The 100th Day of school is a memorable time in many classrooms. Teachers and children eagerly count down to the 100th day, and then they hold a big celebration in honor of that milestone. The hundredth day marks the past-halfway-point of the school year. It’s always been sort of the “sweet spot” in my classroom–a time when children are more independent and learning, and engagement are taking place every day!
In this article, I’m sharing some simple, fun, (and eveninexpensive) 100th Day of School activities and ideas. Keep in mind that, if you celebrate the 101st day of school instead, these same activities can be used. At the end of this post, I’ll let you know how you can use these materials for the 101st Day of School instead!
Dressing up for the Hundredth Day
Dressing up for the 100th (or 101st) day of school is always a favorite. For the 100th day of school, I have children dress up as a hundred-year-old person. Parents have been so creative with this through the years. One year a parent even made their child a walker out of PVC pipes. I’ve also had a student who had nose and ear hair plugs when dressing as a little old man! 😂
Halloweencostumes.com has some fun 100th day costume ideas and inspiration:
Instead of having children dress like 100 year old persons for the 100th day, you could ask them to design 100th day shirts. Encourage parents to search Pinterest or google for shirt ideas. There are hundreds (😆) of adorable t-shirt ideas just right for the hundredth day of school. One of my favorite ideas says “I’ve bugged my teacher for 100 days” and then has 100 plastic bugs attached to it. I love seeing parents’ and students’ creativity when they design their own 100th day shirt.
If it’s the 101st Day you’re celebrating, ask them to dress like Dalmatians. When my first graders did this, I was blown away by their parents’ creativity!
What to do on the 100th Day of School
Now that you’ve set the stage for a super fun celebration by asking children to dress up, you need to decide what to actually do on the 100th day. My favorite way to celebrate when I taught Kindergarten-Second grade was to set up stations for the children to complete.
These stations are inexpensive and quick to set up, mainly using materials you already have in the classroom. Laminate the task cards, put the materials in ziploc bags, and keep them in your January/February supply bin so they’re ready to pull out year after year.
Give each child a clipboard and a list of stations, and allow them to rotate through and complete each station. You can even put children in small groups of 3-5 and let them rotate together as a team. This is a great way to give extra support to struggling students. Pair them with a student who is able to read to them or help them understand each task.
Stations to Include
Here are some of my favorite 100th day of school activities to do during our station rotations. The activities provide a good mix of math, writing, and science and are all fun and engaging. There are plenty of opportunities for children to be creative as well.
1. Race to 100- In this activity, children can compete against each other or race themselves. All they need are the Race to 100 printable, crayons, and 2 dice. Have them roll the two dice and count out that many spots on the hundreds chart. Then, they color in the spots. They continue to do this until the entire 100’s chart is colored and they’ve reached the finish line!
If you print this on white paper, ask the children to use a different color for each round and they’ll have a colorful game board at the end.
2. 100th Day Snack-Making trail mix for the 100th day is so much fun. Send a note to parents requesting that they send in boxes of items like Chex cereal, Goldfish crackers, M&Ms, and mini marshmallows. Try to get ten different items to include in the trail mix.
Children use the snack mat to “build” their snack by counting exactly ten of each item and placing it in a circle on the mat. When they finish, they count by tens to see that they now have exactly 100 items for their trail mix.
This is a yummy way to practice counting with 1:1 correspondence and counting by tens. Plus, it gives children something to take home and show their parents at the end of their hundredth day celebration!
A few years ago, I hosted a 101st day of school for my first grade class. They enjoyed making their 101st day snack mix and, as you can tell, they dressed as Dalmatians for the 101st day of school!
3. Race to $1.00 – This station gives children practice with ten frames and trading ten pennies for one dime. It’s a great pre-requisite skill for teaching addition with regrouping. All you need for this station are pennies, dimes, and dice as well as the “PIggy Bank Relay” mat.
4. Lego Land-It’s easy to find loose Legos at yard sales, or perhaps your own child has some left over! Bag them up in sets of 100. Have 3-5 sets at the Lego Land station so each child in the small group can build something.
Challenge the children to build something with EXACTLY 100 Legos–no more and no less. The children are so creative and just may surprise you with their creations! Take a picture of each creation when children complete them.
5.. When I am 100 Written Response- This is one of my very favorite 100th day activities. Prep is so simple– just print enough copies of the response page for each student to complete. Provide crayons and pencils. Then, let students get creative.
I love reading their responses. Seriously, they’ll have you giggling. Several years ago, one of my first grade students wrote, “When I’m 100 I’ll be dead sonny.” I still laugh about her wit and sarcasm.
More 100th Day of School Station Ideas
6. Jazzercise- This is a fun brain break for the hundredth day! Children will follow an exercise list and do ten of each exercise, for a total of 100 reps. To make it even more fun, have children use a timer or stopwatch and see how long it takes them to complete all 100 exercises. They could even take the challenge more than once and see what their best time is!
