Are you pulling your hair wondering how you can keep those eager second graders who zoom through their worksheets or projects occupied while the rest of the class catches up? Well, fear not! I’ve got some 2nd grade early finishers activities and strategies up my sleeve that you can use with your kiddos who finish faster than you anticipated.
Here are a few fun and educational 2nd grade early finishers activities to keep those early finishers on their toes.
2nd Grade Early Finishers Activities
1. Independent Reading
Create a cozy reading nook in your classroom with fun and entertaining books that will draw your 2nd grader’s attention. Graphic novels work really well with my 2nd grader. You can even have your early finishers create a reading bucket list for you and use those books to fill your reading nook.
Encourage your students to draw their favorite character or narrate the story afterward to enhance their comprehension, reading, and vocabulary skills.
2. Creative Writing Prompts
Keep a cubby or basket filled with fun and engaging seasonal writing prompts to get your students to tap into their creativity and build on their writing fluency.
When your kiddos finish early they can head on over to the cubby or basket grab a writing prompt and quietly work through it.
Writing activities that you can use with your second grade early finishers:
- Fun summer writing prompts
- Spring writing prompts
- Spring acrostic writing packet
- April writing prompts
3. Math Activities
Add fun and engaging math worksheets and activities to your math centers that early and fast finishers can work through while the rest of the class catches up. Math worksheets can include seasonal theme activities, spiral worksheets, review worksheets, or fun logic math worksheets geared toward the second grade.
Shop 2nd Grade Addition and Subtraction Worksheets!
4. Arts & Crafts
Have an arts and crafts station with fun art supplies such as colored paper, water paints, markers, beads, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, etc. Allowing your fast finishers to tap into their creativity and let their authenticity shine through their art.
You could also have a cubby in this section where you store cute coloring pages.
5. STEM Exploration
Provide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) kits or activities for your early finishers to explore and analyze while engaging in hands-on learning. Some of my favorite STEAM kits on Amazon:
6. Fun & Engaging Puzzles
These puzzle activities are not just about keeping your fast finishers busy. But rather designed to stimulate and foster critical thinking in a fun and engaging fashion.
From word searches, I Spy, and logic math puzzles your 2nd graders would strengthen their problem-solving abilities.
7. 2 Truths & A Lie
If you have multiple early finishers you could definitely consider having them play two truths and a lie as a small group. It’s a fun activity that will help your students get to know their classmates better and build empathy and friendships.
8. Cut and Paste/ Sorting Worksheets
Kids love sorting, matching, and cut-and-paste activities. Have this hands-on, interactive bundle on hand and watch your students’ excitement as they cut and paste or match animals to their home. Sort objects by color, day or night, or numbers to their quantities.
9. Grammar Worksheets
Use these grammar worksheets as early or fast finishers to review your students’ knowledge of homophones, parts of speech, consonant blends, and Ch, Sh, Th, and Wh digraphs.
10. Vocabulary Building
Use these activities to improve and enhance your students’ vocabulary fluency. Students would need to unscramble the focus word to make new works.
Grab These Vocabulary Worksheets
Conclusion
The key is providing fun and engaging activities that allow students to continue learning and growing at their own pace. Offering diverse options, to keep your kiddos engaged while fostering a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.
Have these early finishers’ activities hand by so the next time your students say – “Miss/sir I’m all done!” you are prepared for it.😃
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