It can be difficult to reach all students with each and every classroom activity, but fortunately, these 35 multiple intelligence activities are an effective way to foster engagement and enhance learning outcomes for all of Gardner’s intelligence. Utilize these multi-faceted ideas to help students grasp difficult concepts in a fun and creative way and cater to all learning styles!
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Visual-Spatial Intelligence Activities
1. Working Memory Task
Practice visual-spatial skills with this working memory task. Simply use paper and a dot marker to create a pattern, flip the page over, and ask the child to replicate the pattern. Use this again and again and make the patterns as complex or as simple as you prefer.
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2. Spatial Awareness with Simple Blocks
Develop spatial awareness by asking children to recreate the same pattern of blocks that you create. All you need for this activity are stacking blocks, LEGOs, or other stackable objects. Challenge your learners by increasing the complexity of the builds.
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3. Stacking Dice Activity
Test your littles’ patience and motor skills with this dice-stacking activity. Print or draw the desired pattern on a sheet of paper and ask the child to stack the die so that they replicate the model.
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4. Visual Memory Sequencing Game
Play a “What Did I See” game with cards and other household objects. Ask children to flip a card over and state what they saw on the card. Next, they will move to the next card and state what they saw on the first and each subsequent card from memory.
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Linguistic-Verbal Intelligence Activities
5. Snowball Fight Speaking Activity
Write a word on a sheet of paper and crumple it up. Next, engage your learners in a “snowball” fight with the paper. They can pick it up and read the word that is on it.
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6. Odd One Out Speaking Game
Begin this activity by naming three items. Ask children to determine which word is the odd one out. For example from the words, “zoo, park, hot dog”, a hot dog is the odd one out. This can easily be altered depending on the age and interests of the children.
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7. Picture Writing Prompts
Use these pictures to develop simple, low-prep writing exercises for your students. Each picture is unique and will offer various ideas for crafting a suitable story.
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8. Vocabulary Bingo
Develop the linguistic intelligence of your littles with this simple exercise. Use the vocabulary bingo sheet to teach new words. Add small variations to have children use the new words in a sentence.
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9. Swat-It Activity
Combine two learning styles with this fun swat-it game. Get kids moving by placing certain sight words or sentences on a surface. Next, ask them to “swat” the correct sentence or word that they are practicing.
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Logical-Mathematical Intelligence Activities
10. Pattern Blocks Logic Puzzles
Develop logical reasoning in your children with these free logic puzzles. All you need are pattern blocks and paper handouts to hook kids with these stimulating puzzles. While solving them, learners will increase their problem-solving and inquiry skills.
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11. Building 3D Shapes
Grab toothpicks, play dough, and some paper to prepare for these quick and easy 3D projects. Children will model the provided shape with playdough and toothpicks and build a strong geometrical foundation in their learning.
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12. Magic Triangle: Math Puzzler for Kids
Cut out circles and trace the triangle on chart paper to create this puzzler. The goal is to add up the numbers so that the sum of one side is the same as the sum of every other side of the triangle. Children will love the challenging nature of this puzzle!
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13. Geometry Activities for Young Learners
Develop logical intelligence by simply using play dough to create specific shapes. You can also have children cut the playdough into halves, thirds, fourths, etc. to develop an early understanding of fractions.
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14. Domino Line-Up
Implement sticky notes and dominos in this hands-on math activity that’s perfect for preschoolers. Lay out numbers and ask your child to match dominos that total up to the desired number. This can be altered for lessons on fractions, multiplication, or division with older learners.
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Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence Activities
15. Jumping Activities for Kids
Get your children moving with physical exercise using these jumping activities for kids. You will only need tape or paper to put on the ground to create jumping targets for kids. Add to this body movement lesson by incorporating math or vocabulary words on the targets that kids will jump to.
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16. Freeze Dance Painting
Grab paint and a large sheet of paper or cardboard for this entertaining freeze dance sequence. Have your child step in the paint and dance on the paper while music plays. Stop the music and have your child freeze. They will love getting artsy and messy with this kinesthetic activity.
