Second Grade Lesson Plans for Parents and Teachers

Interactive Games and Activities for Second Graders

Interactive games and activities help second graders understand concepts better because the children can participate in their learning process. When kids are able to use all their senses, they retain information better and learn more effectively. Although using interactive games and activities will take a little more time and effort than traditional worksheets, the benefits that kids get from them is worth it.

Food Pyramid

Teach second graders about the food pyramid with this fun project. First, collect some grocery store ads from the newspaper. Next, get paper plates for each child and have the children divide their plates into five sections. Then, create labels with the five food groups (grains, meat and beans, vegetables, fruits and milk) for each section. You can skip creating the labels and have the students write the name of each food group; however, second graders may not have the fine motor skills to write small enough on the plates.

Have each student look through the grocery store ads and cut out at least one item from each food group and paste it onto the appropriate section of his or her plate. You can also extend this activity by teaching kids how to make healthy eating choices.

Spelling Beach Ball

This game allows students to review their spelling words in a fun way. Put all the spelling words in a bag. Next, draw a word from the bag and toss a beach ball to a child. That child will say the first letter of the spelling word and toss the beach ball to another student. The person that caught the beach ball will say the second letter of the word and pass the ball to another student. This process will continue until all the letters in the word are spelled.

If a student says an incorrect letter, he must toss the ball to someone else and then he must sit out for the rest of the game. The game will keep going until there is only one student left standing. Alternatively, if you are playing this game at home with your child, you can toss the ball back and forth to each other and no one sits out.

Making Soap

Teach students about liquids and solids by making soap. You will need:

• Four ounces of glycerin soap
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Small saucepan
• Scented oil
• Ground oatmeal
• Spoon
• Cookie sheet
• Vegetable oil
• Waxed paper
• Cookie cutters (optional)

Put the glycerin soap in a saucepan and melt it on the stove (or hotplate) over medium heat. When the soap becomes liquid, add a teaspoon of scented oil, such as peppermint or cinnamon. Next, add a tablespoon of ground oatmeal for some texture. Let the mixture cool in the saucepan for ten minutes. Once the soap mixture has cooled, place it on a cookie sheet. Have your second graders make little balls out of the soap or flatten it out and use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. Let the soap dry on the waxed paper.