Plug-and-Play Projects for Gifted Students: Your End-of-Year Lifesaver

Michelle Robinson
Apr 26
3 min read

By May, your coffee's gone cold twice before lunch, & your gifted learners are breezing through everything.

You want to end the year strong, but let’s be real—you don’t have time to reinvent anything right now.

This post is your lifeline. Below are fresh, less-typical enrichment activities that are:

✅ Creative and engaging

✅ Practically zero-prep

✅ Perfect for gifted learners who crave complexity and autonomy

Let’s wrap up the year with joy—not just survival.

🎤 1. TED Talk for Kids: Gifted Style

Let your students craft and deliver a “mini TED Talk” on a topic they’re obsessed with (quantum physics, the invention of bubble gum—go wild!). Challenge them to:

Research it deeply
Structure it using a TED-style format
Present it live or record it with Flip or Canva video tools

🔗 Resources:

How to Assign TED-Style Talks in the Classroom by Erin EBanks
Article by Education World on Student TED Talks
TED-Ed Student Talks - actually submit application to present. Here’s that authentic audience our kids crave!
More info about TED-Ed Talks by Matt Miller

🧬 2. Sci-Fi Ethics Debate Circles

Push your thinkers with short sci-fi stories or Black Mirror–style scenarios. Then, use Socratic seminars or “Ethics Circles” to discuss big questions:

Should humans colonize Mars if it means destroying possible life?
Should AI have legal rights?

🔗 Resource:

“Thinker's Guide to Socratic Seminars” by Richard Paul and Linda Elder
Or create your own using this structure from Facing History

🕵️‍♀️ 3. Solve a Historical Mystery

Offer students a case file of a real unsolved historical event, like the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony or the identity of D.B. Cooper. Provide curated documents, “witness” accounts, or maps and have them construct a theory in writing or presentation form.

🔗 Resource:

Teaching with Primary Sources – Library of Congress
- Google Unsolved Mystery to get started
- Here is the Library of Congress’s Teacher Resource page (TONS of resources and primary source analysis tools)

🧪 4. Inventor’s Challenge: Reverse Shark Tank

Flip the script. Instead of pitching an idea, students research and present a real invention that failed (hello, Google Glass 👓) and defend why it shouldn’t have. It sparks deep thinking, empathy for creators, and exploration of innovation processes.

🔗 Resource: Museum of Failure (great for unusual examples)

Pair it with a design-your-own prototype activity using recycled materials or digital mock-ups in Canva.

🗺️ 5. The “Un-Googleable” Research Project

Challenge gifted students to ask and answer a question Google can’t directly solve—a layered or philosophical inquiry like:

“What is the value of boredom?”
“Can numbers be beautiful?”

Let them present their findings through creative mediums (a podcast, zine, animation). It's inquiry, critical thinking, and synthesis all in one.

🔗 Resource:

📌 Final Words: You Can Simplify AND Challenge

Remember: you don’t have to choose between engaging lessons and preserving your sanity.

If you want more low-lift, high-impact ideas, check out last month’s April Enrichment Ideas blog. You’ll also love the Tiered Differentiation Lesson Plan Template to help plan for multiple ability levels—without starting from scratch.