Now that the school year is underway and the temperatures are (finally!) dropping, it’s a great time to get your student council kids planning some fun fall spirit projects and activities for your school and community.
Get your student leaders together for a brainstorming session a few weeks into the school year, once all the back-to-school stuff has settled down. This is their chance to share their student council ideas for the next few months. Start by creating a no-idea’s-too-crazy list, then work to narrow it down.
If you could use some good group brainstorming and decision-making protocols, grab my popular teambuilding flip deck which is perfect for days like these!
After your students decide on a handful of activities (making sure not to overcommit themselves!), create committees and assign project leads. Then hand each group a project planning kit and let them do the rest!
Here are 25 of my favorite fall school project and student council ideas to help you start in filling your September, October, and November calendars; definitely let your students bring in their own ideas, too!
School Spirit Tie-Die
Help ensure all students have something to wear in your school colors by hosting a tie-die session with squeeze bottles of just your two or three school colors. Offer white socks and t-shirts inexpensively for purchase.
Show College Spirit with National College Color Day
This day is around the beginning of September, so check its exact day each year. Challenge staff to represent their alma maters and students to wear the colors of their favorite school.
Create a Communication Hub
Use a bulletin board or blank hallway space in a common area to create a spot for each club, sport, and grade level to post announcements and posters advertising upcoming events.
Celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Always on September 19th, this is a fun day to have your student leaders read the day’s announcements in pirate speak, tell pirate jokes, and have pirate themed games during lunch.
Host a Tailgate Dinner
This is a great fundraiser activity to run at one of your home football games. Easy ideas include hot dogs, hamburgers, or pulled pork sandwiches. Add in some chips, soda, and a cookie for dessert. Be sure to advertise ahead of time so people come hungry!
Start an Events Flyer
Make it on old-fashioned paper. Tape it to high-traffic doors, bathroom stalls, and lunch tables. You’ll want to task a few students to oversee this to ensure new ones go up every-other week or month!
Create a Carpool All-Call
Have your student leaders coordinate carpools to an upcoming away game. This is a great opportunity for them to encourage freshmen and other new students to attend.
Make a No Excuses Day Challenge
National No Excuses Day is September 27th. Challenge students to do something that day they’ve been putting off for whatever reason, then debrief a few days later about how it went.
Decorate Teachers’ Doors
This doesn’t need to be anything elaborate, just something with a fall or Halloween theme. It could be as simple as adding a few leaves or some jack-o-lantern image cutouts with funny or personal messages written on them.
Create Staff Pumpkins
Get a bunch of small pumpkins and decorate them. Theme the pumpkins based on things each teacher likes (a Star Wars design or as their favorite historical figure) and hand them out to display in their classrooms. Make sure to include secretaries, paras, nurses, and lunch staff, too!
Recognize your Custodians and Coaches
National Custodian Day is October 2nd and National Coaches Day is October 6th. Make a large banner or write notes of appreciation to show gratitude to these important people who help build your school’s community.
Host Fall-Themed Games at Lunch
Use this list of autumn-themed Minute to Win It games or have your students come up with their own.
Complete Acts of Kindness on Be Nice Day
National Be Nice Day is October 5th of each year. Challenge your students to complete a random act of kindness for a staff member or classmate.
Host a Mix it Up at Lunch Day
This event was created by Learning for Justice. It’s traditionally done in the fall to encourage new friendships and breaking down barriers between social groups. This is also a great time for your student officers to sit with underclassmen or any new students this year. Download Learning for Justice’s FREE how-to planning guide that will give you all the details.
Organize a Rake and Run
After the leaves have fallen, have everyone bring in rakes to clean up the school’s yards or those of homes around the community, which could be either as a service project or a fundraiser for your program.
Make Some Fall Bulletin Boards
Save some of those gorgeous fall leaves and make themed bulletin boards throughout your school. One idea is to ask your librarian if you can make them a book recommendation board using the headline “Leaf through a Good Book.”
Complete a Boo for Food Drive
During the week leading up to Halloween, hold a class competition food drive which includes heading into the community to “trick or treat” for canned goods. Be sure to advertise in the local paper and around town of this event so people are ready!
Host a Trunk or Treat
This is great if your area isn’t very trick-or-treat-friendly. Have students and families circle up their cars and trucks in the school parking lot on an evening near Halloween, decorating their trunks. Check out these incredible theme ideas to get started!
Invite your feeder elementary school students to attend this safe and fun way to trick or treat. This is also a great time for your boosters or other groups to set up concessions, face painting, or other fundraisers.
Offer Apple Cider Cups of Kindness
At lunch one day, hand out cups of warm apple cider. Better yet, have your students pre-decorate plain white paper cups with all sorts of affirmation, inspirational, and positive messages. This is one of my favorite student council ideas my leaders have come up with over the years.
Hold a Food Drive Face-Off
Challenge classes to compete by bringing in specific items that are in demand at your local food bank. Think: peanut butter vs. tuna dish drive or soup vs. cereal.
Celebrate World Kindness Day
World Kindness Day is on November 13th. Challenge your students to a flash thank you mob where they write short but powerful notes of appreciation en masse. This is project #1 of my 3-Part Thank You Letter Kit.
Upgrade Your School’s Recycling System
National Recycle Day is November 15th, making this a great time to examine the way your school recycles—in the classrooms, in the halls, and in the cafeteria. Does your school need more receptacles, better signage, or a PSA video on the do’s and don’ts of recycling at your school? Investigate and implement a solution.
Honor Support Staff & Substitute Teachers
The third week in November contains both of these appreciation days. Put together a snack basket for all the people (like food service, office, and custodial staff) and guest teachers who help your building run smoothly every day.
Give Gratitude Shout Outs
During the week of Thanksgiving, write messages of appreciation using chalk pens on the windows of your school’s entry way or other central location. Provide prompts like, “What or who are you most grateful for at our school?” or “What are you most thankful for?”
Check in with New Students
Now that it’s a couple months into the school year, have your student leaders check in with students who are new this year. Sit with them at lunch, invite them to an upcoming school event, and even simply make sure to say “hi” to them in the halls.
Hopefully this list gives you and your students more than enough student council ideas to pick a few to try this fall. Be sure to grab my Project Planning Kit, which is a lifesaver in allowing your student leaders to take the lead in brainstorming, planning, and carrying out any project, big or small. The best part is that these universal templates and forms become a how-to guide for next year’s group!
Image credit: Greg Shield
