Project-based learning (PBL) provides educators with a powerful way to move beyond worksheets and isolated lessons and into learning that truly sticks. PBL engages students in meaningful questions, real-world ideas, and student-created work.
At its core, project-based learning is a teaching approach in which students learn by actively working on a project rather than simply receiving information. Projects may last a week, a month or even an entire semester. Setting a timeframe and goal gives students time to research, collaborate and problem-solve while revising their thinking along the way.
In this guide, you’ll find month-by-month project ideas designed specifically for elementary classrooms. Each project connects to seasonal themes, supports cross-curricular learning and includes opportunities for students to turn their work into classbooks, making them published authors while celebrating the learning process from start to finish.
Seasonal project-based learning ideas help students connect classroom learning to the world around them. When projects reflect changes in weather, community events and familiar routines, students are more engaged and better able to make meaningful connections across subjects. Research shows that seasonal learning supports curiosity, deeper understanding and emotional connection by tying instruction to real-life experiences students can observe firsthand.
The seasonal project ideas below are designed to be flexible, classroom-ready and easy to adapt into longer PBL unit plans or student-created classbooks. We have included classbook ideas under each month. Learn more about publishing a classbook to get started!
From Scribbles to Solutions: Benefits of Project-Based Learning
Project-based learning is more than hands-on fun. It’s a structured process that invites students to ask questions, investigate information and create something purposeful. According to PBLWorks, high-quality PBL asks students to:
- Explore meaningful problems
- Conduct research
- Collaborate with peers
- Build, test and revise
- Share their findings with an authentic audience
These steps naturally reinforce key literacy skills. Students practice reading informational texts, conducting research, writing explanations and presenting arguments. Younger students model these skills through drawing, labeling and shared writing experiences that grow as they develop. Older students build stronger writing stamina and learn to craft organized reports, persuasive pieces and narrative reflections.
Project-based learning ideas also support design thinking activities, where students identify a problem, brainstorm solutions, prototype and refine. This gives them opportunities to practice critical thinking while connecting their learning to the real world.
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January
Create Structured and Themed Poetry
To integrate ELA and seasonal activities, students can create winter-themed poems. Using poetic forms like couplets or haiku, they can practice vocabulary, imagery and sentence structure while expressing their creativity through descriptive language.
Classbook Idea: Winter Poems
Get creative with your class and have each student write about their favorite winter activity in a poetic structure that fits best into your poetry and writing curriculum. Your students can also illustrate their poem!
Check out “Snowy Couplets” by Mrs. Cannon’s Class for inspiration!
February
Kindness Campaign
Build on communication and research skills, have students identify a kindness-related challenge within the school, such as welcoming new students or promoting inclusion. Working in teams, they can plan and launch a kindness initiative, track its impact and reflect through persuasive and reflective writing. This project supports social-emotional learning (SEL) while strengthening communication and collaboration skills.
Classbook Idea: Kindness Inspiration
After completing your class’ kindness initiative, have each student write and illustrate what it meant to them. Check out the book Mrs. Ahern’s class wrote called “Kindness Matters to Kids” to kick off your classbook activity!
March
Weather Pattern Investigation
To support science and ELA standards, students could explore seasonal weather patterns through hands-on experiments and observation. Have students track what the weather is like each day, record data and explain how the seasons connect to local weather patterns using informational writing.
Classbook Idea: Seasonal Weather Experiences
Each season has different activities and weather patterns. Divide the four seasons among your students and have them each write and illustrate an activity or weather they find interesting about their season. See “These Are The Seasons We Love Them All” by Miss Winter’s class for writing prompts!
April
Design a Pollinator Garden
April 22 is Earth Day! Celebrate by combining life science, math and ELA, students can learn about pollinators like bees and butterflies as well as the plants they pollinate. As a class, students explore which pollinators live in their area and the plants they like best. Using simple measuring skills, students design a small pollinator garden that fits in a given space. Students can draw and label their garden plans, write a few sentences explaining their choices, and share how their garden helps pollinators and the environment.
Classbook Idea: Pollinator Power
Your class can turn their research on pollinators and their impact on the environment into a real, published book! Your students write and illustrate their research like Mrs. Chatel’s class’ book “Ecosystem Research” for inspiration!
May
Our Dream Playground Activity
For younger students, have them imagine the perfect playground. Using basic shapes, counting and positional words, have them design a model using drawings or classroom materials. Students explain their choices by answering questions like “Why did you add this?” or “How would students use it?” This project supports early math concepts, oral language development and creative problem-solving.
