Patriotic USA Activities for Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten

Celebrate America with these USA activities & centers designed for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. These USA activities are great for Presidents’ Day, Veteran’s Day, the 4th of July, Flag day, Memorial Day, or during election time. This is a great way to introduce social studies to 3, 4, & 5 year old students. There are ideas for math, literacy, sensory, art, blocks & STEM, and more! Don’t forget to grab your USA FREEBIES at the end of the post!

Grab the USA Math & Literacy Centers, Summer Directed Drawings, Summer STEM I Can Build pack, or USA Fine Motor Math Mats.

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USA Activities for Literacy Activities

Star Letter Sort! I grabbed these shiny star plates from the dollar store, and they are just perfect for the USA theme. I wrote letters on each one and had students sort different letter manipulatives onto the plates. Keep reading for more easy and fun patriotic activities for young children. 

Stars & Stripes Beginning Sounds Clip Cards! Have your little learners practice identifying beginning sounds and letter identification with these patriotic clip cards. Place star stickers or mark on the back of the correct answer to make these cards self-checking. 

Patriotic Writing Tray! Create a blue sensory bin writing tray with blue sand or dyed salt and sprinkles. Young children pick a letter card and write it in the writing tray. Then, they shake it gently and go again. If your preschool children don’t like the feeling of the salt, they can use a pom pom to write with.

USA Read, Build, Write Mats! Give students an opportunity to practice letter identification and formation with these read, build, write mats. Students can build the letters with play dough, small Legos, pom poms, or any other manipulatives you have in your classroom.  Building the letters is great for little hands to practice fine motor skills on the play dough mats. 

Patriotic Coloring Page! This USA FREEBIE is such a great way to introduce your students to the men and women that serve our country. These make a great hallway decoration or bulletin board display during a USA holiday like the Fourth of July or President’s Day. 

>>Grab the FREEBIE by entering your email in the box at the bottom of the post, and it will be sent to you.<<

USA Writing Center! Set up a writing center with a USA theme for students to practice literacy skills. I set out star stickers, hearts to cut out, scissors, markers, themed paper, vocabulary words, letter/card printables for students to write on. To ration stickers, cut them into little sheets, and students will get one sheet.

USA Vocabulary Words! Have students lace letter beads onto pipe cleaners to spell vocabulary words. This is great for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and letter identification.

USA Book List! Check out this book list with over 20 USA books that are suited for little learners. They are the ones that I read and love in my classroom.

USA Activities for Math Skills

Fireworks Roll & Sort! Create a butcher paper activity with a fun USA theme. I drew fireworks and set out small pom poms and a die. Students rolled the die and counted the correct number of pom poms out. Then, they sorted them by color and placed them on the matching firework. Have students work in a small group to practice social skills, too.

Firework Number Mats! Little learners can practice counting, one-to-one correspondence, and number identification with these firework number mats. Students identified the number and counted that many star beads onto the ten frames.  This is great for morning tubs in your early childhood education room. 

Military Numbers! Print these number mats and laminate them for durability. Then students can use dry-erase markers to trace the numbers. They can also use little pom poms to count out or to build the number instead of writing the number.

Star Number Puzzles! I am using some star plates from the dollar store to make these number puzzles. I cut them in half in different designs. Then, I wrote the number on one side and placed dot stickers on the other. This activity is so easy to change and make fit your academic needs in your classroom.

President Roll, Add, and Count! Practice addition skills with these roll, add, and count mats with a presidential theme. First, students roll 2 dice. Then, they add the numbers on the dice. Next, build a tower with that many linking cubes and place it on the sum.

Snack Election! Your students will love having a snack election in the classroom. Make a large graph together and then record results on worksheets. Talk about more than, less than, and equal to with your little learners.

America Patterns! Make America patterns with these pattern strips and pieces. I keep everything in little bins or trays to help keep my preschool activities organized. There are patterns for AB, ABB, AABB, and ABC options. This makes it easy for you to differentiate for your academic needs in your classroom.

USA Maps! Have your students create their own maps with these map keys and blank maps. Students can draw mountains, rivers, lakes, hills, forests, and roads on their maps. This could also be a whole group activity where you actually draw the symbols to match the United States, and they copy onto their own map.

USA Activities for Art

Flag Craftivity FREEBIE! Use this FREE flag template to create all kinds of patriotic art! I had students glue tissue paper squares to complete the flag. But you could also have them paint or color the picture too. Students could also cut paper strips into squares and glue those onto the flag template.

>>Grab the USA FREEBIE by entering your email in the box at the bottom, and it will be sent to you!<<

Poppy Painting! Create a field of poppy flowers by having students paint green on a paper. While the paint was still wet, they sprinkled glitter on it. Then, they glued crumbled red tissue paper for the poppy flowers. Poppy flowers signify the sacrifice of the soldiers who have fought for our freedoms.

USA Activities for Sensory & Fine Motor

USA Sensory Table! Make a USA sensory table by coloring rice with tempera paint. This isn’t my usual way of dying rice, but it made the colors more vibrant. It did get a little clumpy, but my students didn’t mind. I added in some pom poms, cupcake flag toppers, silicone cupcake liners, scoops, and buckets.

USA Sensory Bottles! These sensory bottles are a huge hit in my classroom! I love the USA ones because they are so sparkly and patriotic. The first one has dyed rice and other USA items. The second is filled with star confetti and glitter. The third one is cut-up pipe cleaners and pom poms. For complete steps to make these, go here!

USA Play Dough Tray! Set up a USA play dough tray for your students with cupcake American flag toppers, star cookie cutters, star beads, silicone cupcake liners, play dough tools, United States cookie cutters, and play dough. Play dough is the best way for little learners to strengthen their fine motor muscles. 

Star Lacing! Practice fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and more with this simple lacing activity. Students used pipe cleaners as the base and laced star beads and cut-up straws that I found at the dollar store. You can turn them into bracelets for even more fun!

Patriotic Punches Fine Motor Journal Idea! This fine motor journal activity turned out so cute! Students used hole punches to strengthen their hand grip and coordination. Then, they glued their strips into their fine motor journals. I think they look so festive!

Firework Fine Motor Journal Idea! Start by having students practice making diagonal lines to create fireworks. Then, make a connection to the letter x. Diagonal lines can be quite difficult for students to make in the beginning, so guiding them in their development is important.

Money Fine Motor Journal Idea! Talk about different kinds of coins, the people on them, the symbols on the back, and how much they are worth if your students are interested. Then, practice drawing the coins in the fine motor journals. This is a great activity to talk about self-portraits, too. This is a great addition on President’s Day for older children to learn about the kinds of coins.

USA Activities for Blocks & STEM

USA Blocks & STEM Props! Set your block or STEM area up for a USA theme by adding some patriotic plates and straws, people, money, flags, flowers, and necklaces. Add paper towel tubes for all of the columns that are present in a lot of the government buildings. I found most of these things at the dollar store, and my students loved all the red, white, and blue options. You can find the USA STEM I Can Build cards in this pack.

A USA theme can be done several times throughout the year to fit your preschool curriculum schedule, so pick your favorite ideas and keep them handy in your lesson plans! There are lots of learning experiences for your preschool students that are hands-on activities that practice literacy skills, social-emotional development, fine motor skills, and math skills. Be sure to stock up on red, white, and blue supplies from your dollar store after the holidays when things are marked down. Grab all the patriotic printables from Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking on the images below.

Check out this USA blog post for more ideas for your classroom!

Check out these videos to see some USA activities in action!

Grab the USA activities FREE printables below.

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