Hands-On Activities
- Dianna
- Jul 15, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Jul 17, 2023
Keep checking back as I will be continually adding suggestions to this page!
The Early Years (Preschool - Kindergarten)
Singing and dancing help keep the littles engaged, promote gross motor development, increase memory, and help with sequencing skills. Make sure to add them in as much as possible! Here are some great activities to try:
Colors
Finger painting.
Puffy paint. (Shaving cream mixed with white glue and food coloring.)
Anything you can find multiple colors of can be used for color sorting. (Pom-poms, pony beads, Lego, colored pasta, buttons, water beads, just to name a few.)
Shapes
Making shapes out of playdough, popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners.
Sorting block shapes.
Matching objects of different shapes to a picture of a shape.
Identifying shapes by touch only.
Sponge painting with sponges of different shapes.
Shape sorting miscellaneous objects into different piles.
Creating shapes on the floor inside with tape or outside with chalk.
Letters, Numbers & Counting
Making letters and numbers out of playdough, popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners.
Writing letters and numbers in various mediums, like shaving cream, sand or rice.
Letter and Number Magnets on a whiteboard or cookie sheet.
Creating letters and numbers with Lego, blocks, magnetic tiles. (Bonus, use translucent material on a light table for extra sensory input!)
Matching dominoes to number tiles.
Digging for letters and numbers in a bin full of rice or sand and sorting them into cups labeled accordingly.
Creating letters with their bodies.
Elementary
For the lower grades, continue doing the preschool/Kindergarten activities in addition to the ones listed below.
Math
Same as preschool, but adding in equations for the different operations.
Teaching fractions with baking.
Learning decimals at the grocery store.
Using math board games to reinforce concepts.
Science
Experiments and/or demonstrations for every topic.
Open ended exploration and discovery.
Age appropriate, science-related books, videos and/or shows. (Magic School Bus books/tv show and SciShow kids on YouTube are our favorite!)
Language Arts
Games you can play using sight words:
Jenga (Write sight words on each block.)
Memory
Bingo
Boggle
Swat! (Write sight words on small sticky notes, then make a grid with them on the floor. Finally, use a fly swatter to swat the word being said.)
Jump! (Words are written on the floor with chalk and kids jump to word being said. Indoors use tape to hold down note cards.)
Balloon toss (Write sight words on a bunch of balloons and have them read the word of the balloons they catch.)
Bowling (Attach sticky notes or note cards to the top of the bowling pin and have the kids aim for the sight word you say.)
History/Geography
Continent boxes are great tools to bring hands-on activities and manipulative into your lesson!
Using Maps and globes to locate geographical areas. Comparing maps from ancient times to the present.
Sticking toothpick flags to match their countries on a map over a cork board.
Creating a model of something from a certain time or place out of clay, craft supplies or recycled materials.
Creating dioramas of all the different biomes.
Eating/Making food from a specific time or place.
Using trivia games for these topics helps to reinforce learning.
For the older kiddos:
Incorporating the same games listed above to reinforce grammar instead of sight words works wonders!
Using simple graphic organizers, paintings or drawings to retell a story. (Storyboards are great tools!)
Doing an activity that the main character of a story does.
If online games are their thing, some good free ones are:
You can also go the paid subscription route with:
Middle and High School
As middle school is really a primer for high school, everything on this list can be used for either. You just need to change the level of difficulty to match the grade level. I can't stress enough the effectiveness of games to help solidify concepts in all subjects! Escape rooms, logic puzzles, mad libs, board games specific to an academic area are all great options. Incorporating lots of STEAM activities during these grades also help to reinforce concepts and topics learned.
Math and Art
For geometry:
creating scaled-down drawings or 3-D models of a house, building or even a city.
Creating a geometric sculpture, then identifying the shapes used and calculating the area of each surface.
Using Origami to build 3D shape models.
Statistics and probability:
Drawing a scaled-down sketch of a basket ball court to calculate angles and probabilities of making a basket.
Creating colorful graphs and charts.
Visiting Art museums to learn about art history.
Visiting sculpture gardens.
Re-creating a famous painting or sculpture.
Taking painting or sculpting classes.
Science
Conducting experiments, building models, creating reactions or testing hypotheses using real tools for every topic covered helps kiddos better understand.
For chemistry, take it to the kitchen! Incorporating cooking and baking to test chemical reactions is both memorable and yummy.
Watching YouTube videos or documentaries to supplement readings.
Visiting science centers, farms, wildlife centers/refuges or even just local parks.
Language Arts, History and Geography
Using graphic organizers helps with brainstorming and/or organizing thoughts and ideas before writing an essay or paper.
Using notebooking pages at tools to remember key concepts.
Creating visual timelines.
Watching documentaries or movies based on specific time periods, famous people throughout history, or books brought to life on the screen.
Cook foods from different cultures around the world as well as different time periods. (This is a real treat, you can cover math, science, history and geography all at the same time!)
Challenge the kiddos to recreate something from a specific time period using clay, 3D printing or Lego.
Visiting museums and/or historical sites.
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