The Ultimate Idea Source for the 100th Day of School!

The Question:

What is your favorite idea or activity to celebrate the 100th Day of School?

The Answers:

Sylvia Lusk Harwell

 “I don’t like to call this original because I’m sure something made me come up with this idea many years ago… or maybe I read it somewhere, but anyway… If you have 20 kids in your class it works well: Paint one handprint of each child on to a piece of poster board. Then number each fingertip with a sharpie from 1-100. Next number each palm with a sharpie by 5’s (5, 10, 15, etc.) They can use this poster to practice counting by ones and fives.
Another idea… measure 100 feet (down the hallway) to see how long it is. You can have them guess first (estimate). Show them one foot and have them guess how far 100 feet will be from your doorway. I have a 100 foot tape measure that I bought for this purpose, but I remember using a streamer (they sometimes come in a roll that is 100 feet long). Either way you can have children hold (or stand on) the tape/streamer every 5 feet or so. I always have the first and last child wave at each other.”

Kim Deibert

I make up a little ‘nametag’ with 10 activities on it for the 100th day. Each time a child completes it during the day’s Playtimes, he gets a checkmark.

Each activity is worth 10 points, for a total of 100! Then they get a prize, which is usually a 100 Day pencil!

Activities included making a 100 snack (Kit Kat and two oreos or other ‘1’ and ‘0’ shaped foods) and having a drink from a punchbowl with 100 ice cubes in it;

finding 100 items in our bead bin (10 things 10 of each);

stamping with stamping markers 100 times in 100 squares (encouraging patterns);

100 exercises in the gym as a class;

completing a 100 piece puzzle (as a group);

stacking 100 Speed Stack cups;

lining up 100 ants (goes with 100 Hungry Ants story);

100 Day booklet: I could eat 100 ______but not 100_______……..

And of course, the day starts with reading MISS BINDERGARTEN CELEBRATES THE 100th DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!

Helen Harle

Ours is not original either, but it is worthy! Our 8 kindergartens have a friendly ‘competition’ to collect, per class, 100 food items within a certain two-week period, ending that week of the 100th day. The children color in boxes to count up the items received daily. There is no actual prize; the award is knowing we have helped re-stock the local food pantries at a time when donations are sorely needed again after the holidays!

Jane Atkinson Gookin

Outside of the school, we have the children stand in the shape of the numerals 1-0-0 and take a picture from above ( in the school). They love looking at it the rest of the year. We usually use our 2 kindergarten classes.

Jackie Link Gray

This is not an original but loves the idea of students collecting 100 names in a student made booklet on the 100th day!
Jennifer Bergmann

One activity that we are going to do this year is have the Kindergarten classes compete against each other and do a 100 object relay race. We are going to see what class can get 100 objects in their basket first!

Cheryl Davis

I love to base my activities around 2 favorite literature choices like Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten and The Wolf’s Chicken Stew. Each child brings favorite snack foods like M&M’s, pretzels or raisins (from a list of 10 choices) and we make a trail mix for snack. Each child counts 10 of each of the 10 ingredients. We graph our favorite snack choice. They all tend to sort while snacking.

We make hats with ten strips sticking up and put 10 star stickers on each strip to make 100 stars.
Rachel Garrison Cooley

My class makes a 100 Link paper chain. On each slip of paper the kids write a reason they like kindergarten, (I leave the paper strips in the writing center so having the kids complete 4 or 5 strips isn’t too overwhelming of a task!) then we make a color pattern while we assemble and count the links up to 100. I then attach the paper chain to the bulletin board outside our classroom in the shape of a heart and use the header, “100 Reasons We Love Kindergarten!” It turned out so cute the first time I did it that I don’t mind doing the same activity EVERY 100th Day! 🙂

Laurie Chvatal

We have a 100th day parade. Pre-K, Kindergarten and first grade go around the school visiting the classrooms singing the 100th day of school song. 100th Day of School (sung to 99 bottles of beer on the wall)
Got it from the book 50 Thematic Piggyback Songs by Scholastic Professional Books.
We basically just sing the first verse:
“100 days of school in all, 100 days of school,
We managed to count a large amount,
100 days of school in all!” Pre -K and kindergarten make 100 day projects with 100 things, and First grade makes t shirts with 100 things on them. The rest of the day is making necklaces with 100 fruit loops, reading books about the 100th day and 100 day activities.
Janelle Schafer Berteau

