FUN Back to School Games for Kindergarten

Today I want to share some FUN back to school games for Kindergarten with you, but first – let me tell you what I’ve been up to lately…In my last post I mentioned that we recently bought a house and we’re busy getting settled.

You know you’re a teacher when you are excited about decorating and making everything homey, but in the back of your mind, you’re constantly thinking about all things back to school!

We have been unpacking boxes from storage and finding things we completely forgot we had. It has been like Christmas in July around here! We are enjoying Wisconsin so much! Summers here are way more enjoyable than Florida summers. Can’t say the same about the winters though!

Get this, you can actually go outside and do things without feeling hot, sticky and icky. Who knew?! We have been living it up at the zoo, the park, and the pool.

This post has some great ideas for back to school games for Kindergarten! Click through to learn about counting, puzzles, name practice, uppercase and lowercase letters, colors, and more! These puzzles can be used ANY time of year, and they even work for your preschool and 1st grade students.

We also took our daughter to her first baseball game. She was chosen to be the Junior Announcer during the game. That shy little girl took us all by surprise. Proud mama moment right there!

While I was unpacking boxes I found some bus cut-outs that I bought at Dollar Tree awhile back. I completely forgot I had them. I’m telling you, Christmas in July! I thought they would make a cute counting activity. If you don’t have these cut-outs, see if your school’s die cut machine has a bus. That would work too!

I’m calling this one “Bears on a Bus”. It took me a long time to come up with that title, can you tell?! I programmed each bus with a number and added some counting bears. Students read the number and then count out that many bears to be passengers on the bus.

You could add dots or stickers on the back of the buses to make this self checking.If you don’t have bear counters on hand, you can use my affiliate links to get yours from Amazon by clicking here.

And of course I had to make a recording sheet! Click on the picture below to download it.

This is another activity that I make at the beginning of the year.

I use the die cut machine to make cut outs of different shapes. I cut them apart to make puzzles. I usually put three or four different colors in a bag so the kids have to sort the pieces before completing the puzzle.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and laminate the paper before you use the die cut machine!

I just finished my latest packet in the It’s All Fun and Games series. I love this series because it has a lot of interactive activities and includes many partner back to school games for Kindergarten. I love that the kids are learning to share and take turns.

These activities are also low prep and perfect for the beginning of the year.

In this activity, the kids are practicing their first name. It’s definitely a good idea for the kiddos to have their name tag handy so they can refer to it as they write. Students spin the spinner (using a paper clip and a pencil) to determine what writing utensil they are going to use. Then they write their name. So easy, but getting to write with a highlighter is really cool when you’re five!

In this activity students are matching the lowercase letters to the uppercase letters. For kiddos just learning their letters, they can use uppercase magnetic letters. You could use dry erase markers instead of magnetic letters. Eventually I switch this center out for beginning sound mats.

No letters in your classroom? I’ve got you covered! Use my affiliate link to grab your letters on Amazon by clicking here.

For this activity, “Colorful Letters”, students say the name of the letter on the card. They find the letter on their paper and trace it using the color from the card.

A tic-tac-toe partner game to practice uppercase and lowercase letters.

With “Colors All Around” students spin the spinner and find a real life object on their paper that matches.

For this activity, students count each color of fish on the mat. On their paper they color the same number of fish to show how many.

Here are pattern cards to use with the snap cubes in your classroom (or use my affiliate link to buy snap cubes on Amazon). After the first day of my first year teaching Kindergarten, I learned that it is a really good idea to spend time letting the kids play with the manipulatives before you start teaching with them.

The kids see these new bright colored toys, they don’t see them as learning tools. So let your kids play with the snap cubes before you pull the pattern cards out!

With these mats students can use play dough or small manipulatives to make the numbers.

You can check out all 28 activities included in this packet by clicking on the pictures below.

Check out the It’s All Fun and Games YEAR LONG BUNDLE: PART 1 and save 20%! This math and literacy bundle contains over 100 activities made just for Kindergarten. Skills progress as the year goes on. Click on the picture below to see it now!

Thanks for reading along as I share all the back to school games for Kindergarten that I love!

Comments

Pacey Barney says

November 30, 2016 at 8:37 am

I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, many thanks for allowing for me to comment! Homepage.

Little Miss Teacher says

August 3, 2016 at 9:55 pm

Wow!! What fantastic ideas!! LOVE the bears on the bus and the spin and write idea!! <3

Dee Mel says

January 23, 2016 at 8:50 pm

for the colorful letters color matching where would you find the printable ABC sheet and ABC colored cards??

- Melissa says
  
  January 25, 2016 at 6:35 pm
  
  hi Dee, you can find that activity here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Its-All-Fun-Games-Back-to-School-Math-Literacy-Activities-for-Kindergarten-1977712?aref=sfjei79t
  
Deanna House says

December 2, 2015 at 10:18 pm

When I clicked on the link to open your It's All Fun and Games series, the TPT page said "We looked around and couldn't find the page you asked for." I was thinking I would use your spinner with the different writing utensils to have the students practice writing their sight words.

- Melissa says
  
  December 10, 2015 at 4:05 pm
  
  hi Deanna,
  
  I fixed it! I'm sorry about that. And I'm so sorry it took me forever to get back to you. Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
  
  -Melissa
  
Abel says

August 17, 2015 at 1:22 pm

I love all your activities. Kids would be so involved in all the learning that they are doing.

Abel says

August 17, 2015 at 1:22 pm

I love all your activities. Kids would be so involved in all the learning that they are doing.

Robin says

August 17, 2015 at 3:07 am

Where did you get the clipart images of the pencil, crayon, highlighter etc? I love the ones that are on your Spin and Write name activity. Thanks!

- Melissa says
  
  August 17, 2015 at 11:53 am
  
  hi Robin, they came from four different packets of clip art. I think most are from Whimsy Clips.
  -Melissa
  
Alison Schon says

August 15, 2015 at 3:58 pm

Anyway I could just buy the colorful letter game???

- Melissa says
  
  August 17, 2015 at 11:52 am
  
  hi Alison, I'm sorry, but I don't have a way to break the packet apart and sell just one activity. I do have the files posted separately in my shop where you can just get the literacy activities. Hope that helps. 🙂
  -Melissa
  
Jennifer Drake says

July 23, 2015 at 10:28 pm

LOVE the bears on the bus idea and die cut shape puzzles! THANKS for the recording sheet! I shared your post on my Facebook page!
Jenn
Crayons & Cuties In Kindergarten

- Melissa says
  
  July 24, 2015 at 2:55 pm
  
  Aww thank you so much, Jenn! I'm so glad so loved the ideas!!! The kids love calling the little bears the "passengers". They even walk the kids to the bus like they are getting on board. So cute! Thank you for sharing on your Facebook page! 🙂
  -Melissa
  
kaspenson5 says

July 23, 2015 at 9:06 pm

Enjoy the WI weather it changes in a heart beat. I've lived in Milwaukee for about 5 years now and teach in MPS

- Melissa says
  
  July 24, 2015 at 2:57 pm
  
  lol You're right! It does change! We've had to reschedule plans a few times because of it. But that's okay… Wisconsin is such a beautiful state, especially in the fall.
  -Melissa