Ready, set, go! Bring a sports theme into your classroom to engage your little learners during a study on the Olympics, and ball study, or types of sports, or force and motion. Kids love to play sports and a sports theme is a great way to get some reluctant learners engaged in math, literacy, fine motor, and more! Keep reading for over 25 ideas for sports activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
Grab the Sports Math & Literacy Centers, I Can Build Sports STEM, and the All About Force & Motion Science for Little Learners here.
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Fine Motor & Art Sports Activities for Preschool
Golf Tee Fine Motor Activity! Cut a pool noodle into pieces and then slice it in half so that it sits flat on the table. Students will push or pound golf tees into the pool noodle. Then, they can place pom poms or golf balls onto the golf tees to match the colors. Make it even more difficult with tweezers! To extend this activity more, have your students make patterns with the colors.
Sports Collage! Print the sports balls templates and have students make a fun collage with tissue paper! Other paper will work but tissue paper allows the students to see the dark black lines of the type of ball underneath. This is a wonderful art project that will help your preschool students build their fine motor skills.
Golf Pre-Writing Activity! Get your preschool students practicing writing with these adorable sports tracing lines. They have a cute golf theme and can be laminated for use over and over again. There is a recording sheet to accompany this activity; if you would like.
Sports Play Dough Mats! Build fine motor strength with these fun sports-themed FREE play dough mats! Fill out the form below and they will be emailed to you. Then print them out and laminate for easier clean-up. You can cut them apart or keep them 2 to a page. Students will make the play dough sports equipment and then trace the word underneath. These are the perfect addition for some sports activities for preschool and pre-k students.
>>Grab the Sports Play Dough Mats FREEBIE below! Fill in the form and they will be emailed to you!<<
Sports Play Dough Tray! Make an amazing sports-themed play dough tray with mini erasers, sports Easter eggs, cookie cutters, play dough, sports letter cards, and sports-themed cupcake toppers. Don’t forget to add scissors to your play dough tray for even more fine motor strengthening!
Literacy Sports Activities for preschool
Sports Book List! Check out my list of over 20 sports books that are nonfiction and fiction. Your students will love these titles and they are hand-picked for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.
Sports Writing Center! Create an inviting writing center with the sports-themed vocabulary cards. cute paper, fun writing utensils, and more! Put fun activities in your writing center and you will have more students visiting this center.
Letter Hockey! Make this adorable and engaging letter hockey game for your preschool students to practice letter identification. Make the hockey sticks with the thick popsicle sticks taped together. The goals are some plastic baskets from the dollar store. Lastly, they letter pucks are stackable button counters that I wrote letters on. Students will use the hockey sticks to push the letter pucks into the goals. They will say the letter, sound, or whatever learning objective you want them to focus on.
Tennis Letter Serve Butcher Paper Activity! Make a large butcher paper activity to get your students moving while learning! Draw tennis balls with letters, numbers, shapes, etc. inside. Then students will roll a dice and use a fly swatter to hit the matching letter. They will be using their shoulder, arms, wrist, and hand muscles in this engaging activity.
Sports Letter Hunt! Use Easter eggs that are shaped like different balls and hide letters inside of them. Students will pick an egg, open it, identify the letter, write it on their paper, then place the letter back in the egg and close it for the next student. Opening and closing Easter eggs is a great way to strengthen fine motor muscles. Find more ways to use plastic eggs in the classroom here.
Basketball Letters! This fun basketball game is going to be a swish in your classroom! Find the letter cards here. The basketball hoops are Easter baskets that I taped letter cards to. Grab some soft, foam basketballs and have students shoot the ball into the basket, then say the letter and sound.
Soccer Names! This is such a fun way to practice names for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. Grab a soccer paper plate bundle from the dollar store and letter manipulatives and you are set! I like to use these FREE name cards all over the classroom.
Soccer Sight Words! Grab all the printables for this fun soccer sight word game and get started right away. Students will pick a sight word and read it, then write it on the mat, and lastly spell it with the soccer balls letters.
Volleyball Syllables! Identifying syllables is an important literacy skill for little learners to practice in the classroom; so do it in a fun and engaging way! Students will identify the picture and count the syllables. Then, they will jump the syllables and lastly, build a tower with the correct number of syllables.
Sports Letter Match! Use printables you already have on the light table! The light shines through and makes the learning experience new and exciting. I am using some sports-themed letter mats and some DIY letter manipulatives. I made them with bottle caps, dot stickers, and a marker. Students match the letter manipulatives to the letter mats to practice letter recognition.
Math Sports Activities for Preschool
Basketball Count! Print the counting pieces and students will match the different cards that show the same number. I also had students count out some mini erasers to match the numbers on the hoops. This is great to practice one-to-one correspondence, number identification, and number sense. Put the cards in a sensory bin for more fun!
