Free Reading Activities by Grade Level

Where Can I Find Free Reading Activities?

Thanks to technology, countless reading activities for all grade levels are available online. Several education websites offer free games, worksheets and printouts for parents to use at home. If you want to give your kids extra reading practice outside of the classroom, consider searching for relevant activities on the Internet or creating your own using the following ideas.

Reading Activities for Elementary Students

First Grade

As children begin to read, they learn several sight words that they are able to recognize instantly. A fun activity you can use to help your son or daughter practice identifying these common terms is Bingo.

Start by having your child fill in a traditional Bingo card using a list of sight words, like 'they,' 'can' and 'are.' Continue by calling out the words and having your child mark them off the card as you go. In order to make it more competitive, play your own card or ask another family member to join. Once a player has Bingo, he or she should read the words aloud to confirm the win.

Second Grade

In the second grade, your child's reading skills will begin to advance further, and he or she should be able to distinguish between multiple characters within a story. In order to help your child develop this skill, hold a weekly story time where your child reads aloud to you and differentiates the characters by using different tones, pitches and speeds. If your son or daughter does not want to read alone, each of you can take on different characters and read the story together.

Third Grade

One way to get your child thinking about the sequence of events - while also practicing writing skills and vocabulary words - is to have your third grader write a story with a beginning, middle and end using his or her weekly word list. If your son or daughter is artistic or enjoys drawing, you may also have him or her create illustrations to go with the story. Once complete, ask your child to read the story aloud to an audience of family members.

Fourth Grade

Reading and writing skills go hand in hand, and you can help your child practice both by asking him or her to read a short text, predict what will happen and write a conclusion. You can find stories online that are created without endings, or you may simply have your child stop before the end of a story so he or she can use creative thinking and analysis skills to come up with a unique conclusion.

Fifth Grade

By the time they reach the fifth grade, students should be fairly proficient with reading and writing. This activity combines reading responses with writing prompts to get your child fully engaged with a text. Once your child has finished reading a narrative, have him or her create a newspaper using information from the story. For example, your fifth grader will write a news article reporting on the main events, a feature story that highlights a main character and an opinion column to discuss his or her feelings about the story. You may also include a weather section that describes the setting. Your son or daughter may complete this using computer software or simply by writing it out on paper.