Whether an elected student council in high school or a teacher-nominated student council in elementary school, student council members are the ambassadors of school spirit. School spirit is comprised of all the events that make everyone feel they are part of something greater than themselves. Your student council is the perfect group to take school spirit to the next level.
Use these fun ideas to foster school spirit to inspire your student council. There are options for community service, school-wide initiatives, and plain old fun.
Jump to:
- Spirit Days & Traditions
- School Culture & Belonging
- Building Schoolwide Community
- Supporting Students & Staff
- Service & Community Impact
- Student Talent & Creativity
- School Competitions & Games
- Fundraisers & Donation Campaigns
- Promoting Student Leadership
Spirit Days & Traditions
Dress-Up Days
One of those classic student council ideas but with a modern twist. Dress-up days, such as tie-dye day, beach day, jersey day, and favorite book character day, can be a great way for students to get creative and have fun. To increase participation and promote inclusion, be sure to incorporate ideas that are easy to do, such as favorite outfit day or school colors day.
Try it: 120+ Sensational School Spirit Week Ideas, Activities, and Themes
School Cheer
Simple or complicated? It’s up to your school! Make your school cheer catchy so that years from now, it will still pop into alums’ heads and remind them of the good times they had at your school. This activity is a good opportunity for student council to collaborate with your school’s cheer squad.
School Song
A school song is a tradition that will create lasting memories for generations. If you have a talented student or teacher musician, you could even compose an original song. Already have one? Host a contest to update and refresh it. Then teach it to the student body and use it for morning arrival and events.
Spirit Cowbells
Every school sports event needs a good cowbell! Use craft paint and ribbons in your school’s colors to create custom cowbells for pep rallies and sporting events.
Spirit Shakers
Another super-fun activity from our favorite student council ideas. Use liter soda bottles and pony beads in your school colors. Add curling ribbons to the lid and ribbons around the middle of the bottle. Then use them at school pep rallies and sporting events.
Rival Surprise
Spread kindness and positivity to your rival school! Surprise them by decorating their sidewalks or hanging posters with positive messages during the evening or over a weekend.
Spirit Can
Jointly sponsor a spirit can in partnership with the cheer team. During school events and game time-outs, student council members or cheerleaders lift the lid on the spirit can, signaling for the crowd to cheer. The higher the lid is lifted, the louder the crowd cheers. As the lid is lowered to the can, the crowd becomes softer. The spirit can holds T-shirts and candy, which can be thrown out to the loudest fans.
Spirit Stick
Use your creativity to make a spirit stick with your school colors. Use an empty gallon water bottle, a broomstick, beads, and ribbon. Award the stick on a revolving basis to the grade or class that shows the most school spirit throughout the year.
Senior Spotlight
Celebrate your seniors by broadcasting highlights of their greatest accomplishments on social media. Create a standard page template, and have student council members customize one for each senior.
Senior Parking Spots
Seniors finally get to park in the front row! Advocate for seniors to get designated prime parking spots and work with your school administration to allow custom decoration. Then, invite seniors to show their pride with a little personalization. Student council members can help coordinate the day and post photos to social media.
Sunrise Senior Breakfast
In the last week of school, host a senior breakfast to celebrate students’ graduation and give them a positive send-off. Or, make this a first day of school tradition to start their final year off right!
Graduation Walk
Graduating high school seniors walk the halls in their caps and gowns to inspire younger students to go the distance. If you have older students or a K-8 or K-12 school, have the older graduates walk the kindergarten grads through the school.
Back-to-School Cookout
Get the whole school community together to get “fired up” for the school year. Having time to casually socialize with teachers and staff helps ease the back-to-school transition for students and families.
School Birthday
Choose a day to celebrate your school’s founding each year. Serve cake at lunch, hang balloons in the hall, wear school colors, and gather the whole school to sing Happy Birthday together!
