Kindergarten Early Finisher Activities
Keeping young kindergarteners engaged and on task can be challenging when some students finish their work earlier than the rest of the class. However, the right Kindergarten Early Finisher Activities can keep students engaged in meaningful tasks while they wait for the next classroom activity to begin. In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite activities for kindergarten early finishers.
Choosing the Right Activities for Early Finishers
There are some important things to consider when you’re setting up an early finisher routine in your classroom. The most important thing is to choose the best activities for your students. Here are some of the criteria that can make your early finisher activities more effective:
- Developmentally Appropriate: The tasks should be simple enough for students to complete independently. They shouldn’t be too challenging in format or in skill practice.
- Meaningful Yet Engaging: You can make the most of your classroom time by having students review important skills with early finisher tasks. However, you can also make this review engaging so students don’t just feel like they’re doing twice the work of their peers.
- Not Distracting: Early finisher activity tubs are always a hit with young students, but they can be distracting to the students who are still working. In fact, some students might even rush through their work in order to get to the preferred early finisher activity.
- Low Prep: It’s important that your early finisher activities are easy to prep so that you can be sure to always have these meaningful tasks on hand.
8 Activities for Kindergarten Early Finishers
With those criteria in mind, here are some of my favorite activities for students to complete when they finish their assignments early. You’ll notice that all of these activities include important skill practice, but use formats that are engaging and developmentally appropriate for young students.
1. Color by Code
Coloring is a great way for students to feel like they’re getting some free time after completing their work. It’s a task that students can quietly complete at their desks without distracting their peers. Plus, there are ways to incorporate literacy and math skills so the coloring can be a little bit more directed and meaningful for students. Color by code is a great way to do this! Students can color engaging pictures based on the included key.
2. Trace and Color
You can incorporate even more fine motor practice into coloring activities by adding some tracing practice. Students can trace the objects before filling them in with the colors of their choice. You can provide a variety of different coloring tools and use seasonal pictures to shake it up and keep things engaging for students.
3. Roll and Color
Another way to add some fun to a coloring task is to make a game out of it! Roll and cover activities are always a hit because students love to roll dice! After rolling a die, students will color the corresponding space on the worksheet. You can use a foam die for this activity in order to minimize distractions for students who are still working.
4. Letter Search
In addition to dice, students also love activities that involve spinners! This letter search activity has students spin a letter, then find and trace the matching letter on their page. This is great practice with letter identification and fine motor skills!
5. Dot to Dot
Dot-to-dot puzzles are another fun option for early finishers! As students complete these fun puzzles, they’re also working on number identification, counting, letter identification, and alphabetical order. Once they have completed the puzzles, they can color in the pictures for some additional fine motor practice.
6. Drawing
Step-by-step drawing activities are also very engaging early finisher activities. Students can follow the instructions for drawing the seasonal picture, then color it in. For even more skill practice, students can write a sentence about their drawing. It’s fun to use drawing activities that coordinate with the current season, since students love learning how to draw something that’s relevant to their lives at that moment.
7. Count and Write
Students can practice one-to-one correspondence and number formation with a count and write activity. After counting and coloring each set of objects, students will write the corresponding number on the page. This is such a great way for students to get more repetition with counting and number formation!
8. Count and Graph
Another fun way for students to practice counting is with this count and graph activity. Students will color and count matching objects in a set, then fill in the graph to match the number they counted. There are so many important skills that students can practice with this one activity, like visual discrimination, counting, graphing, and fine motor skills.
Printable Early Finisher Activities for Kindergarten
If you would like to incorporate these activities into your daily learning routine, you’ll definitely want to check out my Kindergarten Activity Packet Bundle. I have put together over 300 print-and-go activities that are perfect for early finisher activities all year long!
The consistent formatting means that students will know exactly what to do when they see these activities. Plus, each set of monthly activities includes new seasonal themes to keep things fresh and engaging for students.
This resource comes with cover pages so you can print and assemble early finisher packets for your students. This is helpful because students won’t have to leave their seats to start their early finisher activity. Instead, they can pull out their packet of engaging printables and get right to work.
Just click below to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle of printable activities that you can use to keep your classroom running more smoothly all year long!
Kindergarten Activity Packet Early Finishers Activities Yearlong Bundle
Save These Ideas for Kindergarten Early Finishers
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite Pinterest board of kindergarten ideas. You’ll be able to quickly find this post when you’re looking for low-prep activities for your early finishers.