Football Field Goal Count Butcher Paper Activity! Get a large piece of paper and make this fun counting game for little learners. I drew some footballs with numbers inside of them and gave students dominos. They counted the dots and placed the dominos in the matching number football. Butcher paper activities are great for building social skills too!
Football Number Mats! Use these sports-themed number mats to practice writing, building, and counting numbers 1-20. Laminate the mats so students can use dry erase markers.
Pool Number Match! Cut some pool noodles into smaller pieces and write numbers on them. Then, draw dots, ten frames, tally marks, and more for your students to match to the number. This is a great activity for number recognition, number sense, and fine motor.
Baseball Shapes! Practice shape identification with your preschool all-stars with this fun baseball sorting mat. Students will draw a shape card and place a small manipulative on the matching shape.
Bowling Subtraction! Are you practicing subtraction in your classroom? Then, I have a fun game for you! Use the printable bowling alley subtraction mat to play a fun math game. Students pick a number card and knock down that many pins. Then count the remaining and write the difference. If your students are not ready for subtraction, there is a bowling counting board included too!
Track Count! Roll a die and dot that many spaces. Keep going until someone reaches twenty! Students can play individually or in groups. Give each student a different colored dot marker. This game also includes game boards to 10, 20 and 50 so you can easily differentiate for your students!
Sports Games for Gross Motor Activities
DIY Balance Beam! Create a DIY balance beam by cutting a 2×4 in half and covering it with duct tape. I use these for indoor recess, an obstacle course, and movement breaks. Take it outside for recess too! Gross motor skills are incredibly important to work on and develop in young children. Strong big muscles make strong little muscles and we all want strong fine motor muscles for successful writers.
Hockey Gross Motor Activity! Grab some more pool noodles and cut them in half for little learners. Get some beach balls or other soft, light balls to use in the classroom. Students hit the balls with their pool noodles into the laundry baskets. Get some energy out and improve hand-eye coordination in your little learners. This is a great team sport game for musical and movement time, indoor recess, or some brain break.
DIY Ribbon Bracelets! Make some ribbon bracelets to use for music and movement time all year long by tying ribbon to a hairband. I made a set and they lasted 15 years. I keep mine on a book ring for storage so they don’t get tangled.
Art & Sensory Sports Activities for Preschool Students
Pom Pom Cutting Craft! I got this cute idea from Dr. Jean when I first started teaching! Each student makes a set (don’t put names on them) and can use them all year long for music and movement time. Keep a basket, and randomly give out quickly since there are no names on them. Take a paper bag and cut strips to the folded bottom part. Then fold and staple/glue to make a handle.
Sports Ball Art! Use various types of balls for various textures and size lines to create a sports-themed art project! Put the paper in a box lid for easy clean up; just throw it away after the unit. I like to squirt paint on the paper and then move the balls around to spread the paint for the perfect sports crafts!
Sports Sensory Bin! Dye some beans and make a fun sports-themed sensory activity for your students. Add in some different sports mini erasers, plastic eggs, scoops, small trophies, and sports cups to complete the sensory play. Young children crave sensory play and by giving them an outlet they may work better for you later in the day.
Blocks & STEM Sports Activities for Preschool
Sports Blocks & STEM Props! Grab the I Can Build Sports STEM cards to give your students visual ideas for things they can build in the blocks center using real photographs. Then add some pom poms, trophies, medals, bean bag sports balls, and net bags. I also put some books and blueprint pages in my blocks center for students to become even more creative in your fun environment.
Science Sports Activities for Preschool
Force & Motion Science Unit! Teach students about the force and motion with this complete and done-for-you science unit created for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students! It is packed with hands-on, learning experiences that will teach your students the beginning of larger science concepts. Force and motion will make a great study for sports activities for preschool learners.
Sports Dramatic Play Idea
Bowling Alley Dramatic Play! Create a bowling alley dramatic play area in your classroom to complete the sports theme in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten room. Students will practice writing numbers, hand-eye coordination, and get out some pent-up energy. Grab the bowling alley printables here.
These sports-themed math and literacy centers are going to be a homerun in your classroom! There are tons of ideas for sports activities for preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten students that are hands-on, engaging, and perfect for a sports, ball, or Olympics study. Students will be improving their literacy skills, math skills, and fine motor muscles in no time!
Grab the printable materials for sports activities for preschool, pre-k, and kinder from the Sports Math & Literacy Centers pack.
Check out the I Can Build Sports STEM cards!
Don’t forget the Force & Motion Science Unit!
Be sure to grab the Summer Directed Drawing Bundle for a sports art lesson. I am sure you have a baseball fan in your class!
Want more sports activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten? Watch the Sports Theme Activities video on the Pocket of Preschool YouTube channel!
Grab the sports play dough mats FREEBIE by filling in the form below! It will make the perfect sports activities for preschool, pre-k, and kinder friends.
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I’m Jackie, your go-to girl for early childhood inspiration and research-based curriculum.