School Culture & Belonging
School History Celebration
Educate new students and introduce incoming students to the rich history of the school. Make weekly history announcements, include a history column in the school paper, or post a history board in the halls to feature influential teachers, founders, the school’s namesake, and outstanding alumni.
Annual Theme
Collaborate with your principal to create a motivational school theme for the year, like “teamwork” or “respect.” Integrate the theme into as many aspects of your school as possible throughout the year. For example, introduce the theme at your back-to-school night and incorporate it into your school newsletters throughout the year.
Unity Wall
Make all students feel welcome in your school with a unity wall that highlights what makes them unique and the characteristics they share. To create a unity wall, invite individuals to contribute personalized pieces, such as drawings, photos, or written reflections, that showcase their unique traits and shared values. Then, display them together in a prominent, collaborative space at school.
Multicultural Night
Celebrate the diversity in your school with a multicultural night. Students can plan and organize booths for parents and teachers who want to share their culture with the school community.
School Motto
Examples: We are Eagles. We are considerate. We are responsible. Engage with your school principal to craft a mantra that reflects your unique school culture. You could even have specific mottoes for each grade.
Holiday Hallways
Decorate school hallways for different cultural traditions to educate students about different holidays around the world. Tip: Invite members of various cultures to help students plan appropriate, culturally-sensitive displays.
School Clean-up Day
Organize a school cleanup day. Have kids collect trash and recyclables, weed the gardens, and clean off sidewalks and garden areas. Not only will this event help spruce up the place, it can teach students the value of gratitude and stewardship.
Eco Initiatives
Launch eco-friendly initiatives like a recycling drive or a campaign to reduce plastic use. Encourage environmental responsibility within the school community by putting students in charge.
Sister School
Find a school in another state, or even overseas, and collectively write letters to that school. Send your news and school highlights. Post replies where everyone can read them.
Building Schoolwide Community
Mentoring Program
Pair older students with younger students for the duration of the year. “Buddies” can invite each other to lunch (on specially designated days), write notes (monitored), and team up on field day competitions. Near-peer mentoring, with students just a grade or two apart, can be a big benefit for both students.
Kindness Rocks
Inspire positivity and kindness around your school community with a Kindness Rocks Project. Paint rocks with an encouraging word or message and scatter them throughout your school and community.
Gratitude Chain
Give each student an opportunity to write something they’re thankful for on a strip of paper, then link the strips together to form a gratitude chain to decorate the hallways of your school.
Tutoring Program
Recruit classmates who are willing to tutor other students. Create a schedule and share it with families and students, so they can drop in and get help on a variety of subjects. Student council members can draw up schedules and arrange for tutoring spaces throughout the day or after school.
Color Run
A Color Run is a healthy and fun way to show your school spirit. Students wear a shirt they don’t mind getting dirty (preferably white to show off the colors) and run around a track while teachers throw colored chalk on them. Take lots of photos—you’ll want this one in the yearbook.
School Book Club
Organize a (totally voluntary) schoolwide book club. Student council members can help choose the monthly book, organize meetings and activities, and even find guest speakers or moderators to attend discussions.
Awareness Campaign
Pick a topic that student council members are passionate about, then spread the word through posters, PSAs, and other awareness activities. You can tie these campaigns into fundraising events too.
Birthday Shout-Outs
During morning announcements, have a member of student council wish a happy birthday to students born on that day. Be sure to include students whose birthdays fell on the weekend during Monday’s morning announcement.
Postcard Exchange
Postcard exchanges are a fun way for students to improve writing skills and develop knowledge about other parts of the world. They’re also a challenge to set up. A motivated student council can reach out and connect classrooms with postcard buddies, and create displays to showcase the postcards students receive.
Try it: How To Start a Classroom Postcard Exchange
Family Night
Students are bound to have ideas about which events they want to attend. Let student council create the event they most want to see, then help them bring it to life. Potential ideas: arts & crafts night, STEM night, food fair, or line dancing.
