Fun and Educational Crafts & Activities for Pre-2nd Grade

Hands-on activities help children retain learning skills.

Children in kindergarten and first grade are just learning to explore the world around them. A teacher's job is to show them how to be curious and seek knowledge for themselves. Craft projects and hands-on activities convey lessons in a memorable fashion that helps children to retain what they have learned while having fun at the same time.

Alphabet Games

Create two sets of flashcards--one with lowercase letters and one with uppercase letters. Allow the children to match the uppercase letters with the lowercase letters. A good way to do this is to have a contest to see who can match the cards the fastest. Provide the children with sticky notes and crayons. Assign each child to a section of the room. Instruct the children to find an object, write the letter of the alphabet that the object starts with on a sticky note, and then attach it to the item. Give each child a different colored crayon so you can tell who labeled what items.

Shapes

Cut several different shapes from construction paper and instruct each child to choose one. Provide the children with pieces of construction paper and some glue so they can glue their shapes to the paper. Ask each child to think of an object that has his shape in it (such as a triangle to make an ice cream cone). Have him draw a design around his shape. Name different shapes and see if the children can point out items around the room that have those shapes.

Colors

Bring in a package of plastic cups, some food coloring and a container of water. Place several cups of water on a table. Fill three cups with water, and then add blue, red and yellow food coloring. Demonstrate how you mix the different colors together to make new colors. Ask the children for suggestions of what colors to mix, and then see if they can guess what colors will be created.

Nature

Take the children on a nature hike to find caterpillars. Bring a container with you to hold the caterpillars that you find, as well as the types of plant life that you find them with. Take the caterpillars back to the classroom and place them in a terrarium, along with the vegetation you have gathered. Do not mix species because they may snack on each other. Purchase a butterfly handbook so you can look up the caterpillars to see what species they are. Teach the children about metamorphosis, i.e., how some animals turn into other animals. Care for the caterpillars until they turn into butterflies. Find tadpoles and keep them in an appropriate environment to teach the children about amphibians.

References

• Cool Kids Craft Ideas
• Pet Care Tips: Catterpillars as Pets