Children's books contain excellent material for creating cause and effect activities. Provide students with example statements, such as "if you behave in class, you can go to recess," prior to having them read early passages from a children's book. Once the passage has been read, give them paper and drawing materials and allow them to draw what they think will happen in the end of the book. This will help them begin to recognize cause and effect as they develop further reading skills.
Writing activities used to teach students about cause and effect can be incorporated into worksheets or can be completed as a class on the board. Create pairs of statements, such as "the dog got in trouble" paired with "he chewed up the sneakers." Students will then take these statements and create unified sentences by inserting cause and effect words like "due to," "because" or "consequently." This activity builds the ability of students to express cause and effect through writing.
Another activity that can involve worksheets or class work on the board, students can use brainstorming skills to understand cause and effect. Begin the activity by writing a cause on the worksheet or board, such as "Billy forgot to do his homework." Next, have students draw lines out from the original cause leading to all of the possible effects that can occur due to the cause. Essentially, this will allow them to form a mind map of a cluster map of the relationship between cause and effect, and stresses the idea of multiple effects relating to a single cause.
Beyond reading and writing based activities, other types of games can be used to allow students to create relationships between cause and effect. Creating a deck of cards with pairs of cause and effect scenarios, and requiring students to pair them together is an effective method for teaching consequence. Adapting science experiments to the concept of cause and effect can be effective as well. Allowing students to observe melting ice cubes, grow seeds in small pots and change the surface tension of water by adding dish soap can help them understand the physical ramifications of cause and effect.