April Showers Bring May Projects: Gifted Enrichment Ideas to Wrap Up the Year

April hits different in a gifted classroom. Testing is in full swing, energy levels are low, & you're juggling meetings, paperwork, & end-of-year wrap-up. It’s a lot. But it doesn’t have to feel like survival mode. With the right projects, this season can actually be one of the most rewarding.

Need ideas? I’ve got you.

These projects are turn-key, low-prep, & high-engagement—designed to keep students working independently or in small teams, without putting everything on your shoulders.

💡 Cardboard Carnival

Challenge students to design their own carnival games out of cardboard and recycled materials. Set up a mini “carnival day” for other classes to come play. They’ll love it—and they’ll be thinking through design, trial and error, and collaboration the whole way. I have a lesson plan from last year linked HERE.

💡 Shark Tank Style: Summer Service Project Edition

Ask students to identify a community need and design a project that addresses it. They pitch their ideas (Shark Tank style) to a panel—peers, teachers, or even community members. Offer a small reward or pretend funding to raise the stakes.

💡 Summer on a Budget

Give students a travel budget and ask them to plan the perfect summer vacation. They’ll research costs, manage their spending, and present their trip. It’s fun, practical, and easy to scaffold by grade level. They can present their vacation proposal at the end of the project timeframe. You can also create additional parameters like planning the trip for you and your family or planning for a pop-culture or historical person. *The history angle brings in research of locations as they were in the correct timeframe of the historical character.

💡 Passion Projects

Give students the chance to choose what they want to learn about—anything! They set a goal, create a timeline, and present their learning in any format. Slides, models, posters, podcasts…you name it. You guide; they lead. The Passion Project or Genius Hour Guru is Andi McNair! Check out her resources or books.

💡 GATE Day

My students ask me all year about our end-of-year GATE Day. I use this day for any project presentation. We also have a day full of challenges - puzzles, minute-to-win-it type challenges, crafts, and any other sessions that you think your students will enjoy. Students get to meet other GATE students from all grade-levels. This does require some planning, but it is SO worth it! My students love this!

💡 Miniature Room Project

This year our End of Year project is designing a miniature room for a character from one of the novels we've read this year. I've included tasks like curating their bookshelf with books the character would most likely have, including a playlist of music, including at least symbolic objects that represent a deeper aspect of the character, a window on one wall with a scene that represents the character's worldview or perspective, a secret hidden "easter egg" and an art piece or hanging quote either from the book or that the character would appreciate. This is such a fun and creative end-of-year project, and adding higher-order thinking elements will help those gifted and talented students stretch their brains a little more while still having fun.

Keep it simple.

Keep it meaningful.

You don’t need flashy resources or hours of prep. With clear expectations, student choice, and just a bit of structure, these projects can carry you through May with sanity intact—and give your students a memorable close to the year.

✨ Want help organizing these ideas or need ready-to-use templates? Grab a free planning resource here or hop into our online gifted teacher community where you don’t have to figure this out alone.