My class will make a huge “Kindness” chain between now and the 100th day. We are going to read “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” and “Heart prints” the first week back after break. I’m going to model and stress being kind and thoughtful to each other. The paper chain links will be color coded in groups of 100, using Valentine colors of red, pink, white, purple, etc. Each kind act will be documented on a chain link, and I add the new links at the end of each day so we can see the chain grow. By the 100th day, which coincides near Valentine’s Day, we will see how many HUNDREDS of ways we’ve been kind to each other, plus it will be a cool way to decorate our room for Valentine’s Day!

Jill Generazzo

I have a few ideas…some original, some I have found over the years!

I blew up a $100 bill (play money) and have the students decorate and make into a hat.

I hide 100 numbered Hershey kisses all around the classroom and they each have a bag to go on a hershey kiss hunt. The students are then given a 100 grid and have to color the squares of the numbers they have found. We then make a class grid to make sure they are all found.

I have all students bring 100 of something in from home (it has to fit in a ziploc bag, but I never say what size ziploc! I have gotten things in those huge ziplocs!!).

I found this cool mini book that shows how to write 100 in different languages and the students love to practice writing 100 in different languages.

We read tons of books and go back over the 100th day counting book we have made since the first day of kindergarten.

We also make a class book titled “I’m glad I have 100______/I’m glad I don’t have 100______.” The students have to write and illustrate what they wish they had 100 of and what they are glad they do not have 100 of. It is a funny book!! This is a fun and busy day we are all looking forward to it!
Traci Ostrander

My fellow teachers and I dress up as if we are 100 years old. The kids love it. We were interviewed on our school news one year. The kids draw what they think they would look like when they are 100. This is always interesting!

Lisa M. Carranza

And her class usually practice making 10 sets of 10 all week. I blow up a picture of gumball machine and we glue 100 gumballs to it…100 pennies to a blown up dollar…100 conversation hearts on a big heart….100 cheerios to a big cereal bowl…etc. We also ask the kids to make 100 day projects and parade around the school showing them off while we sing songs about the 100th day.

Alison Wilson

Reports one thing that I do with my students is give them 100 mini marshmallows and 100 toothpicks. The students must use all items then we have a display center and the students can tell what their items are. They have a blast trying to figure out what they are going to make with all of the marshmallows and toothpicks.

Kelly Greppo Donovan

One of our 100th day centers is to build something out of 100 blocks. Each group gets to take a picture with their creation. We also make 100 Day Hats with a cut out of 100 attached to a sentence strip and 100 stickers or stamps to decorate. (The little reward stickers work well cut into strips of ten!) I love the 100 kisses activity!

Tammy Ogden

We start a few weeks before the 100th day coming up with 100 -ing words. We try to come up with 5 or so a day and then on the 100th day of school we come up with the 100th one and write it in red. We display the words throughout the room for the rest of the year.

Cheryl Shrader

Get 100 Hershey kisses and 100 little round stickers. Write the #’s 1-100 on the stickers and put a sticker on the bottom of each kiss. While the kids are at a “special” or at lunch, hide the kisses around the room (in plain view). When the kids find a kiss, they bring it to the 100 chart and place their kiss on the corresponding # and go off in search for another kiss! I stay near the chart to help with all the excitement and finding the correct #…and yes, of course, after all the kisses are found…everyone gets 1 or 2 for a treat! 🙂

Jennifer Francis Dix

My class makes a list of 100 words… 10 each in 10 categories (girl names, color names, animal names, cartoon names etc.) Then display them in the room or the hall. I have had the kids see how many times they can write their name in 100 seconds and seen how far away from our class we get in 100 steps.

Kimmie Wims

My class has their pajama party that day to celebrate 100 days. The kids bring a stuffed animal to share the festivities with. We take pictures standing behind the cut out center of a 100 banner (the numbers are as tall as the kids!). We also count out 100 fruit loops to make cereal necklaces.

