20 No Prep Activities for Learning at Home
Since most of us are staying in and helping our kids learn at home during this time, having a bunch of easy activities to choose from for your kids to learn with is CRUCIAL. Many teachers have been so quick on their toes and have sent some work and activity ideas home OR they’re teaching virtually, which is AMAZING! :)
But, there can still be times when extra activities are needed and helpful to keep your kids occupied and learning. It can be hard to know which activities are simple to pull together AND beneficial to your child’s learning. So, I teamed up with a bunch of amazing teacher-mamas to bring you these 20 NO-PREP learning activities for kindergarten, first, or second grade students!
These activities are all “print and go”, meaning you can simply print them off and let your kiddos get to work right away. No cutting, sorting, coloring, or any other time-consuming activity needs to be completed by parents or teachers to get these activities ready to go! Some of the resources are free and some are available for purchase for just a few dollars. Click on the title of any activity to go check it out!
Okay, and here we go…
1. No Prep Spring Worksheets
This no prep resource from Alleah at Alleah Maree includes printable worksheets and activities that are perfect for preschool and kindergarten learners, but can definitely be used with some first graders as well. There are a bunch of worksheets, an activity menu, reading encouragement, and even writing pages, writing crafts, and learning games all included.
Ooh, and CLICK HERE to download a free sample to see what’s included in the full product!
This phonics activity from Kristina from Sweet for Kindergarten is all about finding patterns in words and pictures! This is helpful in learning to decode words and become better readers. This scavenger hunt activity is a fun way to practice identifying phonics skills.
3. Main Idea and Details Passages and Graphic Organizers
These reading passages from Lauren at A Teachable Teacher focus on finding the main idea and supporting details in a short story. They’re all print-and-go sheets and include main idea passages with main idea graphic organizers.
4. Free Writer’s Notebook
This print and go writing journal from Rachael at Literacy with the Littles is a great way to squeeze in some extra writing practice for little learners. There are blank journal pages and some fun writing prompts for student's to write about included!
5. Print and Go Math Printables for 1st and 2nd Grade
These no prep spring math activities from Katie at Simply Creative Teaching are SUPER engaging and perfect for your 1st or 2nd grade kids! Each worksheet comes in 3 different levels so that every student can work at a level they can be successful at. Click through to see all the math concepts covered!
6. Seasonal Worksheets for Kindergarten
These math and literacy worksheets for kindergarten from Alleah at Alleah Maree include 12 literacy worksheets, 12 math worksheets, and 12 writing worksheets for EACH season! Each worksheet is aligned to a kindergarten math or literacy standard. These no prep printables are a great way to incorporate some academic fun into your students' learning.
This free CVC word board game from Rachael at Literacy with the Littles is great for beginning readers to practice simple words! The one-syllable words included in this game allow children to practice decoding and blending sounds, preparing them to do the same with larger words later on.
This sight work activity from Elyse at A is for Apples includes sentences for students to read, trace, and write the sight word sentence for! Then, they cut out the words in the sentence and glue them down in the correct order. There are pages for Dolch Pre-Primer sight words. Perfect for kindergarten and first graders! Just print and go!
9. Free Monkeying Around Math Game
These math games from Sarah at Sunny Days in First Grade is a great way to practice adding, subtracting, and comparing numbers at home! There are 5 games included, each in color and black and white. All you’ll need is dice, a paper clip, and game pieces, like mini erasers, pom poms, or any small pieces you might have lying around.
10. Letter Sound Correspondence Activity
These fun letter sound practice worksheets from Casie at The Curious Hippo is great for teaching letter-sound correspondence. Practicing this skill along with letter identification helps kids to retain phonics and reading skills more thoroughly. Check out this simple way to practice letter sounds!
11. Free Alphabet Find and Trace
This free activity from Jennifer at The Connett Connection is a really fun, simple way for students to practice finding and tracing letters! This no prep literacy activity is great for students practicing recognizing letter and working on their writing skills. One worksheet for each letter is included!
This free vowel word sort from Erin at Littles Love Learning Blog is an interactive way for students to practice identifying the long and short vowel sounds for the letter A. It’s perfect for extra phonics practice, cutting practice, and coloring practice too!
13. Beginning Sound Worksheets
These print and go worksheets from Lacey at Teach’N Texas is great for practicing beginning sounds and tracing! Little learners will practice beginning sounds by coloring or circling the pictures that start with the same letter. After matching the letters to the sounds, students can practice tracing the upper and lowercase letters.
14. 2nd Grade Printables Packet
These printables for 2nd grade are from Nicole at Crafty Curriculum. This packet includes pages for 28 skills, each with 3 different levels. It also includes a few bonus printables and activities, with a total of 102 student work printables. Click the title to check out all the skills covered in this product!
15. Free Kindness Writing Craft
Need a simple, free writing craft? This one from Sam at The Homestead Teacher is a fun way to encourage writing practice AND mindful kindness. Download yours for free by clicking the title!
If your kiddos need to practice their 2D shape skills, this resource from Stephanie at Stephanie Trapp is a really creative way to get them thinking! There are 48 challenges included for students to draw pictures about two, three, or four 2D shapes. These would work really well for math practice for kindergarten or first grade kiddos!
These writing activities from Gabbi at Lucy’s Lunchbox Learning includes everything you need to set up a spring writing center at home! There are spring writing papers, writing prompts, sentence and letter tracing pages, spring lists, and word cards included. This would be super fun writing practice for spring time!
18. Time Telling Worksheets and Digital Activities
Need some time telling practice? This resource from Barbara at Give It a Look is a great way for your kids to practice telling time to the hour and half hour! There are printable worksheets and digital Boom cards included. These activities are perfect for all learners in 1st and 2nd grade who are practicing telling time.
19. Color by Sight Word Worksheets
This resource from Pam at Little Learning Moments is a fun way for kindergarteners to practice sight words! There are 18 coloring pages included, each with 6 sight words for kiddos to work with at a time. There’s also a blank page at the end for you to add your own words that you want your learners to focus on!
Lauren at Creating Harmony in Life created these writing prompts as a tool for learning at home and to help kids write about the current events surrounding school closures. They’re ideal for students in kindergarten through second grade! Also, the format for these writing prompts is Google Slides (TM), so they can be used digitally and attached to Google Classroom(TM), Seesaw(TM), and or the Remind(TM) app.
I hope these no-prep resources give you a few simple ways to keep your kiddos learning without a huge time investment from you. Please feel free to leave a comment or email me with any questions or ideas for other ways we teacher mamas can help you during this time of extra creativity and caffeine! :)
You’ve GOT this! Cheering you on!
