End of School Award Ribbons

I have a super fun end of the school year activity that the kiddos are going to love! Students have had 1o months to get to know one another, and a sure bet is they think they know their classmates pretty well. A fun group activity for them to participate in is to let them select the end of the year awards for one another!

As the teacher or room parent, you can pre-select awards that apply to your classroom. Then the students can vote on who should receive each award! And the reward itself? I’m going to show you how to make fun paper ribbon award that can also double as a keepsake for the school year.

To make the award ribbons you will need:

• 6×6 paper stack
• white cardstock
• scor board (optional)
• paper punches (optional)
• dry adhesive
• hot glue gun
• pin backs
• marker

I love this 6×6 paper stack from Die Cuts with a View (DCWV) for this project! There are 2 sheets of each pattern and the sheets are double sided providing even more options for colors schemes.

Select 2 sheets of matching paper and cut into four 2″ wide strips. Scor (or fold) every 1/2″ along the length of the strips. Then fold into an accordion.

Attach the accordion pieces end to end using dry adhesive. Once all 4 pieces are connected, bring the beginning and end together with the dry adhesive to make an accordion circle.

Pull the top off the accordion circle down to the work surface to make a pinwheel.

With the leftover paper from cutting the strips for the pinwheel, cut out (or punch out if you have the appropriate punches) two 3 1/2″ circles. Hold the pinwheel flat and carefully add hot glue around the center. While glue is still hot, center one of the circles on the pinwheel. Hold in place for a few seconds while glue cools. Flip over and repeat on the back of the pinwheel.

Cut out (or punch) a 2″ circle in the white cardstock. Use dry adhesive to attach the circle to the front of the award ribbon.

Cut out a 1×1/2″ rectangle using the scraps from making the pinwheel. Use dry adhesive to attach the pin back to the back of the pinwheel. Cover the pin with the rectangle you just cut out, again using dry adhesive.

To make the ribbons for the award, cut two 1 1/2″ strips from a new piece of paper. Trim the ends to look like ribbons (tip: use a square paper punch for the perfect squared ends! I used a 1″ square punch.). Attach the ribbons to the back of the pinwheel using a dry adhesive.

Now you can write the name of each award on the ribbon and, once the children select the winners, add their names to the white cardstock circle.

Some suggestions for awards may include:

• best manners
• kindness
• most helpful
• most improved
• super speller
• super reader
• neatest handwriting
• class clown
• best smile
• best listener

You can easily accomodate the awards to the age and lessons from the classroom.

You will see big smiles all around when the voting begins and the winners of the awards are announced. With award ribbons for the entire class, everyone is a winner!