Anne McArdle Gregory

My class makes a list of 100 things we’ve learned in 100 days of kindergarten. The kids do this as homework – I divide the 100 up depending on how many students i have in the class. Then we compile the list in the days leading up to #100. We display our list in the cafeteria for our whole school (K-12) to see! It is really neat to see what lessons/activities/etc the kindergartners remember and it is cute to watch the older kids remember too when they read the list!

Lynette Roby

My best idea is Dr. Jean’s Zero the Hero!  Every tenth day of school, Zero the Hero leaves us a surprise in the Zero Box, and then we dance and count to the Zero the Hero Number Song. Then, on the hundredth day of school, my brother dresses up as the real Zero the Hero and delivers wafer cookies and donut holes to make a 100 snack! The kids really think he is Zero the Hero! (Plus I get to hold the pictures of him in tights over his head! 🙂

Sheena Gerrick

My students have to bring 100 of something in a brown paper bag (lunch or grocery sized) they have to write 3 clues describing what is in the bag then the class has to guess what they brought 100 of. It’s great fun and easier then having kids glue 100 things to a poster which is more work for the parents!

In addition we rotate between grades K,1,2 and each teacher does a 100 activity: 100 Exercises, necklaces with 100 beads, snack mixes with 100 items for each student, etc.

I also have a caterpillar made with one number on each circle that we add to our wall during morning meeting every day, on 100th day of school the caterpillar turns into a butterfly, the kids can hardly wait for the transformation!

Ashley Parks

I have a long piece of white paper from a roll and I have my students make 100 hand prints with paint. I title it 100 friendly hands! We hang it outside our classroom. Each child picks a color of paint and they each do 5 hand prints (I have 20 children). We keep it in our classroom for the rest of the year to remind us of our party!
One more idea I do on the 100th day! Each child gets a black piece of construction paper. Bigger than 8×11. They each get 100 round stickers (like the ones you use for a garage sale) Parents donate these to the class. They use their stickers to create a picture on their paper. They turn our really cute. Some make their names out of stickers or create houses! One thing to remember: Make sure you pre-count the stickers for the students. This makes the activity go smoothly.

Debbie Anderson

A great idea for the 100th day is to have guest speakers come before the 100th day and talk about what they remember about being in kindergarten. The guest speakers are a person who is 10 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old, 40 years old, 50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old, 80 years old, 90 years old, and 100 years old (iff possible). We have had good luck with finding help from our parents.

Becky Busby Roberts Blackwell

My Kindergarten always goes to the nursing home and talks to someone who is 100 years old. The kids love hearing how they grew up.

Tawanna Gibbons Anderson

We celebrate the 100th day of the new year – it falls in April away from Valentines and Presidents Days and the children are more able to count to 100; I sewed 100 “fun-shaped” buttons on to the front of a shirt, each shape of button grouped together (clowns, rocking horses, ice cream cones, etc.). I photo copied the shirt and made several copies of it. The children get to count the different buttons and record their answers on an answer sheet on which they also write in the beginning sound of each of the button shapes (_lowns). The children always love it and it’s a good math assessment too!

Jennifer Thompson

A teacher at my school had tied 100 bows together to make a necklace that she wears every year..

Sandi Langley

We have a teacher who sewed 100 buttons to a denim jumper.

Jennifer LaTurno Lozon 

I have one of those “cat in the hat” hats that I have stuck 100 foam sticky letters on.

Karen Kerns 

Or you can pin 100 mini bows, ribbons or jingle bells onto your clothing. How about a shirt with 100 wiggle eyes? 100 polka dots?

Ohhh, how about 100 homework excuses on pieces of paper?

Barbara Reid

I have a sweatshirt that has hands that make the number 100- counting by 5s it’s 100 fingers. Another friend of mine made a sweatshirt with 100 buttons sewn to it in the shape of 100. I’ve seen 100 bows sewn to a shirt and 100 fingerprints (a teacher with 20 students letting each one do 5 fingerprints each) inside of a boxy 100.

