CAS Project Ideas: 30 Practical IB Examples and a Planner

Good CAS project ideas begin with a real local need, a manageable challenge and a team that can act responsibly. Start by checking that the proposal is purposeful, planned, personally stretching and open to review. Then adapt one of the 30 patterns below to the learner's time, access, interests and community rather than copying an impressive sounding activity.

CAS is a required part of the Diploma Programme core, but it is not marked for grades (IB, 2026). Learners build a portfolio of effort and learning. See our International Baccalaureate overview and complete CAS guide.

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What Counts as an IB CAS Project?

An IB CAS project is a collaborative, purposeful sequence in which learners investigate, plan, act, reflect and show what they learned. It may address one, two or all three CAS strands. It should involve personal challenge and active learner ownership rather than routine participation or work completed mainly for an academic course.

Creativity means trying out ideas and making a new or personal work. Activity means physical effort that helps a healthy way of life. Service is free, unpaid work that meets a real need. It must respect each person's rights, worth and choice (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

A project is more than one event. A litter pick can grow into a project if a team studies repeat waste, agrees goals with site staff, acts more than once, measures change and hands over well. Read the official CAS overview and CAS projects page with the current school guide.

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A Quick CAS Project Filter

Before developing an idea, ask six questions. A convincing proposal can answer each one with local evidence. A weak proposal depends on vague benefit, passive attendance or a plan made entirely by adults. The coordinator should pause approval when safety, consent, access or community ownership is unclear.

1. Purpose: What specific need, opportunity or creative goal has the team investigated, and who says it matters?
2. Challenge: What will each learner have to learn, practise or manage beyond familiar routines?
3. Ownership: Which decisions will learners make, and where will an adult provide necessary supervision rather than direction?
4. Collaboration: How will the team share responsibility, make decisions and respond when plans change?
5. Process: Is there enough time for preparation, meaningful action, feedback, reflection and demonstration?
6. Ethics: Have partners agreed the need, boundaries, consent, safeguarding, privacy and a responsible ending?

If the purpose is only "to complete CAS", investigate again. For fundraising, ask what the group needs, how money will be handled and what learners will grasp. Giving money can help, but learning is not the sum raised.

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30 Adaptable CAS Project Ideas

These 30 ideas are project patterns, not ready-made approvals. Each can be made smaller, more accessible or more ambitious. Learners should begin with a conversation, audit or test, then shape the action with the people affected. Numbers 1 to 8 emphasise creativity, 9 to 15 activity, 16 to 22 service, and 23 to 30 combined work.

A learner can use the IB learner profile to spot habits a proposal could stretch, without making each project cover every attribute.

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Creativity Project Ideas

Creativity projects work best when learners make, interpret or communicate something for a clear audience. The challenge should include new decisions, skills and feedback, not only producing more of something they already do well. A public product is useful when consent and access are planned properly.

1. Local stories archive: record talks with residents who agree to take part. Edit short audio clips and add text copies, clear access and an agreed way to remove a story.
2. Community language guide: work with families who speak more than one language. Make audio and print guides for school routines, then test them with new families.
3. Low-waste display: make a show from local items that would be thrown away. Record where they came from and ask guests to choose one way to cut waste.
4. Charity podcast series: plan each show with a local group. Learn how to ask good questions and edit sound. Share only work with clear consent.
5. Accessible performance: devise a short play, concert or spoken-word event with captions, relaxed access and a sensory plan shaped by the intended audience.
6. Public information redesign: identify a confusing school or community process, prototype clearer visuals and test them with the people who use it.
7. Recipes across ages: gather recipes and stories with consent. Test low-cost versions, then make a print or audio set that names each person who took part.
8. Creative skills exchange: organise a short programme in which learners and community members teach one another art, craft, music or digital skills.

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Activity Project Ideas

Activity projects need a clear aim, safe physical effort and growth over time. A sports event can count, but a strong project also has research, fair access, planning and review. High skill or fierce competition is not needed. New forms of movement and help for beginners can offer a real test.