A Fun Science Experiment for the Hundredth Day
7. A Drop in the Bucket– This is a fun science experiment for your 100th day celebration. Using the response page, children will make a prediction before completing the experiment. They’ll guess how much of the jar will get filled up by 100 drops of water. Most young children will guess that the jar will be full or nearly full because they can’t comprehend the size of a drop of water, let alone 100 drops!
Using water droppers or pipettes for this experiment provides excellent fine motor practice. Children also get practice counting to 100 as they count out each drop. So many skills are covered with this one simple, inexpensive 100th day activity!
At the end of the experiment, children complete the observation section of their response page. They’re always amazed at how little the jar was filled. Extend the discussion by asking, “What if we filled the jar with 100 teaspoons of water?” Show them a teaspoon. This is a great lesson in capacity and measurement!
Two More 100th Day Stations
8. Tall Towers- Here’s another fun activity with lots of math practice. Provide a basket with more than 100 snap cubes (Unifix cubes) in it. Ask the children to build ten towers with exactly ten cubes in each tower. Then, have them count by tens to be sure they have 100 cubes.
Have children link the towers together (on the floor–not like a vertical tower) to make their 100th day linking cube tower. Ask them to lie down beside the tower and see if they are taller, shorter, or the same size as their tower of 100.
I like to ask the children to make a prediction before building the tower and again before lying down beside it. You could also help the children break the tower apart at their exact height so they can count the cubes and see how many cubes tall they actually are.
9. Flip a Coin-Teach children how to recognize heads and tails on a coin. Quarters are easiest to flip since they’re larger and heavier. Assign a color to each side- heads, red and tails, blue. Explain to children that they’ll be flipping a coin 100 times, and each time they flip it they’ll color in a square.
At the end of the activity, children go back and count how many times they landed on heads by counting the red squares and how many times they landed on tails by counting the blue squares.
You could even have them make a prediction before the activity.
Will they land on heads or tails more? After completing the page, have them see if their prediction was right or wrong.
Finally, a Class Favorite
10. Make a Froot Loop Necklace-The Final 100th day station I like to include is making a necklace out of Froot Loops. Using the printable, children count out exactly 100 pieces of cereal and place one on each block. Next, they string the cereal on a piece of tipped yarn or elastic. I let them take their necklace home at the end of the day in a ziploc bag so they can snack on the cereal at home.
It’s interesting to see children’s thought processes when they make their necklaces. Some sort the Froot Loops by color. Some make patterns, and some are completely random. This is a great time to do some informal assessments for patterning and sorting.
HELPFUL TIP: Tape one end of the yarn to the table or desk. Then children can simply slide the cereal pieces down the yarn without risk of pushing everything off the other end.
Children may use pony beads in place of Froot Loops.
100th Day Printables
The station activities shouldn’t take up more than an hour or two of your day. If you want to extend the celebration to the rest of the day, sprinkle in some fun printables. Writing prompts are a fun way to have children imagine what the future will be like.
All children love stickers. Have them create a 100th day sticker collection with exactly 100 stickers. Have children brainstorm 100 rhyming words using word families as inspiration. Or, let them create a gumball machine with 100 gumballs in it. I love to use either dot stickers or Bingo dabbers for this craft!
Finish your 100th Day with a Fun Treat
Now that you’ve completed your hundredth day stations and printables, it’s time to finish up the day with a treat. Children love being called “Smart Cookies!” Let them make a crown to wear home, and give them a cookie as well. Add these adorable bag tags and they’re over the moon with excitement.
You can even print 100th Day certificates to send home with each child.
Are you ready to give 100th Day Stations a try for your celebration this year?
Print and prep these materials and you can use them year after year for your hundredth day of school! I love to copy the printables on colorful paper to make them even more fun and engaging.
⭐ Do you celebrate the 101st Day of School rather than the 100th Day? ⭐
Guess what? All of these same station activities and printables are able to be used for the 101st Day of School as well. I created another packet that has every printable explicitly for use with the 101st Day. Click the image below to check it out.
Be sure to pin this post so you can find these ideas again later!
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
Introduction
As an expert educator and enthusiast, I have extensive experience and knowledge in the field of classroom activities and celebrations, including the 100th Day of School. I have worked with various grade levels, from Kindergarten to Second Grade, and have organized and implemented engaging and memorable 100th Day celebrations in my classrooms.
Throughout the years, I have witnessed the excitement and anticipation that builds up as teachers and students count down to this milestone. The 100th Day of School marks the past-halfway-point of the school year and is often considered a "sweet spot" in the classroom, where children are more independent, engaged, and actively involved in their learning.
In this article, I will share some simple, fun, and inexpensive activities and ideas for celebrating the 100th Day of School. I will provide information on dressing up for the occasion, setting up stations for students to complete, and suggest various activities that cover math, writing, science, and creativity. Additionally, I will discuss the concept of celebrating the 101st Day of School instead and how these same activities can be adapted for that purpose.