Kim Nations Pool 

I hand paint shirts as a hobby, and I took a sweatshirt and painted the numbers 1-99 in different colors all over it with a BIG 100 Days! on the front. There are now several more teachers in our building who now have one to wear each year. 🙂

Jennifer Barnett Russell 

Have each child and teacher to dress up like they are 100 years old and take pictures. That’s what we did at our school this year.

Jennifer Atkinson Jenkins 

I bought an apron from Michael’s and hot glued 100 bows on it.

Heather Leckey 

Just like Jennifer said…but I have the idea this year to have them do a self portrait of what they look like now…and then next to it a picture of what they will look like when they are 100! Grey hair, glasses, etc….

Cheri Dodson Smith 

I really like the handprint idea….you could take a plain T shirt and have your class paint the 100 fingers…..20×5=100!

Loise Perkins 

I put 100 pompoms on a shirt with super glue.

Marybeth Simpson-Steeber 

I have my class predict whether or not 100 people will fit into our classroom. Then we invite other classes, administrators, etc. to come in (We do it first thing in the morning, before we even take attendance, so as not to interfere with anyone’s day. It takes about 5 mins or less.) I make small # cards, from 1 – 100+, and as everyone, including my own students, come into the room, they are handed a number. Then, when everyone is in, we all count together, and everyone holds up their # as we get to it. It’s become a much-looked-forward-to tradition in our school.

Sylvia Lusk Harwell

O.K. so I know you said no 100 item necklaces, but we just had our 100th day yesterday…

We strung 100 alphabet beads in a pattern. 4 white alphabet beads, one color alphabet bead, 4 white alphabet beads, 1 wooden alphabet bead (begin again). When complete the children can use this necklace to count by 5’s if they touch each color and wood alphabet bead or by 10’s if they just touch the wood bead. This was my first year to try this, and I was a little nervous thinking that maybe it would be too hard for them… but it wasn’t. Turned out great!

You can also do this with apple jacks (4 orange 1 green… then throw in another color that you get from a box of Fruit Loops, like, say… blue!). It would be cheaper.

I also have a 100ft measuring tape and we “guesstimate” how long 100 feet will be after I show them a foot ruler. Then in the hallway we measure it with the tape. I have them hold the tape every 5 feet or so. I call off the numbers as we go down the hall …45 feet …50 feet …55 feet …etc. By the time we are at the end I’m almost shouting so the first child (standing by our doorway) can hear. 😀 We almost make it to the principal’s office. 🙂

If you have 20 kids you can make a poster with one painted handprint of each child side by side. If you make the handprints close together, kindergarten handprints will fill a regular size poster board perfect(?), perfectly(?)… Anyway, once completed you can write 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. on the palms and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. on each fingertip. If you have less than 20 kids, you’ll just have to give some more than one turn. 🙂

Cheri Dodson Smith

I got 100 day headbands at Target in the dollar bins….the kids will wear those….

Sarah McKenzie Seitz

we had our students create hats with 100…one child had 10 ribbons attached to her hat. Each ribbon was adorned with objects – 10 flower petals, 10 buttons, 10 bows, etc. I teased her & said I needed her hat for next year.

Marybeth Simpson-Steeber

‎……and when you DO make the obligatory 100-things necklace, use generic Fruit Loops (the holes are bigger and they are easier to string), and have them use like colors in blocks of 5 or 10, to help with skip counting.

Diane Krumm 

I glued on 100 smarties on a shirt! The class then ate smarties because they are 100 days smarter for being in kindergarten!

Cindy Viscotha Bartholomew 

I took a tee shirt and sewed on 100 buttons.

Tina Marie Suleiman 

I wear a jumper with 100 bows…like Mrs. Bindergarten!

Chrissy Pierson 

If we have no snow days between now and Valentine’s day.. our 100th day is on Valentine’s day. I am sure there will be lots of 100 hearts that day. I have collected lots of missing socks from my own kids over the years and have pinned 100 assorted socks to a sweat shirt. It’s heavy to wear but looks awesome. Can’t wait to show my KIndergartners this year.

