1st Grade Reading 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.
Create an Origami Puppet
Here's a fun and tactile way to help your first grader build up crucial reading skills--create this adorable origami puppet!
Play "Roll Those Words", A Reading Activity
Let those good reading times roll! Re-use wooden building blocks or old board game dice to get your child practicing her reading and sentence-writing skills in this twist on a classic word dice game.
Send a Phoneme Postcard
Even in first grade, spelling can seem awfully complicated, so teaching your child some spelling strategies and patterns can really help him improve. In this activity, give your child the opportunity to get some spelling practice in while creating a wacky postcard at the same time.
Create an Illustrated Bookmark
In first grade, your child starts the great adventure of reading whole books. Give your child the support to build good reading habits by helping him make and illustrate a bookmark with his favorite story scene!
Make a Family Cookbook
Compile your child's favorite family recipes into a family cookbook! This activity is a great way to preserve your family recipes, help your child get to know family members, and practice his reading and writing!
Practice Reading with a Word Hunt
Let your child play detective and search for word cards you've hidden around the house. With this fun game, she'll have a great time as she practices her reading skills!
Make a "My Favorite Nouns" Book
This activity is a great way to get your first grader thinking about nouns. Create a book together cataloging her favorite people, places, and things to help her harness basic grammar and speech rules!
Make a "Word Slider"
Make learning word families more hands-on and interactive with this simple craft that has your kindergartner or first grader using paper plates and card stock to make "word sliders."
Directions First: Reading to Draw
Here's an activity that'll encourage your young artist to read. Invite your child to decode directions on colors, numbers, and shapes in order to create cool pictures he can add to his art collection!
Go on a Spider Web Treasure Hunt!
Follow the web to find your treasure! In this spider web game, each player will be given half a word and must find the correct, matching half to discover where his treasure is. This silly game will give purpose to and improve kids' reading skills in an exciting and engaging way.