9. Inclusive games programme: learn and teach activities such as boccia or seated volleyball, consulting participants about access rather than assuming what they need.
10. Walking route check: map local paths and check light, safety and access with those who use them. Send clear ideas for change to the group in charge.
11. Beginner movement club: plan calm weekly sessions with learners who avoid team sport. Use private feedback to change the pace, games and group size.
12. Cycle confidence project: partner with qualified adults to plan safe maintenance and confidence sessions without placing learners in instructor roles beyond their competence.
13. Outdoor wellbeing trail: develop an accessible route with movement prompts, rest points and weather alternatives, then test it with intended users.
14. Sports kit loan: check what people need and test safe kit with expert help. Set up clear rules for loans, checks, repairs and storage.
15. Community dance exchange: learn a form that is new to the team, co-create sessions with culture bearers and avoid presenting traditions without context or permission.

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Service Project Ideas

Service starts with an identified community need and a reciprocal relationship. Learners should ask what would be useful before deciding what to deliver. The work is unpaid and voluntary, but good intentions are not enough. Dignity, competence, consistency and an agreed ending matter as much as visible activity.

16. Reading partnership: plan a set of sessions with library or school staff. Pick apt texts and note how well the plan works without storing data you do not need.
17. Digital skills support: give watched help with agreed day-to-day tasks. Use test accounts. Never handle a password, bank detail or private message.
18. Food-waste response: audit a real waste stream with catering staff, test one practical change and report measured results without blaming individuals.
19. Community garden handover: restore a manageable plot with the landowner, choose accessible tasks and leave a funded, realistic maintenance plan.
20. Welcome guide: ask new families or local staff what is missing. Make clear, translated advice, and let the people who will use it approve the final version.
21. Repair and reuse sessions: organise supervised repair events, set clear limits on electrical work and record items diverted from waste.
22. Local access map: audit venues with disabled users, publish only verified details and give businesses a fair route to correct information.

The IB's public page on community service gives further examples of locally responsive work. It does not make overseas travel a requirement.

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Combined and Community Project Ideas

Combined projects bring strands together only where the combination serves the purpose. Do not add a token physical or creative task to claim all three strands. The current public guidance is clear that a CAS project can address one, two or all three strands (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

23. Wildlife action trail: check a site with expert help. Do safe, hands-on work for plants and wildlife, then make sound facts easy for guests to use.
24. Fair-access local fair: plan shows, active games and helper roles with the community. Set funds aside for access, a quiet space and a wet-weather plan.
25. School energy challenge: collect baseline data, run a creative behaviour campaign and work with site staff to test changes that learners can influence.
26. Neighbourhood oral-history walk: obtain consent, research local stories, design a safe walking route and offer a non-walking way to access the material.
27. Healthy cooking partnership: plan affordable recipes with a community group, practise safe preparation and create resources suited to local equipment and dietary needs.
28. River or park stewardship: partner with the land manager, complete repeated practical action and use creative communication to explain verified local issues.
29. New school starter plan: ask younger learners what they fear or need. Make useful guides and lead safe group tasks that support, but do not replace, school staff.
30. Community equipment share: identify demand for sports, gardening or creative equipment, build a safe loan system and agree who will maintain it after handover.

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How to Adapt an Idea to Your Context

Adaptation turns a generic idea into a feasible project. Keep the underlying need, then change the scale, location, audience, format or frequency. A strong proposal fits the team's actual time and transport, includes learners with different access needs, and can continue safely if one person is absent.

Begin with three columns: what we know, what we need to ask and what we can realistically offer. A team considering tutoring may discover that younger learners need confidence with reading, not examination revision. They could then co-plan six short library sessions, use staff-approved texts and provide an audio option.

Use the learners' Approaches to Learning skills to identify a genuine stretch. One learner may lead partner contact, another could learn accessible design, and another may manage the schedule. Roles can differ, but each person needs meaningful responsibility and evidence of learning.

Reduce cost before reducing quality. Use school spaces, reused materials, free software and nearby partners. Offer remote or on-site roles where appropriate. Check that participation does not depend on family money, a car, unrestricted evenings or public disclosure of a learner's personal circumstances.

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The Five CAS Stages

The five CAS stages are investigation, preparation, action, reflection and demonstration. They give learners a practical route from an initial idea to evidenced learning. Some schools use IPARD as a memory aid for the initials, but learners should not present that acronym as an extra requirement imposed by the IB.

