Clothing Activities and Centers for Preschool, Pre-k, and Kindergarten

A clothing theme is such a versatile theme because it can be used during several months or seasons. I like to do a clothing theme in the summer, but others do it in the winter when they talk about dressing for the cold weather during a winter theme. These clothing activities and centers are perfect for little learners to explore literacy and math skills with a fun theme they are familiar with.

Grab the Clothing Math & Literacy Centers, Color Mixing Science Unit, or the Questions of the Day Clothing Pack.

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Clothing Geoboard Mats! Have students make a clothing item on these geoboard mats for a fun activity for preschool children to practice fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are so important for the physical development of younger children. This helps them write and hold pencils as they develop. 

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Button Lacing! Get tons of fine motor practice by having your students practice lacing with large shape buttons. I used cross-stitching sheets and cut them in half. Then, students used lacing strings and large shape buttons to make designs. If you don’t have lacing strings, pipe cleaners work, too.

Yarn Wrapping! Cut out some clothing templates from cardboard and give students pieces of yarn to twist and wrap around the cardboard. This is great for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, crossing the midline, and both sides of the body working together to complete a task.

Clothing Collage! Use yarn and buttons to create a clothing collage. These open-ended art projects are colorful, bright, and a great way to decorate the classroom. Students can practice using glue bottles or I put some glue in a plastic cup and gave them paint brushes so they can spread the glue around the paper.

Clothing Play Dough Tray! Set up the most adorable clothing-themed play dough tray for your students. I used buttons, people counters, pieces of ribbon, foam/felt clothing, play dough tools, t-shirt cookie cutters, and a shoe cookie cutter.

Clothing Sensory Bin! Create a colorful sensory bin by dying rice in all sorts of colors. Then, I added buttons, pom poms, small containers, and scoop scissors. Students can sort, scoop, and manipulate the materials for sensory fun. Invite children to sort, scoop, and manipulate the materials for sensory fun with lots of different colors. 

Clothing Activities and Centers for Literacy Skills

Letter Clothespins! Make your own letter or number clothespins for the perfect clothing manipulative for clothes activities in your pre-k programs! When I make my letter clothespins, I write uppercase on one side and lowercase letters on the other.

Clothespin Names! Give students a fine motor activity that also helps them learn their names or the names of their classmates. They will also be working on letter recognition. Students use the clothespins to spell their names at their level. Some used all capital letter, some used sentence case, and some had a mix. You can grab these FREE name cards here.

Clothesline Letters! Set up a clothesline in your room for lots of learning activities during a clothing unit. These printable letter clothes are perfect to hang and match with each other. There is a capital, lowercase, and beginning sound picture for each letter.

Shoe Letter Match! Allow students to practice matching beginning sounds and letters with these fun shoe chains. There are uppercase, lowercase, and beginning sounds included in the printable shoes. I had students use chain links to connect the matches.

Clothing Syllables! Young children will love playing this feed me syllables game. Students pick a piece of clothing, identify the picture, and count the number of syllables. Then, they crumble it up and toss it into the correct washing machine.

Clothing Books! Check out this list of my favorite clothing books for little learners. There are over 25 titles to choose from that range from fiction to nonfiction and funny to educational.

Tie Rhymes! Finish the ties to complete the rhymes. These fun rhyming puzzles can be made self-matching by putting shapes or stickers on the back of each match.

Clothing Writing Table! Create a writing table with these printable clothing vocabulary words, fun-themed paper, a variety of writing tools, and dot markers since clothing has polka dots.

Flip Flop Rhymes Light Table! Practice rhymes on the light table with these fun rhyme flip flops. Students find the matching rhymes and pair them together. Putting printables on a light table is one of the different ways I try to engage little hands and get children’s interest. It is great for small groups to work on during center time or free play. 

Clothing activities and Centers for Math

Pete the Cat Dot It! Make a shirt from butcher paper or a large poster board and have students decorate the shirt. I set out color dice, and students rolled one. Then, they added one dot of the matching color to the shirt. This activity is working on colors, counting, and self-regulation.