Classbook Idea: End-of-Year Progress and Memories
Creating a classbook with your class at the end of the school year allows you to showcase students’ progress in writing. Your students can write and illustrate their favorite memory or activity from the year. Miss Hiett’s class’ book, “Kindergarten Memories,” is a great example of showing their progress as writers.
June
Local Adventure Research Project
To support ELA and social studies, students could research fun and affordable activities in their community. Have them solve a problem, such as families needing accessible summer options, by gathering information, evaluating sources and writing engaging descriptions for a real audience.
Classbook Idea: All About Summer
Summer is an exciting time for outdoor exploration and activities! Like Mrs. Tindell’s class, have your class take their adventure research or favorite summer moments and turn them into a classbook. Read “Springing out of School” to get started.
July
At-Home Science Investigation
To reinforce science concepts, students could complete a simple long-term experiment at home, such as tracking plant growth, observing weather patterns or exploring the stars. Students collect observations over the summer break by drawing pictures, writing short notes or recording measurements in a journal. Once they return to school, students share their findings, compare results and explain what they noticed through class discussions and informational writing.
Classbook Idea: Research into Writing
Your class has been practicing their writing, illustrating and observing skills throughout the Summer. Assign each student one topic from their experiment to write and illustrate, and to continue building on those skills, like “OS is for Outer Space,” by Mrs. Triplett’s class.
August
“All About Me” Narrative Project
To support ELA and SEL, students write personal narratives that reflect on their interests, strengths and experiences. Have them practice organizing ideas, developing voice and revising writing. At the end of the project, they could share their stories with peers to practice listening, speaking and building classroom community.
Classbook Idea: Self-Portraits
Self-portraits are a great way to capture who your students were while they were in your class. They illustrate themselves and use their personal narratives to create a classbook time capsule, like Mrs. Christofano’s class’s “Who Are We?” book.
September
Where Does Our Food Come From?
To integrate social studies, science and ELA, students research common foods they eat at school or at home and identify where those foods come from. They create a visual map showing each step, such as growing, harvesting, transporting and selling. Students explain each step using drawings, labels and short informational writing, helping them understand food systems in a concrete and accessible way.
Classbook Idea: Creative and Informative Storytelling
Create a fun story taking what your class learned about nutritional foods pear-ed with their illustrations. For inspiration, check out Future Teacher Ashley Mewshaw’s “Fruit Salad,” all about the differences of fruits.
October
Pumpkin Math & Measurement Study
To connect math and science, students can measure pumpkins using weight, circumference and volume. Have them record data, make estimates and explain results. This cross-curricular project idea reinforces data collection, math reasoning and informational writing.
Classbook Idea: How-Tos
After their pumpkin math and measuring, build on their informative writing by writing festive how-tos. Check out “How to Carve a Jack-O-Lantern” by Mrs. Tumlin’s class to spark your students’ imagination!
Helping Hands Project
To integrate social studies and ELA, identify ways your class can help others at school, at home or in their community. Students brainstorm small acts of kindness, participate in a class service activity, and reflect through writing and illustrations. This project builds social-emotional learning and introduces service in an age-appropriate way.
Classbook Idea: Acts of Kindness
Using “Dominoes of Kindness,” written by Mrs. Mevo and Mrs. Mutch’s class as an example, your class identifies acts of kindness in their lives and creates narrative writing based on their experiences.
December
Holidays Around the World Research
To support social studies, geography and ELA, students research a winter celebration from another culture. They explain traditions, origins and cultural significance through informational writing. This is a strong example of cross-curricular project ideas that blend research, writing and cultural awareness.
Classbook Ideas: Traditions around the World
Turn your students’ research into a real, published book! Using their writing, your class will illustrate the tradition or holiday they researched. To inspire your classbook, see “Folktales and Traditions Around the World,” by Mrs. Greenwood & Mrs. Bates-Heithoff’s class.
Transforming Project-Based Learning Unit Plans Into Classbooks
One of the most effective ways to conclude a cross-curricular project is by compiling student work into a classbook. PBL projects already ask students to research, write, revise and collaborate. A classbook brings all of that learning together in a polished, purposeful final product that students can be proud of.
When students know their work will be published, they tend to take greater ownership of their writing and ideas. Revising feels more meaningful, peer feedback becomes more intentional, and students begin to see themselves as real, published authors rather than just completing an assignment.
Create a classbook with us! Teachers receive a FREE publishing kit to guide them through the publishing process. It supports every step from drafting pages to final submission, making it easy to transform any PBL unit plans into a finished book. For more classroom inspiration, teaching ideas and resources, explore our blog or Teacher’s Lounge