!
Today, we will talk about fun ways to celebrate students’ birthdays. This is the perfect time to consider your summer birthdays and how to recognize those students! Let’s discuss three ways that you can do that.
Celebrate Students with a V.I.P. Pass
A fun way to celebrate your summer birthdays is to designate a special day to recognize each student individually. Even though it may not be their actual birthday, they can still have a special day. On their VIP day, it becomes their day. For example, my day would be “Sarah Day.”
A VIP is a very important person. So what could you do for students on VIP day? Here are some ideas:
- Students can choose their seats for the day
- Students can choose the morning or dismissal song
- Students can end their work 5 minutes earlier than everyone else (STEM boxes are perfect for this!)
- Students can choose who they eat lunch with (you or another student)
Inexpensive Gift Ideas for Student Birthdays
Gifts are always a nice way to make students feel special. There are several types of inexpensive gifts, including pencils and birthday hats. One of my favorite gifts to give students is academic games. My Grammar Games and Math Games make great gifts for students.
I apply laminated birthday labels to a ziplock bag or a pencil container for students and then prep the game and put the game cards inside! Students enjoy receiving these games because they get to take them home and play them with their family or the kids in their neighborhood.
Click here to check out my Grammar Games and Math Games on my TPT store!
Another way that you can easily gift students something is to have them select something from your surprise box. A surprise box is similar to a treasure box, except students can’t see what’s inside! The prizes inside are a surprise.
Check out this post to learn more about implementing surprise boxes in your classroom.
Creating a Class Birthday Book
A final way that I love celebrating my students is by creating a class birthday book. The best part of the class birthday book is keeping it a secret from the birthday student! Have your students complete it during centers or small groups.
You can even send the birthday student on an errand or with the counselor to keep it a secret! Students love working on a letter for their peer’s birthday, and it’s another great way to make your birthday student feel celebrated.
If you want to get inspired with other ideas for building positive relationships with your students, make sure you read this blog post too! I’ll share five tips for building a positive community.
I hope these tips are helpful as you try to make all of your students feel special and appreciated for their birthday. With summer just around the corner, it’s time to get started so that you can make your students with summer birthdays feel loved and celebrated. So, hop to it! What are you waiting for?
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