Clothing Number Mats! Little learners can work on counting, one-to-one correspondence, number recognition, and more with these clothing-themed ten frame mats. Students identify the number, trace the number, and add that many manipulatives on the mat. I used buttons, but you could use pom poms, mini erasers, play dough, or any other small counting pieces.

Clothesline Counting! Play this matching counting game by having students clip the number cards on a clothesline. Students can work on putting the numbers in order or matching the number with the dice and ten frames. This is great for number sense and number recognition. This could also be played as a memory game for another math center. 

Clothing Counting Mats! Play this clothing design it game by having students count the correct amount of items to add to their shirt. Students pick number cards and place them on the mat. Then, they add that many strips, dots, or stars to the shirt. Clear the board and go again. To make this game more difficult, there is an addition mat, too.

Button Shape Match! Create a shape butcher paper activity by drawing shapes on the paper. Then, have students match shape manipulatives onto the butcher paper. I had students match shape buttons, but you also use foam shapes or any other shaped manipulatives that you have in your room.

Fabric Patterns! Grab some discount fabric and cut it into different shapes and sizes. Then, allow students to design their own quilt pieces. I had students lay the fabric on a paper square, and they had to keep their fabric within the square. This activity works on spatial awareness and manipulating shapes.

Sock Sorting! Grab some socks from the dollar store and mix them up. Have students practice matching them, sorting them by size, or practice nonstandard measurement with linking cubes.

Clothing Size Sort! Create another math center with this printable game for a size sorting activity for different items of clothing. This also comes with activity sheets for themed math worksheets for another learning experience. 

Button Patterns! Practice patterns with these button pattern cards. Students can practice extending multiple kinds of patterns or creating their own patterns. If you don’t have buttons, just use pom poms, mini erasers, or foam shapes.

Mitten Color Sorting Light Table! I made my own colorful mittens using tissue paper and then laminated them for durability. I gave students colored manipulatives to sort onto each mitten. The plastic ice cubes and snowflake beads are a favorite in the wintertime for a light table manipulative. This a great option for more clothing activities!

Clothing Activities and Centers for Science, STEM, Dramatic Play, and ART

Color Mixing Science Table! Set up a color investigation since clothing is so colorful and bright. Students can practice mixing colors, learning about primary and secondary colors, and more. This complete, printable science unit is designed for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. The best way to keep your table clean is to lay a shower curtain down and only put out small amounts of colored liquid for them to mix. 

Community Helpers Blocks & STEM props! Create a connection to your students’ world by learning about community helpers with a clothing unit. So many people in the community are involved in the creation and distribution of clothing that you could talk about in your classroom.

The road pieces are road tape placed on card stock so students can build roads in their towns. Add in community vehicles and these FREE printable community signs for even more props.

Smash Painting! Talk about symmetry with this fold and smash painting project. Fold the construction paper in half, then open it back up. Drop some paint onto one side and fold the paper again. Smash the paint around and open the paper. Allow to dry. Then, you can have students trace their hands to make a pair of gloves or draw a different piece of clothing for a tie-dye effect.

Home Living Dramatic Play! For the dramatic play area, set up a home living area. You can add a washer, dryer, and clothesline with clothes to wash, fold, and sort. Two year olds plus love a home living area for a dramatic play center time. Students can work on social interactions, literacy skills, and math activities. 

A clothing theme can be a fun way to bring something familiar into the classroom and make it educational across all the subjects. Plus, I love that these clothing activities and centers can be used any time of the year when you have a hole you need to fill in your lesson plans. There are so many fun activities that students can do for a clothes theme. Don’t forget to grab the clothing FREEBIE at the bottom of the post.

Click the images below to see the resources for your clothing theme.

Head over here to get ideas for clothing read-alouds or circle time.

Grab the clothing activities freebie here!

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