6 Fun and Engaging April Activities for First Grade

The beginning of a new month means it’s time for new lessons! I loved planning for the start of a new month, season, or theme since it’s a chance to try some new activities. If you’re looking for inspiration for your own April planning, you’re in luck! Today I’m sharing 6 fun and engaging April activities for the first-grade classroom!

1. April Morning Work

Do you have a morning work routine in your classroom? I love morning work because it can really help set the tone for the day. It’s also a great chance to help students review some of the material you’ve been focusing on. In my classroom, it was always important to me to choose morning work that was predictable, easy for students to complete independently, and used a spiral review of the important topics we had covered.

My April Morning Work pages check all of those boxes, plus they have cute, spring-themed clipart that students love. I liked to have kiddos start on these printable, no-prep pages as soon as they walked in the door. This gave me time to work on getting settled with attendance, lunch count, and lesson prep.

After everyone had finished, I’d pop the digital version up on the screen and we would correct our pages together as a class. This helped to provide immediate feedback to students and also gave me a chance to see how students were doing on previously taught topics.

The digital option (completed on Google Slides) is a simple way to review the pages together. It’s also great as a homework assignment, a makeup activity for kids who are absent, and even a technology center activity!

2. April Math and ELA Low-Prep Centers

If you’re anything like me, you LOVE the hands-on learning aspect of center time, but dread having to prep all those tiny little pieces! Don’t get me wrong! I know centers are vitally important for first-graders, but sometimes it can be hard to find the extra prep time month after month. Sound familiar?

This is where my April Low-Prep Centers come into play! These center activities require very minimal prep but still provide engaging and effective center learning. The math and ELA activities included in this resource use print-and-go pages that will make planning and executing center time a breeze! And with seasonally themed activities that focus on a review of important concepts, you can count on your students loving them too.

Some of the fun activities included in this resource are:

Race to the Recycling Center Addition Game
Spring & Earth Day Skip Counting Mystery Puzzles
Easter Egg Number Bond Task Cards
Procedural Writing: How to Grow Flowers
Earth Day and Easter Word Searches
Spring Pronouns Task Cards

Using fun center games like these is a great way to find a happy medium with the hands-on April activities your students love and protect your limited prep time throughout the month.

3. No-Prep April Activities

Speaking of no-prep activities, everyone needs a few more printable worksheets, right? When I was still in the classroom this was definitely true for me!

My struggle was to find no-prep activities that were meaningful and actually aligned with what we were working on. Because of this, I created a whole year’s worth of no-prep printables that used a spiral review of everything we worked on throughout the year.

My No-Prep April Activities focus on a variety of math and ELA concepts including fractions, counting coins, addition and subtraction, spelling, verb tenses, opinion writing, and more! Since these pages cover so many different topics, they are really versatile to use. Grab one as independent practice after a lesson, use them for sub plans, or they are a great way to sneak in a little extra practice anytime you find yourself with a few minutes to spare.

In my classroom, we used these pages for impromptu center activities, independent work, fast-finisher activities, and even as homework. I love that these pages help to ensure my kiddos get plenty of meaningful practice in during the month of April.

4. Plant Life Cycle Unit

April is a great month to start teaching the plant life cycle since plants are beginning to sprout and bloom! Not to mention, firsties love this topic, so snagging engagement is simple! In my classroom, I liked to use an all-in-one Plants Unit that includes a combination of printables and digital activities. I’ve found that using a blend of these resources is a great way to help keep things interesting in our lessons while we learned all about plants. Some of the activities included in this unit are:

Plant Life Cycle Lesson Plans
Plant Mini Books
Plant Journals
Plant Matching Activities
Data and Graphing Activities
Informational Writing Activities and more!

This comprehensive unit teaches all about plants in a fun way using a blend of hands-on activities, digital lessons, and worksheets. They’re great for whole-group learning, small groups, and center time. These lessons are a great addition to your April activities and tie into spring themes perfectly. If you’re interested in reading more about my plants unit and how I used all of the activities in my classroom, be sure to check out this post!

5. Spring Read and Color By Sight Word

In first grade, we spend a lot of our time learning sight words. Sight word mastery is essential for overall reading fluency and serves as a great way to boost confidence among your struggling readers.

For this reason, sight word practice was always part of our day! Now, if you’re not careful, sight word practice can get a little boring and repetitive. To remedy this, I loved to use color by code as a way to mix things up!

My Spring Sight Word Color by Code pages are the perfect way to sneak in extra practice reading and recognizing sight words without your students even knowing it.

This resource comes with pre-made pages that cover 87 words from Fry’s First 100 Words list as well as editable pages so you can add your own words. These no-prep, printable pages are perfect for independent practice, morning work, center time, homework or even to use as an early-finisher activity.

6. Easter & Earth Day Color by Number for Addition, Subtraction, and Mixed Facts

Speaking of color-by-code activities, they’re also pretty handy for mastering math facts.

In first grade, we work on learning addition and subtraction facts all year long. While incentive systems and timed tests are great for this, I also love using themed coloring pages like my Earth Day and Easter Color by Number pages. The pages focus on addition, subtraction, and mixed practice of math facts for numbers within 10.

These worksheets really come in handy when kiddos seem a bit restless or need a transitional activity. I’m sure you’ve found yourself with a group of rambunctious kiddos after recess or lunch.

Having students complete one of these pages is a great way to ease back into learning and help them refocus on “one of those days”. These pages also make great practice packets to send home during spring break as well!

Start Planning Your Own April Activities

Reading to jump into planning your own April activities? I hope this post was a source of inspiration to begin! Using a blend of no-prep worksheets, center activities, and thematic teaching units is a great way to keep your lessons fun and fresh all month long.

You can find all of these April activities in my TpT Shop, along with plenty of other fun and engaging resources to use all year long! Happy Planning!