7 Back to School Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten
Whether you’re just starting out or have been doing this forever, starting a new school year can feel like a LOT to do. And that can cause a lot of stress. It’s hard to know what activities are going to be fun, engaging, and doable for your students and you want to feel as prepared as possible to start the new year too, right? I have some ideas to share to save you time as you check off some important tasks off your to-do list!
These activities are ones that you can use for the first day of school, first week of school, and some for even the whole first MONTH of school! There are ideas for the first day of school, no-prep worksheets, centers, and even some fun ways to get up and moving. :) Scroll down to learn about some of my absolute favorite back to school activities for preschool and kindergarten students.
Ooh, and there are a couple FREE BACK TO SCHOOL ACTIVITIES for you at the end of this post too!
Back to school season is here and you need some fun ways ways to keep your little ones learning and playing, right? This busy book is of full of engaging, printable activities for learning about school and fits perfectly into Target blank books. They're great for toddlers, preschoolers, and any other learners practicing identifying and learning about different things seen during back to school time.
There are 11 activities included for you to create two different kinds of books about back to school…all black and white pages for one-time use or color copies for multiple uses. Your learners will match up cards, use dry erase markers, play dough, and mini-erasers to play with the color activities. Click the picture to grab your busy book!
Looking for some independent desk activities or centers to rotate through that are super FUN and ENGAGING for back to school season? This busy box is perfect for that!
These hands-on activities for learning about school fit perfectly into photo boxes and are great for young learners practicing identifying and learning about different things seen during back to school time.
There are 19 activity mats included in this busy box to practice 14 different skills. Simply print out, cut, and laminate each mat and the corresponding cards. Toss them into the photo box with manipulatives like pom poms, dry erase markers, play dough, mini-erasers, and whatever else you want to play and learn with these activities.
No-prep worksheets to be able to grab and teach with are a MUST at the beginning of the year! Whether you’re using them as part of your lessons, early finishers, sub plans, or a simple way to practice coloring, cutting, and gluing, these worksheets are just what you need.
Many of the worksheets require students to cut, color, and glue smaller pieces of paper to later portions of paper while practicing a variety of academic skills, which is great for fine motor skills too. This resource includes literacy worksheets, math worksheets, and writing worksheets for the beginning of the school year. Click the picture to save time and gave these no-prep worksheets!
4. Book Activities - BOOKWORMS: The 12 Days of Preschool
Activities that go along with books are my JAM. And you can shape your little learners into little bookworms this year with these super fun preschool book activities! They’re the perfect blend of learning and fun for little ones to learn essential literacy and math skills using the book "The 12 Days of Preschool".
There are engaging, hands-on activities, interactive worksheets, and sensory bins included for your learners to practice skills like coloring, cutting, gluing, matching, identifying letters & numbers, retelling, sorting colors, and counting!
5. Meet the Teacher Scavenger Hunt
Being prepared for the first time you meet your students is so important! This engaging activity for Meet the Teacher night, like this classroom scavenger hunt, is a fun way to explore the room for the first time.
You can use the pre-designed scavenger hunts included for a no-prep, easily printable activity or insert your own clipart and text to create your own classroom hunt. Something fun and simple for everyone!
Having a plan and staying organized when you’re teaching little ones is an amazing way to keep your stress at a healthy level. Haha! This editable planner is full of printables, forms, and binder covers to keep you and your class organized and learning all year long.
There are lesson planning pages, to-do lists, calendars, and and yearly content planning pages to keep your thoughts and plans organized and kept in one place for reference.
I’m a big planner person, so having all of my teaching information and plans collected and in one place helps my brain function and keep track of all the details I need to. Highly recommend grabbing a good planner you love!
7. Rules & Expectations Busy Book
Introducing rules and expectations to your new students the first week of school is a super crucial part of the first week of school. But, we always want to make it fun & engaging right? Check it off your back to school to-do list with this print-and-go busy book!
This busy book is editable and as easy as print, pass, and complete! It’s packed with engaging, printable activities for learning the rules and expectations for your classroom. These interactive worksheets provide your learners with fun activities that save you time and are super low prep for you.
There are 10 possible activities included for you to create a busy book with. You OR your students can create their busy book full of printables by simply printing enough copies for everyone, modeling how students will cut out each page, glue it into their blank book, and then complete the activity according to the directions. Lots of options, so use whatever is best for you! Click the picture to grab your book.
EXTRA GOODIES FOR YOU: Back to School Freebies
Having a few free resources on hand never hurt when starting out the school year! These back to school printables are perfect for kindergarten, first, or even second grade students. In this freebie, you’ll find games, puzzles, and worksheets that cover basic math and literacy skills, like sentence reading, coloring, writing, drawing, alphabetical order, letter matching, basic addition and subtraction, and number order.
There is also this FREE BACK TO SCHOOL scavenger hunt for your little ones to use to find the supplies they need to do their best in class this year. This is a really fun activity to do on the first day of school so students know where to find crayons, glue, and all the other things they’ll need to get their work done. You can also use it to explain expectations for each item they find as you go too!
I hope you found a some helpful resources here for back to school time. Wishing you a fun, stress-free back to school season! Please let me know if there’s any way I can help the beginning of your year be more peaceful and productive.
Cheering you on!
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