Today I’m sharing 5 themes for graduation. Lots of us like to do end of year graduations now with our students. And over the years, I’ve tested a few different themes with my students. I’m often asked by educators for fun yet simple or easy themes to do for graduation. And so I’ve finally gotten around to putting them into a blog post for you all!
1. Hollywood
Hollywood is probably my favorite theme to use just because there are so many activities you can do with it and it’s pretty easy to grab decorations and supplies from most local stores that are affordable. Some ideas for this theme are;
- Have students walk down the red carpet.
- Make awards/trophies with students to hand out.
- Create Hollywood themed certificates to hand out.
- Have everyone dress up for the occasion.
- Get students to create their own stars for the walk of fame.
- Send home VIP passes for students families as invitations to come to the event to watch.
- Put together a movie of photos from the year of students. Provide everyone with tubs of popcorn to eat while watching.
2. Candyland
A popular one with many students because it’s so bright, fun and colorful. Some ideas for this theme are;
- Definitely try to speak to a local balloon business or get extra creative yourselves and have lots of bright balloons made into towers around the room and entrance.
- Get sweet treat helium balloons to float around to add to the candyland effect.
- Print out the candyland flooring to map the path that students will walk up to the stage to collect their award.
- Have students create hats to wear of their favorite sweet treats.
- Make your awards/certificates and invitations all candy themed.
- Vote for ‘Sweet Queen’ and ‘Sweet King’ of the year.
- Dress someone up as the ‘Sugarplum Fairy’ and hand out sweet treats to the students as they collect their awards.
3. Fairytales and Dragons
My students love fairytales and dragons. It’s always a popular theme through the year. So it’s a great one to use for graduation. Some ideas for this theme are;
- Themed graduation certificates. Check out these dragon graduation certificates.
- Have students create hats for their favorite fairytale / dragon.
- Give students a fairytale book with each graduation award; leave a note of encouragement inside for them.
- Have a dragon piñata – the students have to work together to break open the piñata full of goodies!
4. Superheroes
Another great theme that can be easily implemented. Superheroes also make for great rewards and certificates for students. Some ideas for this theme are;
- Have students design their own superhero capes to wear to the graduation.
- Students can decorate their graduation hats with what their superpower is.
- Make superhero-themed certificates/awards.
- Make a comic book of your students as superheroes to hand out as end of year / graduation gifts. You can even get students to sign their faces in each others books. Remember to include staff too!
5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Books are also a great theme to base graduation themes on. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of my favorites because it follows the progress of a caterpillar to a butterfly – and I do love this theme for a graduation as you’ve gotten to watch your students grow and change throughout the year. Some ideas for this theme are;
- Butterfly themed certificates for students.
- Have students design their own segments of the caterpillar. Draw themselves and write their name. Put all of the segments together to create a giant caterpillar for graduation day.
- Create caterpillar themed invites to send home to parents/families to attend.
- Decorate the room as a garden/nature with lots of butterflies that students can design. You can also have students work together to create the different foods that the caterpillar eats.
- Give students a copy of the book each and leave a little personalised note in there from you and your classroom staff.
Other Themes to Try
- Alphabet Graduation. You can assign each student a letter to decorate their hat and outfit with something starting with that letter for the day. You can also make superhero alphabet outfits for this.
- Your Favorite Book. Look back at what books your class have loved through the school year. Can you make one of these into a theme?
- When I Grow Up. Have your students come dressed up as what they want to be when they’re older. Have them draw a self portrait about what they want to be when they’re older and hold this up on graduation day to show.
- Do You NEED a Theme? Yep. I’m putting this at the bottom of a themed graduation post. But really consider the workload needed and if you have time to put together a whole themed graduation.
Do you use a theme for your class graduation? Leave a comment below to share ideas with everyone.
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