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Investigation and preparation

During investigation, learners identify interests, abilities and a genuine need or opportunity. They listen to potential partners, examine what already exists and test assumptions. Preparation turns that understanding into roles, permissions, risk controls, a budget, an access plan, milestones and an agreed way to notice change.

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Action

Action is the purposeful implementation of the plan. Teams communicate, solve problems and record important decisions. Adults supervise where safety or policy requires it, but learners retain appropriate ownership. If circumstances change, adapting the plan can be stronger evidence of judgement than following an obsolete timetable.

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Reflection and demonstration

Reflection happens before, during and after action. Learners notice assumptions, emotions, setbacks, feedback and consequences, then decide what to change. Demonstration makes learning and outcomes visible to an appropriate audience through a presentation, handover, portfolio, exhibition or conversation. It is not a requirement to stage a polished public performance.

For fuller prompts, use our guide to meaningful CAS reflections and the broader explanation of metacognitive reflection.

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Collaboration, Timing and One-Month Planning

Teamwork is a rule for the CAS project, not for each separate CAS task. A team may include other Diploma Programme learners, younger learners or people from the local area. Good proof shows a shared aim, shared roles, clear talks and joint choices. A list of names is not enough.

The published 2017 CAS guide recommends a minimum of one month from planning to completion (International Baccalaureate, 2017). However, the current public CAS projects page does not publish a universal duration. Learners must therefore check the current guide used by their school and confirm deadlines, expectations and any local minimum with their CAS coordinator.

Treat a month as planning space, not as four weeks of constant events. A realistic sequence can include one week of investigation, preparation and partner agreement, two weeks of action and adjustment, then a final review, demonstration and handover. More complex or seasonal projects will need longer.

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Ethics, Safeguarding and Community Partnership

Ethical service is done with people, not to them. Before approval, establish who identified the need, who can consent, what learners are qualified to do and how the work will end. A project that creates risk, dependency or unwanted exposure should be redesigned even when its intentions are generous.

• Community voice: name the partner who can set the main goals, change the plan and stop the work. Do not use people as raw content for photos, stories or appeals.
• Keeping people safe: follow school rules for staff checks, group size, contact, travel, first aid and how to report a concern. Learners must not act as carers, counsellors or health staff.
• Consent and privacy: collect only necessary information. Agree who can be photographed, recorded or quoted, where material will appear, how long it will remain and how consent can be withdrawn.
• Access: check barriers linked to the site, senses, speech, tech and cost. Offer fair ways to take part. Do not give an excluded learner a token desk job.
• Travel: check cost, safety, cover, impact on the planet, access and staff roles. A trip abroad is not required. Miles and cost do not prove worth.
• Money and materials: use approved systems for fundraising, expenses and donations. Make ownership, maintenance and disposal clear before purchasing equipment.
• Exit planning: agree a finish date, handover, maintenance owner and communication with participants. Do not promise ongoing support that the school or team cannot provide.

Give and take can be simple. A local partner can define the problem and judge the response, while learners give time and new skills. If the partner says a podcast is less useful than a translated leaflet, changing course is proof of listening, not project failure.

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Evidence, Reflection and the Seven Learning Outcomes

Learners need evidence of genuine learning across CAS, including the seven learning outcomes required by the programme, but a single project does not have to prove every outcome. Do not copy official outcome wording into a proposal. Use the current school guide and coordinator's interpretation when deciding what evidence is sufficient (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

Across the portfolio, the proof should show real growth. This may include more self-knowledge, a hard but fair test, sound plans and effort over time. It may also show team learning, care for wider issues and sound moral choices. These are prompts, not a list that assures a pass.

Useful proof is apt and varied. It can include an early needs note, partner feedback, design drafts, a risk choice, simple data, meeting notes, photos with consent, a short audio thought and the final handover. Ten near-identical photos prove less than one well-explained change of plan.

Reflection should answer: What did we expect? What happened? Whose feedback changed our thinking?