Social Media Posts
Be sure to follow your school’s social media policy for this one. Student council can identify an event or aspect of your school to showcase on social media. Take photos, plan the language, and post the event. Make sure the post shares that it comes from the student council!
Random Acts of Kindness Challenge
Create a day dedicated completely to kindness! Student council can take the lead, kicking off a variety of kindness activities. They can also record and share the kindnesses they see around campus with a social media video summing up the day.
Supporting Students & Staff
Teacher Thank You Notes
Draft personalized letters to teachers and school staff to thank them for being a part of your school community. Consider sharing this meaningful gesture as an activity for back to school, end of year, Teacher Appreciation Week, or Activity Advisor Appreciation Day.
Teacher Thank-You Cards (Free Printable)
Our printable teacher thank-you cards are perfect for Teacher Appreciation Week, the holidays, or any time of year.
Teacher Appreciation Week Event
Student council members can plan a special event for teachers, like a coffee station, sundae bar, or lunch delivery. The fact that it’s student-driven will make it even more meaningful for teachers!
Try it: Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas
Teacher Appreciation Week Coloring Sheets (Free Printable)
These fun and easy printable teacher appreciation coloring pages help students create heartfelt and meaningful thank-you gifts.
School Heroes
Plan a day to honor the support staff in your school. In addition to teachers, give a special shout-out to the special-education aides, custodians, cafeteria workers, and other generous souls who help in so many ways.
Thank-You Cards for School Staff (Free Printable)
With these free printable cards for school staff, say thank you to custodians, crossing guards, paras, nurses, librarians, and other school staff.
Lunchtime Thank Yous
Write kind notes to your cafeteria staff and give them to students who are standing in line for lunch, along with directions to pass the note to a cafeteria staff member. With minimal effort, your whole student body can overwhelm your cafeteria staff with compassion and gratitude!
Testing Week Support Stations
This is one of those student council ideas that can really have a positive impact on the student body. During testing weeks, set up snack and drink stations with donated items. Paint and display encouraging posters around the halls. Organize fun activities and games during lunch and recess (for younger kids).
Sensory Room
This is a great idea for elementary school student councils. Research the features of a sensory room, plan a room for your school, and fundraise for the materials. Then, host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for your new sensory room.
Try it: Must-Try Sensory Room Ideas for Schools
Reading Buddies
Reading buddies are a great way to connect classes across grade levels and build older students’ fluency. Put student council in charge of matching classrooms and informing teachers of the schedule and rules.
New Student Welcome Packet
Challenge the student council to create a welcome packet that can be given to new students and families. This encourages students to think about what makes their school awesome and what they can do to make newcomers feel welcome.
Positive Affirmations
Build school spirit with school-related affirmations. Brainstorm a list of positive statements about the students in your school (for example, “You are a leader! You are a lion!”) Then, put these statements around the school on table tents in the cafeteria or on posters in the restrooms and hallways.
Student Upstanders Society
Found a club that’s dedicated to stomping out bullying at your school! Student upstanders speak up for others (without putting themself at risk, of course). They also actively work to show kindness and friendship to those who need it.
Compliment Cards
Challenge your student leaders to pass out compliment cards with notes such as “You have great style,” “I love your smile,” and “You’re a great friend!” Include instructions on each card that direct the recipient to pay the compliment forward to someone else—creating a butterfly effect of kindness across your school!
Service & Community Impact
30 Days of Service Challenge
What better way to build school spirit than by doing good works together? Download our free 30 Days of Service Challenge checklist and challenge kids to complete tasks such as “Check in with an elderly relative” or Collect gently used books to give to the library.” To up the ante a bit, make it a competition between homerooms.
30 Days of Service Challenge (Free Printable)
Check out our printable checklist of easy activities that students can complete in a day.
Adopt a Space
Participate in a program like Adopt-a-Highway, or partner with local parks or other community spaces. Dedicate time each month to keeping that space clean and safe for everyone!