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17. Action Sight Word Games
Make learning fun and fitness-inspired with these action sight word games. Put a sight or vocabulary word on the ground and have children bounce or throw a ball, run, or jump to the specific focus word.
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18. Beanbag Games
Practice gross motor functions with these beanbag games. You will only need beanbags to perform a variety of skills including a bean bag toss, bean bag slide, and bean bag foot pass.
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19. Flying Feet Core Strength Activity
In this simple exercise, you will only need a pillow, stuffed animal, or bean bag to develop body awareness and leg strength. Children will pick up an object with just their feet and transfer it to either another person’s waiting feet or another place to develop coordination and balance.
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Musical Intelligence Activities
20. Exploring Music with DIY Instruments
Have your kiddos create their own DIY instruments from household objects and learn how sound is made with musical composition. These simple instruments will provide an engaging craft before jumping into learning more with various musical activities.
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21. Musical Storytelling Activity
Use various instruments with a small group or an entire classroom in this musical storytelling activity. Have children create musical sounds while reading an accompanying story. They can stop playing to hear certain sections of the dramatic reading and play background music to the narrative.
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22. Modified Musical Chairs
Play while moving with this modified musical chairs activity. Write a sight word on index cards and start the music. When the music stops, have all students pick up the card and read the word that is on the card.
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23. Musical Sight Words Game
Write target words on index cards for this fast and fun musical intelligence-building game. Play music and have kids dance around the cards. When the music stops, have them pick up the card nearest to them and read the word aloud!
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24. Musical Statues
Play musical statues with a single child or an entire class. All you need is music and some energy. Play the music and have the children dance along. When the music is paused, children will freeze like a statue! This game is great for developing auditory discrimination between silence and sounds.
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Interpersonal Intelligence Activities
25. Life Experiences Bingo
Ask students to write down positive experiences that they have had throughout their lives on a bingo sheet. Next, have them partner up and discuss a positive experience. They will fill in their bingo sheet until they get 5 in a row!
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26. Active Listening Communication Activity
Get students to practice active listening skills with this fun communication activity. Ask students to briefly speak on a topic while their classmates practice following along with the conversation in the correct and incorrect ways.
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27. Telephone Game
Play this game with large or small groups. Students will whisper a sentence to the person next to them until everyone around the circle has had a chance to participate. You will be surprised to see how the sentence changes by the end!
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28. That’s How We Roll Communication Activity
Use paper, pens, and dice to challenge students to build their cooperative learning skills. Write down various questions and have students roll dice in small groups. Depending on the number they roll, they will discuss their answer to the question in their small groups.
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Intrapersonal Intelligence Activities
29. What Makes Us Different Social Activity
Have students embrace their differences with this activity and subsequent discussion on how our differences make us unique. Students will make a personal outline of themselves and then discuss how they differ from their peers.
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30. Body Check Awareness Activity
Build body positivity and awareness with this body check activity. Get a large sheet of paper and have children trace themselves on the page. The outline can then be used to teach learners about the regulation of their bodies and emotions.
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31. Affirmation Catcher Activity
Simply use a sheet of paper to develop intrapersonal intelligence with these simple affirmation catchers. Children will build self-esteem and empathy as they write personal messages to themselves.
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Naturalist Intelligence Activities
32. Learning with Rocks Activity
Repurpose an old egg carton into a rock collection device with this fun activity through which learners can learn about rocks. Children will love collecting rocks to place in their cartons while learning about the different properties of certain rocks.
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33. Mud Explosion Science Activity
Splattering mud on a piece of paper has never been so much fun! This is great for the development of students’ naturalist intelligence. Scavenge some other items from nature to complete these mud monster science experiments.
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34. Cloud Spotter Activity
Paint a large piece of cardboard to create this engaging cloud spotter science activity. Children will love cloud hunting and learning more about the formation of clouds in the sky.
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35. Nature Scavenger Hunt
Print this classroom handout to equip your students for a fun scavenger hunt. This great outdoor resource can be paired with daily lessons or discussions on items in nature. Children will love crossing each item off the list and learning more about the natural world.
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