Stacy Brown 

I gave each of my students a 1 and two 0’s cut out of black paper. They then had to make something out of the #’s. I couldn’t believe the things my kindergarteners came up with! I had a treasure box where the 0’s were coins and the 1 was a key, weight lifters, cookie monster, a lawn mower, airplane, etc. These are glued onto paper and then they draw the rest of the picture.

Katie T. DeLoach 

At my school, we blow up a balloon for each child. We then count by 10’s to 100 and release them outside as we are going out to recess. The kids LOVE it! 🙂

Alana Heller 

Since our 100th day usually falls around Valentine’s Day, I send home 4 hearts with each student the week before the 100th Day and ask the parents to notice when their child does something nice or helpful. They write it on the heart and the student draws a picture. When they bring them back, I staple them on a bulletin board tree for our 100 Acts of Kindness.

‎2 other ideas: Have students trace and cut out feet and see how far down the hall 100 feet go.

Also, number 100 Hershey Kisses 1-100 on the bottom and have students collect the kisses, then put them on a 100 chart.

Buena Kaylor 

We made a centipede with ten segments…each had 10 feet with shoes (great chance to work on pairs) I make a head with “junk” (i.e., this year’s centipede has a bottle cap for a nose). I label each segment 10, 20, etc. then assemble this little critter in the hallway.

I also cut 10 paper strips in each of 10 colors. The students make a chain of the ten link segments…great practice counting by 10s.

Darla Stanley McFerrin 

Some of our teachers made hats with 100 things on them. They were really cute!!

Donna Hodge Bishop 

I’m thinking of using pretzel stix to make tally marks to 100.

Tim Latin-Oneal 

We eat “100” things! It a pretzel stick and two doughnuts!

Roxanne Lee 

We bought plain aprons at Hobby Lobby and put 100 kids faces on them. Now we wear them every year along with our necklaces with 100 beads. : )

Jessica Marcum 

DO NOT DO FEATHERS! I tried this for my son this year….he plucked them all off by the end of the day…and he’s in 3rd grade.

Elizabeth Brown 

I used fabric paint on a cape to paint 100 in bubble numbers and put 10 groups of 10 dots in the numbers. I dress up as Superhero Zero for the day. I have a cowgirl hat with 100 stars glued on it too. Thanks for the ideas above. We always dress up our principal before she reads a 100th day book to us. These are some fun new ideas.

Mary Vincent Gilbert 

I used safety pins to pin 100 alphabet letters to a sweatshirt….they were plastic beads with letters that can be sewn…but since I don’t sew I slipped the safety pin through and fastened each bead to the sweatshirt. The kids loved finding letters etc.

Heather McClurkan Barlow

I have a t-shirt with 100 red ribbons. It serves 2 purposes, red ribbon week & 100 days of school.

Janet Auer Baird

My class worked togther to trace a 1 followed by a hundred zeros to make a googol. “Googol” is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta. We hung it in our classroom and then moved it to the office to be enjoyed by all.

Karen O’Brien 

We do lots of activities: 1. Write 100 words 2. Stamp 100 items 10 per paper strip & staple onto a sentence strip to make a 100 day hat for each child. 3. Eat 100 snacks 10 of each item popcorn jelly beans Cheerios little things. Each child CPU ts out 10 of each item into a Red solo cup! 4. Each child makes a teeshirt with 100 dots. 5. Write a book: if I had $100 I would buy. When I am 100, I will etc.

Kayla Stroud 

The kids brought in a white tshirt and we painted I am 100 days smarter. I made one for myself and it says My class is 100 days smarter. I decorated inside the #100 to make it look really cute!

Juli Benson McCarlson

I have a sweatshirt with 100 buttons I sewed onto it – the kids count the buttons…

As a class they each make a placemat, already divided into 10 sections, they have to follow directions as to what goes in each section: 10 circles, 10 squares, etc…#1-10…10 tiny stickers…until each section is filled. Laminate and then use for our 100th day ‘party’.

Taking white sugar cookies, with a little bit of frosting to hold the mini chips, they make a 100.

