1st Grade Activities
First grade is a year of firsts: your child's first full day of school, the first time she'll write a small story herself, and the first time she'll read a complete book cover to cover. We've got dozens of wacky reading and math activities, cool science experiments, and indoor and outdoor games to keep the learning fun.
Get Your Head in the Clouds!
First graders are eager to learn about science - especially using large objects to observe like clouds. Let your child daydream a little and use those science and writing skills, too!
Chalk it Up! An Outdoor Classification Activity
Classifying and sorting into groups is also a large part of the first grade math curriculum. The outdoors offers an abundance of learning tools for children, and classifying in the natural world gives your child an added lesson in scientific observation and classification.
Play Rainbow Bingo!
First graders need to be able to read color words quickly and accurately, without taking the time to sound them out. Here's a fun bingo game designed to give your first grader fun, colorful practice learning to recognize words like "red" and "purple."
Make a Sweet Symmetry Treat
In first grade, students are introduced to many new math concepts, including the concept of symmetry. Here’s a fun way to explore symmetry that will leave your child with a sweet symmetrical treat!
Make a Paper Plate Phonics Wheel
First graders develop their reading skills rapidly, applying a range of learned strategies to decode unknown words. Help your child practice reading, and blending them into words, with this fun activity!
Sandbox Math Sticks
One of the goals for first graders is to memorize basic addition and subtraction math facts by the end of the year. Practice in the sandbox with this fun outdoor math activity!
Put Together a Sight Word Puzzler
First graders benefit greatly from learning to read words quickly and automatically, but practice doesn't need to be a chore. In this "out-of-the-box" approach to practicing sight words, practice looks a lot like play!
Build a Better Sandcastle
If your child aspires to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright, we've got some tips on building a castle that lasts.
Seventeen: A Math-Builder Card Game
Your kid probably knows that two plus two equals four. But what does it take to get to seventeen? Try this card game to explore all the possibilities, build math fact skills, and, more importantly from a kid-perspective, have a great time while you're at it!
Build a Pop Rocket
What's cooler than an explosion? Not much! This simple science experiment lets kids build their own pop rocket, with help from a basic chemical reaction. So put on your safety goggles and let her rip!
