Elementary Education Lesson Plans for Parents and Teachers

Fun Lesson Plans

Creating lesson plans that incorporate hands-on activities takes a little more time and effort than pencil-and-paper activities; however, the benefits that students gain from them are worth the extra effort. Elementary students enjoy hands-on activities because they get to participate in their learning. Interactive lessons allow children to apply critical thinking skills and solve problems.

Snowman Sculptures

This is a fun lesson plan to use in the winter for both the classroom and at home. Have your students write a story about building a snowman. Older students can write a detailed explanation on this subject, while younger children can write a few sentences or simply draw a picture of a snowman. Once the children finish their stories, you can make the story come to life by creating a snowman without real snow. You will need:

• Four cups of shaving cream
• Four cups of white glue
• One small carrot
• Six raisins
• Three Red Hots candies
• Two cloves
• Two toothpicks

Mix the shaving cream and glue in a bowl. Give your students the mixture and have them create three balls and stack them on top of each other. They can use the cloves as eyes, a carrot for the nose and raisins for the mouth. The Red Hots can be used as buttons and the toothpicks for arms. This is a mixture that can also be used to create 3-dimensional objects for science and math.

Cup Game

This game will expand children's imagination and creativity, while improving their spelling skills. Get a spoon and create a list with students to see how many different uses a spoon has. For example, it can be used as an eye patch or a small shovel.

Next, break students into groups and give each group a cup. They should write down as many uses for the cup that they can think of. Tell them to be silly and creative and if they don't know how to spell a word, to try to sound it out. When the groups are finished, go over the lists and see if the words are spelled correctly. In the classroom, have a contest about who can come up with the most ideas.

This activity can also be turned into an acting game. Give a child an item and have her demonstrate how the item can be used, then pass it on to the next person. Have each person act out one use of the item (without repeating). The game can keep going until everyone has run out of ideas.

Gift Wrapping

This lesson will teach children how to write detailed instructions. You will need:

• Gift boxes
• Scissors
• Wrapping paper
• Ribbons
• Bows
• Tape

Explain that a story's order, sequence and details are important when writing. For this activity, students will write instructions for how to wrap a gift. Have students work in pairs and switch instructions. Both partners will wrap the gift exactly as it is written. Students will understand the importance of details and accuracy in their writing. To do this activity at home, have your child write the instructions and carry them out exactly as he or she has written them.