We also use ponybeads and after every 10th bead place a ring bead…counting by 10s…

They make a bus headband, the numbers on the buses are by 10s…

There is a 100th day of school book from Really Good Stuff with many ideas…

And earlier in the year taking their handprints and making a counting by 5’s and 10’s take home book.

I put together a 100th day book with a number chart, a writing to 100 pg, “If I had 100….I would …” writing pg, counting and reading color words coloring page of 100 items that add up to 100, a mystery math 100 pg, and recognizing a variety of numbers pg. Covers a variety of skills.

I also made 10 small ‘posters’ of 10 different colored milk jug lids that I tape next to my number word/number charts. I add a zero to the number and we count by 10’s.

Sarah Hudson 

We had ours last week. One change this year was I cut off the ends of egg cartons so there were 10 compartments. It made it easier for the children to manage the counting (as long as the items were little like pennies or beans); easier than using 10 cups, which move around. Also we are TOTALLY into doing Dr. Jean’s counting to 100 Macarena, which we do nearly every day now. I just found out about her and she’s AWESOME!! Drjean.org

Dawn Spurr 

We had our 100th day on Friday. My favorite activity this year was I had 100 lollipops and labeled them 1-100 with mini labels. (Next year, I will tape the labels on so they stick better!) I then hid them around the room. Each child was “allowed” to find 5 lollipops..no more. I started with one, “Who has number one?” They came up and placed it in the front of the room. And so on…we made a line across the front of the room from 1-100. There were 3 missing, so they had to “find” them. When we got to the harder numbers, some of my students do not know them. I wrote them on the board as we were doing it. I loved this!

Mary Hewitt 

My class decorates a white tshirt I give them wiith a 100 things on it, we each bring something for 100th item snack, and they bring a 100 of something in a 100th baggie.

Marcia Kutac Bordovsky

I safety pinned 100 different ribbon bows to a denim jacket. I found foam cowboy hats at the dollar store that we will glue/affix the 100-item collections my students (all boys!!) bring in to and have a hat parade around school!

Jennifer Gilbert

Each teacher in our hallway contributes small items – a pencil, stickers, etc to make a goody bag. We buy balloons to go with it. In the morning of the 100th day all the teachers gather at the end of the hall and count the kids (with lots of fanfare of course) as they come in. The 100th child gets the goody bag and balloons. 🙂 Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas!

Carol Toney Johnson 

‎100 snacks. Each child brings in snacks like m&ms, skittles, pretzel stixs, popcorn, etc at least a variety of ten different items then each student takes ten of each.

Debbie Wood 

I loved seeing a teacher who sewed 100 buttons on her sweatshirt. Could put them on the pants, too, I guess.

Kelsey Frost 

We have had the 100th day several times fall on Valentine’s day. So I bought a hat at the party store and stuck 100 conversation hearts all over it. The strangest thing that I did was I stuck 100 socks on a fleece vest and wore that.

Diane Dickson Hanson 

I wear a denim shirt on which I have sewed 100 buttons, then used fabric paint to say We are 100 days smarter. Then every year I let the kids sign my shirt. It’s getting pretty full!

Pamela Shine Martin

I send home large brown paper bags, cut up as vests, the children put 100 of something on the vests, and bring the back to school.

We make 100 shape glasses

We have made fruit loop necklaces. This year due to food allergies I purchased the 100 day necklaces to have them make.

We will parade around the school, a tradition.

I also hide 100 candy kisses, with 1 to 100 on them, the children find them in the classroom and place them on a a 100 chart. These are a few of the things, we spend the entire day doing 100 day activities.

Elizabeth Powers Paul 

I wore a green jumper like Miss B last year.

Barbara Draeger

I have 100 buttons on a blouse….the kids love counting them. They were a pain to sew on but I have had it for several years now. The buttons are all different.

Jo Anne Qutub Hering 

Found this in mailbox magazine-I am sending home a note attached to a brown paper bag with each child. The note instructs parents to help the child put 100 of the same item into the bag. Then there is space on the note for the child (w/ help if needed) to write three clues about what is in the bag. On the 100th day the child will say their clues and the others will get to guess what group of 100 items is in the bag.

How will YOU Celebrate the 100th Day?