Dressing up for the Hundredth Day
Dressing up for the 100th Day of School is always a favorite among students. One popular idea is to have children dress up as a hundred-year-old person. Parents can get creative with this by designing costumes and props, such as a walker made out of PVC pipes or using nose and ear hair plugs to mimic an elderly appearance.
Alternatively, instead of dressing up as elderly individuals, you can ask students to design 100th Day shirts. Parents can search for ideas on platforms like Pinterest or Google, where they will find numerous adorable t-shirt designs suitable for the occasion. For example, one idea is to have a shirt that says "I've bugged my teacher for 100 days" and attach 100 plastic bugs to it. This allows for creativity and personalization while celebrating the 100th Day of School.
If you are celebrating the 101st Day of School, you can ask students to dress like Dalmatians. This theme provides an opportunity for parents to showcase their creativity in designing costumes and adds a playful twist to the celebration.
What to do on the 100th Day of School
Once you have set the stage for a super fun celebration by asking children to dress up, it's time to decide what activities to engage in on the 100th Day. One effective way to celebrate, which I have found successful when teaching Kindergarten to Second Grade, is to set up stations for children to rotate through.
These stations can be inexpensive and quick to set up, using materials that are usually already available in the classroom. By laminating task cards, storing materials in ziploc bags, and keeping them in a designated supply bin, they can be easily accessed and reused in subsequent years.
Each child is given a clipboard and a list of stations to complete. They can rotate individually or in small groups of 3-5, providing an opportunity for struggling students to receive extra support from their peers. This method encourages collaboration and helps foster a sense of teamwork among the students.
Stations to Include
Here are some of my favorite 100th Day of School activities to include in station rotations. These activities cover a range of subjects, including math, writing, and science, and are designed to be both educational and engaging:
1. Race to 100: In this activity, children can compete against each other or race themselves. They roll two dice and count out that many spots on a hundreds chart. They continue to do this until the entire 100's chart is colored and they've reached the finish line. This activity promotes number recognition, counting skills, and fine motor control. It can also be printed on white paper to create a colorful game board.
2. 100th Day Snack: Making trail mix for the 100th day is a fun and delicious activity. Parents are asked to send in items like Chex cereal, Goldfish crackers, M&M's, and mini marshmallows. Each child uses a snack mat to "build" their snack by counting exactly ten of each item and placing them in a circle on the mat. This activity provides an opportunity for counting practice, as well as reinforcing one-to-one correspondence and counting by tens.
3. Race to $1.00: This station focuses on ten frames and trading ten pennies for one dime. It is a great way to introduce the concept of addition with regrouping. Children use pennies, dimes, and dice to play the "Piggy Bank Relay" game on a mat. This activity helps reinforce counting, addition, and understanding the value of coins.
4. Lego Land: Loose Legos can be used in this station, either obtained from yard sales or leftover from personal collections. Children are challenged to build something using exactly 100 Legos. This activity encourages creativity, problem-solving, and spatial awareness.
5. When I am 100 Written Response: This activity involves students completing a written response page, where they imagine what they would be like when they are 100 years old. Their responses can range from humorous to insightful, showcasing their creativity and writing skills.
These are just a few examples of the stations that can be included in a 100th Day of School celebration. Each activity provides a unique learning experience and can be tailored to the grade level and abilities of the students.
A Fun Science Experiment for the Hundredth Day
Another engaging activity for the 100th Day of School is a science experiment called "A Drop in the Bucket." Children make predictions about how much of a jar will be filled up by 100 drops of water. They count out each drop using water droppers or pipettes, providing an opportunity for fine motor practice and counting to 100. This experiment helps children understand concepts of capacity and measurement, as they compare the amount of water to the size of the jar.
Make Froot Loop Necklaces and Other 100th Day Printables
In addition to station activities, you can incorporate fun printables to extend the celebration. Writing prompts are a great way to encourage children to imagine what the future will be like. Sticker collections and rhyming word brainstorming activities provide opportunities for creativity and language development. Another popular activity is making a Froot Loop necklace, where children count out exactly 100 pieces of cereal and string them onto yarn or elastic. This craft promotes fine motor skills, patterning, and sorting.
Finish the 100th Day with a Fun Treat
To conclude the 100th Day of School celebration, it's nice to provide a treat for the children. One idea is to call them "Smart Cookies" and allow them to make crowns to wear home. Giving each child a cookie and a certificate adds to their excitement and sense of accomplishment.
Celebrating the 101st Day of School
If you prefer to celebrate the 101st Day of School instead of the traditional 100th Day, all of the aforementioned station activities and printables can be easily adapted. Simply modify the instructions and materials to reflect the theme of the 101st Day, such as dressing up as Dalmatians or using the same activities with a slight twist.
By implementing these activities and ideas, you can create a memorable and engaging 100th (or 101st) Day of School celebration that promotes learning, creativity, and fun in the classroom.