What consequence did we overlook? What will we do next? Learners can connect this process to other parts of the Diploma Programme structure, including the Extended Essay guide and Theory of Knowledge guide, without turning CAS into academic coursework.

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Coordinator Checks Before Approval

A coordinator's approval should confirm that the idea is eligible, feasible and ethically sound while leaving meaningful decisions with learners. Use the proposal as the beginning of supervision, not a guarantee that every later action is safe. Record conditions clearly so the team knows what requires fresh approval.

• Which strand or strands are genuinely present, and what makes the work a project rather than routine participation?
• What evidence supports the need, audience or creative purpose?
• How will collaboration work, and does each learner have meaningful responsibility?
• What new challenge or skill will each learner encounter?
• Are the stages, timetable, resources and school deadlines realistic?
• Who owns safeguarding, consent, data protection, travel, money and partner communication?
• How will access be protected and costs kept from excluding learners?
• What evidence, reflection, demonstration and exit plan have been agreed?

The lead teacher should also check if the learner is taking the full diploma or one course. School rules and help may vary. Our Diploma versus course route guide gives more context, but the CAS lead still makes the local choice.

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Download the CAS Project Planner

The free one-page planner turns the eligibility filter and five stages into a compact working sheet. Learners can record the need, partners, chosen strands, roles, timing, risks, evidence and handover before meeting the coordinator. It supports discussion, but it cannot approve a project or prove impact.

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Frequently Asked Questions

These answers clarify the most common planning errors. They describe the current public guidance and the published 2017 timing recommendation, but schools may use updated internal documents and local procedures. When the article and the current school guide differ, follow the coordinator's confirmed requirement.

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Can a CAS project cover only one strand?

Yes. A CAS project may address one, two or all three strands. Choose the strands that genuinely describe the work. A creative oral-history archive can be a strong project without adding a token sports activity or relabelling every task as service.

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Does every CAS experience have to be collaborative?

No. Collaboration is required for the CAS project. Other CAS experiences may be individual where they meet the school's criteria. Learners should still consider how supervisors, audiences or partners contribute, but individual work should not be called collaborative without shared responsibility.

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Must a CAS project last one month?

The published 2017 guide recommends at least one month from planning to completion. The current public project page does not state a universal duration. Check the current school guide and ask the CAS coordinator what timing and evidence apply to this cohort.

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Is IPARD compulsory terminology?

No. Investigation, preparation, action, reflection and demonstration are the five CAS stages. IPARD is a convenient memory aid made from their initials. It should not be presented as an additional framework that learners must use if their school organises the same stages differently.

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Does every project need all seven learning outcomes?

No. Learners need to show the required learning across their CAS portfolio, but a single project does not have to demonstrate every outcome. Agree plausible learning intentions, then collect authentic evidence of what actually developed rather than manufacturing a perfect mapping in advance.

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Are overseas service trips better CAS projects?

No. Travel is not required. Local projects often allow better investigation, sustained relationships, lower costs and clearer handover. Any trip still needs the same ethical partnership, safeguarding, access, environmental, financial and reflection checks. Distance and expense are not evidence of impact.

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Limitations and Further Reading

No list can decide what is right for each school or local group. Public web pages give a short view of CAS and may miss day-to-day rules. Approval rests on the current IB guide, school policy, the CAS lead's view, each learner's needs and the voice of local partners.

The 30 patterns are broad. They cannot assure safe, useful or valid work. One idea can build a sound partnership in one place and cause harm in another. Proof of activity alone cannot show local impact or personal growth.

Start with the official CAS pages linked above. Compare them with the learner's route, school handbook and current coordinator advice. Schools should date local CAS notes so learners can tell current rules from old web summaries.

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References

Only the official IB sources cited in this article are listed here. The 2026 entries reflect the public guidance reviewed on 21 August 2026. The 2017 entry supports the historical one-month recommendation and should be read alongside the learner's current school guide.

• International Baccalaureate (2026). Creativity, activity, service. Official Diploma Programme core guidance.
• International Baccalaureate (2026). CAS projects. Official public project guidance.
• International Baccalaureate (2026). Community service. Official Diploma Programme public guidance.
• International Baccalaureate (2017). Creativity, activity, service guide. Published programme guide.