Elementary school students are often energetic and always want to play. Having a few ideas for a couple of 5-minute activities on hand can help you keep them engaged while learning as well. Check out our list of 20 5-minute activities for elementary school students and you will find something for everyone. From creative projects to cooking adventures and analytical tasks, your students will have a blast working through these tasks!
1. Leadership Journal
There might be a few natural leaders in your classroom who are still developing the self-confidence needed to shine and speak up with their ideas. This quick leadership journal could help them work on the leadership skills needed to do so. Quick ideas like this are inexpensive and effective.
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2. Telephone
This game does not even require a single piece of paper or other prep! Have each student repeat a chosen phrase to the next person in line and see how the phrase changes as it’s whispered around the circle before the last person utters it aloud!
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3. Mazes For Kids
If your students are looking for something basic, these mazes are fun games that make for excellent 5-minute time fillers. Awesome classroom time fillers like these mazes can make the transition from one task to another a whole lot smoother. A book like this one is filled to the brim with ideas!
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4. Word Searches
Fun logic games are a different type of activity your students might be interested in. Word searches are sure to become one of the favorite games your learners wish to complete when they have some extra time.
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5. Kitchen Experiments
Including these fun STEAM kitchen experiments in your lesson plans could get the students really excited about being in the kitchen and doing science as well. These quick activities can even lead to nutrition education lessons.
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6. Show and Tell
Show and Tell is one of those special activities that students love to participate in. Utilize those pesky minutes in transition time to have the students present an item they love from class or home.
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7. Number Tracing
Many elementary school students are still working on printing numbers correctly. Put these few extra minutes between tasks to good use by asking learners to work through pages like the ones linked below. You can photocopy pages ahead of time to ensure they’re readily on hand when needed.
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8. Word Association Games
Your elementary school classroom might already be full of word work and spelling lessons. Give word association games a try by adding them to your classroom routine.
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9. Star Wars Stories
Another 5-minute activity for children is listening to short stories. If your students always talk about these movies or dress up as some of these characters for Halloween, these types of stories might interest them.
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10. Build Your Own Cupcake Sticker Activity Book
This book is fun and adorable. Students get very excited about any book that comes with stickers. They can interact with these pages by decorating their own cupcake with the included stickers and then coloring the page with markers or pencil crayons as well.
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11. Timed Tests
Some students thrive on competition and seeing how much work they can do in a given amount of time. Giving them 5 minutes to work through these pages can have them compare how many questions they answered from one day to the next. This is a fabulous learning activity and a wonderful opportunity to develop student improvement.
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12. Search & Find
Many students are big fans of the iSpy books and these books are similar. This Big Book of Search & Find items is the perfect activity for kids who are visual learners.
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13. Dot-to-Dot
Who knows what kind of image these dot-to-dot pages will uncover? Younger elementary students can learn about number sequencing with the help of this easy activity. Use the completed pages as a basic assessment to see if students need revision to better understand the concept.
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14. Quick Journal Entry
Challenge students to write a quick journal entry with a topic you give them. First-grade students to fourth-grade students can work with this idea and generate a fantastic piece of writing.
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15. Sunday School Activities
Take a look at this activity book if you are a Sunday school teacher or work in a Catholic elementary school. Elementary school-aged children will definitely learn a lot from these reflections and crafts too!
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16. Draw Anime
Anime is a popular genre amongst elementary and middle school kids. If they are interested in drawing and enjoy watching anime, then this book will definitely mesmerize them as they learn how to draw characters themselves.
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17. Paint by Sticker
This book is awesome because the results of these designs are amazing. Students absolutely love working with stickers. This type of activity will also teach them about recognizing numbers as they work through creating the images.
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18. Knock Knock Jokes
Elementary school students are often energetic and always want to play. Having a few ideas for a couple of 5-minute activities on hand can help you keep them engaged while learning as well. Check out our list of 20 5-minute activities for elementary school students and you will find something for everyone. From creative projects to cooking adventures and analytical tasks, your students will have a blast working through these tasks!
Learn More: Amazon
19. Hidden Pictures
Expand visual recognition and oral language skills by having the kids describe what they see and where they see it.
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20. How to Draw Animals
Mix students’ love for animals with their love for being creative. Making a few copies of the pages that look at how to draw their favorite animals will allow students to transition into the next activity after having some time to be creative.
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