Community Day
This makes a great annual tradition that builds school pride and stronger neighborhood-school ties. Students, teachers, staff, parents, and alumni get together to participate in a day of service in the community, whether by cleaning up sidewalks, planting trees, visiting seniors, or serving at food banks.
School Garden
Recruit green-minded students and start a garden club with a focus on sustainability and community involvement. In spring, you can harvest early vegetables and pass out samples (a la Costco) in the lunchroom.
Try it: Bring School Gardening Into the Classroom
Service Learning Projects
Inspire a sense of school spirit and generosity by bringing students together to do good work in your community.
Community Service Log Bundle (Free Printable)
Grab our free printable community service log bundle to help your students track their progress.
Try it: Meaningful Service Learning Projects for Kids and Teens
Community Yardwork Day
Find out who in your community needs help with their yard work, and plan a day where students can sign up to rake lawns and bag the leaves. Your students may find that doing common yard work is a fun way to get everyone out of the house, spend time together, and help out your community.
Honorary School Diplomas
Advocate to begin an honorary school diploma program, recognizing people in the community—living or historical—who have made outstanding contributions to the school or have noteworthy achievements that align with your school values. A student council can help to organize the program with support from administration and serve on the selection committee, nominating awardees and writing the citations.
Editable Diploma Templates (Free Printables)
There are diploma templates for pre-K through high school. You can print each diploma as it is or edit it for personalization. Then, just print, copy, and distribute!
Student Talent & Creativity
Talent Show
You have many students with talents that aren’t showcased every day. Put on a talent show to let those talents—e.g., dance, singing, drums—shine.
Try it: Unique Talent Show Ideas
Sidewalk Chalk Messages
Turn your sidewalk into a celebration of school spirit by having student council members decorate it with sidewalk chalk. A great way to welcome the year or send students home on the last day of school.
Virtual Student Art Gallery
Use Google Slides or another display program to create a gallery where classmates can put their artwork on display. You can even add background music and host an opening reception event that you promote on your school’s social channels.
Communal Painting
During a stressful time for students like state testing or finals week, set up a large blank canvas in the common area along with paints in your school colors. Encourage students to “throw” paint against the canvas using paintbrushes and sponges. When the activity is over, you’ll have an amazing painting to display!
Flash Mob
Flash mobs are a great way to bring students together. With just a few guided practices, they can be part of a fun and special event. All you need is a music system and a few students who are on the dance team and can get a team ready with choreography.
Cafeteria Karaoke
A positive school environment celebrates everyone’s talents. Give your students the opportunity to bust out a tune at lunchtime by setting up a karaoke slideshow.
School Mural
Another school beautification idea is a mural. Student council can generate ideas, take a vote on the idea the student body likes the best, and paint the mural. It’s also a great way for one school year’s student council to leave their mark.
School Mask
One of our favorite student council ideas is a little outside the box. Challenge classmates to come up with a design for a mask that celebrates school spirit. Then, pick your three favorites. Create a video where you interview each classmate and ask them about their design and how it represents your school. If you have the funds, work with a local print shop to get the masks made, and sell them to raise money for your school.
School Competitions & Games
Field Day
Support your school’s field day activities by organizing and running different events and competitions. Student council members can also set up fundraising booths with drinks and snacks during the events.
Try it: Best Field Day Games and Activities for All Ages and Abilities
Trivia Contest
Nothing brings people together like trivia! A trivia contest is a fun homeroom idea. Or you can hold it in the lunchroom to include a mix of people.
Trivia Questions (Google Slides)
Grab a copy of our free trivia questions Google Slides for an easy way to host your contest.
Board Game Tournament
Engage students and foster a positive school climate by hosting a tournament or game night. Student council members can be the moderators or game hosts, choosing the games and selecting the prizes.
Lip Sync Battle
It’s karaoke night but with school spirit. Students sign up to lipsync their favorite songs. End the battle with the school song.
Top Chef Competition
Try a mini version of Top Chef by hosting a pie-baking or cookie-making contest. Recruit the home ec teacher to coordinate and choose judges. Film the competition, then stream it for students in homeroom.
