The Star Wars franchise is popular with people of all age groups and there are plenty of fun activities that you can do in the classroom to engage children and help them to celebrate Star Wars day.
Take a look at this list for some inspiration.
1. Star Wars Scavenger Hunt
A Star Wars scavenger hunt is a great way to get the children out of their seats and moving around. You can choose a location – either in the classroom, in the hall, or even in the yard on a nice day.
Print off pictures of different Star Wars characters and hide them around your chosen location. Create a scavenger hunt sheet with one of each picture on.
The children will need to look for each photograph and cross them off as they find them. The first one to find all of the pictures is the winner.
You can get them to work in teams which will help with interpersonal skills and building relationships within the classroom.
You can make the scavenger hunt as easy or as challenging as you like – you could have a photograph poking out from behind a wall display, one stuck to the board, one stuck to the window, or even on a bookshelf.
Remember not to put them up too high or the children won’t see them. You can provide clipboards if you have them to make it easier for the children to mark off the characters on their sheet as they go.
2. Star Wars Bookmarks
Making Star Wars bookmarks is a simple but fun activity and gives the children something they can take home. You can use a free template or design your own.
Older children might like to draw their own characters on their bookmarks. You can provide colored pens, crayons or pencils for the children to decorate the bookmarks. Once they are finished, laminate them and cut them out.
You can then punch a hole in the top and thread some colored ribbon through.
3. Star Wars ‘I Spy’
This version of ‘I Spy’ is great for helping children to practice their counting, and is also useful for developing their observational skills.
On each sheet is a certain number of each Star Wars themed shape – a stormtrooper, different characters, ships etc – and the children have to spot them all. Each child gets their own sheet.
To introduce an element of competition, you can turn it into a race. To make sure nobody cheats, you could assign a color to each shape and get the children to cross them off in the right color.
4. Star Wars Bingo
Star Wars bingo is as simple as it sounds – it is bingo using Star Wars characters instead of numbers. Each child gets a random sheet made up of pictures of different star wars characters.
Whenever you call out a name of a character they cross the character off their sheet. The first player to cross out all of the characters on their sheet is the winner.
This is a game of chance so it is very fair and every child has the chance to win (as long as they are paying attention!).
5. Ewok Catapult
This activity can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, depending on the age group of children that you are working with. The challenge is for the children to create a catapult that the ewoks could use in a battle.
The ewoks are a type of Star Wars creature that live in a large forest community and use primitive weapons.
You can keep it simple by providing supplies such as lollipop sticks and elastic bands, and use a pom pom or a felt ball as the projectile.
Or, you can make it more complicated and provide larger items like sticks, cardboard, sellotape, glue etc and use a golf ball as the projectile.
This activity is a great way to get the children to work as a team. It will also help them to develop skills in problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, engineering, and communication.
At the end of the activity you can have fun getting each team to demonstrate their catapult and see if it works.
6. Star Wars Memory Game
Memory cards can be used in a few different ways to create challenging and stimulating games which help with brain development and memory.
You can use the template for printable memory cards, or you can easily make your own using Star Wars themed images.
One of the most simple games to play is an individual game. The child turns over two memory cards at random. If they match, they stay facing upwards. If not, they turn them back over.
Keep going until all of the cards are matched – the child will gradually begin to remember where each image is.
A more complicated game is to start with all of the cards facing up, Give the child a minute to look at the cards, then turn them all over. Provide them with a sequence of images and ask them to turn over the correct cards.
There are lots of other activities you can do with memory cards, so they are a great tool to have on hand in a classroom.
7. Star Wars Origami Fortune Tellers
Origami fortune tellers are a fun paper craft that children love to make. They also become a great game that children can play in their free time. Creating the fortune tellers is great for fine motor skills and design.
Using them is helpful for spelling and counting and also encourages the children to interact with each other and play together.
You can use a printable template or have the children make their own origami fortune tellers. Here are instructions on how to fold an origami fortune teller. It is important to begin with square paper.
The outside squares have characters on, the inner squares have numbers on, and the final squares have words on – you could use quotes from the movies.
If you aren’t sure how to use an origami fortune teller, follow these simple steps:
Insert your forefingers and thumbs into the four gaps underneath the fortune teller
Ask your playmate to choose one of the characters
Spell out the character’s name, moving your fingers for each letter to open the fortune teller in two different directions, alternating between them. This will expose different sets of numbers
Ask your playmate to choose one of the numbers, then open the fortune teller again alternating between the two directions as you count up to that number
Ask your playmat to pick another number, and then lift the flap of paper
Read the ‘fortune’ that is written underneath
8. Erupting Death Star
This is a fun, scientific activity that would make a great demonstration for younger children or something more hands-on for older children.
There are quite a few steps to follow but it is definitely worth it. You can find the full instructions here.
You start by making a baking soda mixture then you mold it into a death star shape using a bowl or a similar object. Freeze it for around 30 minutes until it becomes solid then remove it from the bowl.
Next, put some vinegar into a bowl and add some food coloring to make it a different color – try orange or blue. Prepare your tools – you need something to drip the vinegar into the death star like a pipette or a squirt bottle.
If possible, get some Star Wars lego figures like stormtroopers to sit on top of your death star to go with the theme. When you are ready for the demonstration, squeeze some of the colored vinegar onto the death star.
The chemical reaction between the baking soda and the vinegar will cause fizzing and the death star will look like it is erupting!
9. Baby Yoda Paper Plate Craft
Baby Yoda, also known as Grogu, is one of the most popular characters in the most recent Star Wars television programmes.
He is beloved by both children and adults, and this fun paper plate craft is a simple but enjoyable activity to try in the classroom. You can find the full instructions here.
You begin by tracing shapes onto colored paper and gluing them together to create baby yoda. You then create the hover craft using colored paper and the paper plate, adding some of the details with a black pen.
Finally, slot baby yoda into the hovercraft! You can glue him in place or just slot him in and take him out as you wish.
Summary
These fun activities are the perfect way to celebrate May 4th in your classroom. They are engaging and have developmental benefits for the children which will assist with their learning.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
