This activity will help build hand-eye coordination and the ability to recognize a pattern. Give the children sets of beads; they can be wooden, plastic or foam. Beads also come in different shapes and colors. Give each child a plastic knitting needle and string. Print out a few different patterns with colors, shapes or a combination of shapes and colors. Have them string on the beads according to the pattern. You can do this again with a different pattern and let them keep one of the sets of beads.
For this activity, save newspapers, junk mail and magazines. Cut out the big headlines, continuously do this throughout the year for students that you will have later on. Then, get markers for each of the kids. What they kids are going to do it trace the inside of the big letters, this will give them practice in writing. You can also give them pencils and paper and see if they can copy the letters from the clippings onto paper. This activity will teach the children hand-eye coordination, motor skills and pre-handwriting basics.
Have each of the kids bring in a few paper lunch bags. You should keep scraps of construction paper from other projects. You will also need scissors, glue and markers or crayons. Optional items include googly eyes and pipe cleaners. The children can take the paper lunch bag and turn it into an animal puppet. Have them choose a favorite animal to create into the puppet. Use the construction paper to make ears, arms, legs, noses and mouth. The children can also use the markers to make facial characteristics. The children can also use the googly eyes and pipe cleaners for whiskers.
Use the building blocks in the classroom for a learning activity. Have piles of different colors, shapes and sizes. For this activity you will start them on basic math skills, hand-eye coordination and motor skills. Have the children line up four red blocks, three blue blocks and two green blocks. This will teach them counting and get them to recognize colors. Change the pattern several times so they have many examples to go over. Repetition helps children learn and remember tasks.