Spirit Poster Contest
Have different homerooms, school clubs, or teams make their best spirit posters to display in the halls. Present the winning one at a pep rally and reward the artists with small gifts like school key chains or rally towels.
School-Wide Amazing Race
Looking for memorable student council ideas? Check this one out. It’s got lots of potential for getting lots of students involved. Students go on a scavenger hunt around the school, completing certain tasks. The last team to make it to each checkpoint is out.
Students vs. Faculty
Organize a game where students compete against faculty. It could be a basketball or kickball game—or even musical chairs. Hilarity is guaranteed!
T-shirt Decorating Contest
Challenge students to design a spirit shirt for your school. Feature all entries on a bulletin board in a common area or web page so that everyone can view the entries. Determine the winner by popular vote or via a committee vote.
Door Decorating Contest
Looking for student council contest ideas? Host door-decorating contests with themes such as holidays, homecoming, spirit days, or making the world a better place. Reveal the winning classroom over morning announcements and award the winners with prizes like pizza or an ice cream party.
Try it: Awesome Classroom Door Ideas
Open Mic Night
This activity is great for middle and high schoolers. Turn the theater or cafeteria into a cafe or other space for an open-mic night. Kids can express themselves through song, poetry, comedy, or other performances.
Lost-and-Found Fashion Show
Challenge students to turn lost and found items into a school-spirited outfit. Create a runway in the theater, cafeteria, or outside for students to show off their fashions. After the show, let people claim lost items, or sell them off to raise funds!
Fundraisers & Donation Campaigns
DIY Pom-Poms
This is one of many fun moneymaking student council ideas. Make and sell paper pom-poms before your student athletic events to fill your gym with school spirit. Keep the cost low—25 cents or so—to make them accessible to everyone.
Face Paint Stations
Recruit art students to showcase their talents by painting their peers’ faces with school colors. Try this student council idea during lunch on pep rally day, or set up at athletic events to get the community involved.
Photo Booth
Design your own “frame” with your school mascot or colors and let students line up for photos. Post them on your school’s website (with permission, of course).
Book Drive
Not everyone has access to Wi-Fi or e-books, and getting to the library can be challenging. Create a drop box at your school where classmates can donate books. Then, using a survey tool like Survey Monkey or Google Forms, reach out to families to find out who wants books and where to deliver them. Work with your advisor to create a plan for delivery.
Used Book Sale
You can also collect used books to sell as a fundraiser. There are a few ways to go—have a big one-day sale, or set up a corner of your cafeteria so students can browse during lunch any day. Student council members can man the booth and handle the sales.
School Movie Night
Spread a king-size sheet or painter’s tarp on the side of the school to project a movie, and invite students and their families to bring lawn chairs or blankets. If the weather’s cold or rainy, turn your school gym into a movie theater and spread out the gymnastics mats for seating. You can charge admission, or make the event free for all and sell popcorn, snacks, and drinks to make money.
Spirit Bracelets
Another fun DIY project! Make spirit bracelets from paper, yarn, ribbons, or beads. Sell them to students, and encourage everyone to wear them to pep rallies and school competitions.
School Yard Sale
Collect used items of all kinds, then hold a massive yard sale on your school’s grounds! All the funds raised can be used for school improvement, or donated to an important local cause.
Caps for Cash
Students pay a small fee to be allowed to wear a hat in school on a designated day. This is a simple and fun way to raise funds for any reason—you can even hold it once a month!
Fun Run/Walk
If you’re looking for student council fundraising ideas, try a fun run (or walk) that combines fitness and school spirit. Student council members can get the word out on social media and with posters and flyers. Encourage students to participate individually or as part of a team. g design.
Fundraiser-a-thon
Walk-a-thons are fun, but you’ll get more engagement when you get creative! Try a dance-a-thon, read-a-thon, jump rope-a-thon, free throw-a-thon, or anything else you can think of.
