Back to School Centers for Preschool | Morning Tubs / Bins

Back to School Centers for Preschool | Morning Tubs / Bins

This digital download contains a collection of games and activities intended for use in centers and small groups with children in Kindergarten (Prep) at the beginning of the school year.

Each activity includes a center label that can be printed and placed on the front of your storage device. Also included are “I can” center instructions to help children remember what to do. I have included a recording page at the end of each activity in order to have evidence of each child’s work.

Back to School Centers for Preschool Contents

1. Back to school write & wipe alphabet
To prepare the cards for use in a write and wipe center, print and laminate them, and then cut them apart. The intention of this activity is for children to practice correct letter formation with a dry-erase marker. The cards can be kept in a book-like format by punching a whole in the top left corner and securing together with a key ring or a pipe-cleaner.

2. Apple sorting: upper and lower case letters and numbers
To prepare the activity, print the pages, laminate them for durability and cut out all the pieces. The aim is for children to sort the different apples to the apple baskets to show the upper and lower case letters and numbers. These cards can also be used for alphabetical and numerical order activities as well as upper and lower case letter matching.

3. Letter match
To prepare the activity, print the pages, laminate them for durability and cut each page in half to separate the 2 cards. Scrabble or magnetic letter tiles can be used for this activity, but I have also included printable letter tiles that you may use. The aim is for children to find the matching letters. This activity can be differentiated to focus on making only upper case matches or upper to lower case matches.

4. Alphabet tree upper and lower case Clip It!
To prepare this activity for use, print the cards, laminate them and then cut them apart. Household pegs, or other small clipping items such as unused hair clips or paper clips, can be used for this activity. The aim is for children to match the upper case letter to the correct lower case letter, and then record their answers on the sheet provided.

5. Beginning sounds match
To prepare the activity, print the pages, laminate them for durability and cut the page in half to separate the 2 cards on the page. Scrabble or magnetic letter tiles can be used for this activity, or children can write their answers using a dry-erase marker. The aim is for children to find/write the beginning sound for each of the pictures on their cards.

6. Back to school beginning sounds Clip It!
Print, laminate and cut out the picture cards and the small letter cards. Glue the small letter circles (using craft glue or a hot glue gun) on to the pegging end of a clothes peg. Alternatively, you can write the letters using a permanent marker on the pegs, or stick on some alphabet stickers. The aim of this activity is for children to correctly identify the beginning sound of each picture and to clip a clothes peg to show their answer. Alternatively, children can use dry-erase markers to color the correct beginning sound.

7. Back to school write the room
To prepare this activity, print, laminate and cut out all the vocabulary cards. Place the cards randomly around the room. Provide your children with a clip board with the recording page/s. The aim is for children to find the picture cards and write the word next to the matching picture on their recording page.

8. School bus word family sort
To prepare this activity, print, laminate and cut apart the sorting mats and word cards. The aim is for children to identify the ending of each word and sort it to the correct word family mat.

9. Back to school syllables Clip It!
To prepare this activity for use, print the cards, laminate them and then cut them apart. Household pegs, or other small clipping items such as unused hair clips or paper clips, can be used for this activity. The aim is for children to identify the number of syllables in each word.

10. Colored pencils pre-primer & primer sight word sorting
To prepare this activity for use, print the cards, laminate them and then cut them apart. The aim of this activity is to sort the different sight word pencils to the correct cup. You can use the printable cups included in this packet or use real plastic cups.

Happy Teaching 🙂