Kindness Wall
Combine kind words with fundraising in this fun activity. At lunch and during passing periods, have student council members set up stations to sell paper “bricks” for $1. On their bricks, students can write a compliment or a shout-out for another student. Display the bricks in the cafeteria or hallway, and watch the brick wall grow throughout the week. The student council can use the funds to donate to a cause, put on an event, or buy supplies for future activities.
Try it: 100 Kindness Quotes for Kids
Car Wash
A car wash is a classic way for students to work together and raise money. Students apply organization skills to set up the car wash and can choose how to donate proceeds to improve the school.
Collection Drive
This is a classic student council activity—organize a drive to collect food, hygiene supplies, clothing and shoes, blankets, formal wear, sporting equipment, school supplies, or anything else that’s needed in your community. Student council can create the advertising, spread the word, and deliver the donations.
Care Packages
Another way to give back to the community is by creating care packages. Herobox is one organization that engages volunteers in creating care packages for soldiers.
Unplug for a Cause
Whether or not cell phones are a problem in your building, going screen-free for a day is never a bad thing. Students ask for pledges from others to support their screen-free day. Student council runs a school-wide day to unplug with screen-free activities for students and awareness posters about how screens impact our lives. Send council members around to take photos of all the things that kids are doing when they’re not on screens!
Art Auction
Plan an art gallery that doubles as a fundraiser. The student council collects the art, making sure there is art from every grade level, then runs the auction to raise money. Tip: This is an excellent opportunity for collaborative art projects!
Try it: 25 Collaborative Art Projects for Groups Big and Small
Promoting Student Leadership
Campus Visitor Tour Guides
When district leaders or other guests visit your school, student council members can give them tours or escort them where they need to go. This gives them a chance to show off your school to members of the community!
School Spirit and Supply Store
Sell spirit wear so everyone can get decked out in your school colors. You could even create an online pop-up shop that makes it easy for families to buy school spirit wear from home. Use the proceeds to raise funds for your school or a charitable cause.
Try it: How to Start a Student-Run School Store
Classroom Helpers
Assign one member of student council to each participating teacher’s classroom. When students have free time, they can head to that classroom and help out with tasks, run errands, and generally make the teacher’s life easier!
Student Advocacy
Inspire future community organizers with a school improvement campaign to make your school even better. Students identify a problem, like the quality of school lunches or aging playground equipment. Then, they create a plan to address the problem and see it through.
Student Liaison
Build students’ public speaking skills by preparing a presentation to the school board. Students can create the slides, rehearse, and then attend the board meeting. They can also serve as student voice in regular meetings with administration or district leaders.
Guest Speaker
Give students a time slot for an assembly, then let them do the work to invite someone in to talk about a topic that’s relevant for your students. It could be a local author, the fire department, or a motivational speaker. Even better, this activity requires students to manage a budget and make decisions about which topics are most important for their peers.
Grade Representatives
Appoint a member from each grade to student council to ensure everyone’s perspectives are heard. These reps can report back to their peers at grade-level meetings or through newsletters or social media updates.
Morning Announcements
Student council can plan and provide the morning announcements for the school. Let them get creative with how they present everything from the school lunch menu to upcoming dates and a morning message.
Assembly Hosts
Give student council students a major role in assembly planning and delivery. They can help come up with ideas, keep classes organized as they file in and get seated, serve as emcees throughout the event, and assist with cleanup afterward.
New Student Tours
Have the student council create a procedure for welcoming new students. This could involve a buddy to walk them through their schedule, a lunch friend, or a welcome basket with some school swag.
Community Service Field Trip
Plan a visit somewhere special (and fun!) to support an organization or location. For example, you might spend a day at the beach cleaning up the shoreline, visit a local museum to perform behind-the-scenes work, or spend a day on a farm helping with chores.
Field Trip Reflection Sheet (Free Printable)
This bundle includes two printable field trip reflection sheets, one for elementary schoolers and one for middle and high schoolers.
