Small Group Activities for Preschoolers: 8 Ideas for an Inspired Classroom

A preschool classroom is a magical place. ✨

Throughout the day, we get to witness young children transform into scientists, artists, readers, and maybe even firefighters. The same little bodies that struggled to carry in backpacks half their size earlier in the day, are now ruling an entire lego kingdom protected by a dragon.

It’s amazing. And while on the surface, these activities appear to just be kids at play, studies show that what we are actually witnessing are the beginnings of real developmental transformations.

We’ve all seen the data. Young children who go to preschool are more likely to seek higher education when they grow up, more likely to be successful at work, and more likely to have higher earnings as an adult than kids who don’t have access to early learning. 

So how can educators create an inspired preschool classroom that yields lasting positive outcomes for the children in their care? Much of it comes down to integrating the right small group activities into your curriculum. 

Table of contents

• The importance of small group activities
• How to set up small group activities at your school or center
• Small group ideas for preschool
• Making the most out of small group time
  
  

Looking for activity ideas to help young children transition easier? Check out these 18 Activities to Help Ease Kids Back into the Classroom.

The importance of small group activities in preschool

For preschool teachers, center directors, support staff and of course, students — small group activities are a crucial tool for an early learning curriculum. 

By structuring students into multiple teams, preschool teachers can focus on a few individual children at a time. This empowers teachers to observe each child individually in various environments and better assess each student’s strengths and weaknesses.

In fact, small group activities encourage development in:

• Cooperation and teamwork 
• Conversational skills
• Compromising and managing feelings
• Sharing and empathy
• And thought leadership

In a small group setting, children have the opportunity to share their ideas and experiences with each other. They can learn from one another's strengths and work through differences and disagreements together.

How to set up small group activities at your school or center

To harness the full benefits of small group activities for preschoolers, it’s important for teachers to choose activities that are not only fun and educational, but that will also challenge the students without overwhelming them.

Here are some key considerations to keep in mind as you select your small group activities.

• Safety: Preschoolers are little petri dishes of germs. These days, we need to be especially cautious when working in small groups. Consider the wishes of the families of individual children around social distancing and mask wearing, and encourage kids to practice regular hand washing. Where necessary, try to select activities with disposable items for individual use.

• Educational Level: The cognitive difference between ages three and four is pretty staggering. It’s a good idea for your small group activities to have some flexibility as far as how challenging they are. You may find that some small groups are more advanced than others, and therefore need more advanced activities to help them stay engaged. By having activities that are adaptable to each group, you can ensure every child’s needs are met.

• Educational Goal: It’s important to go into small group activities with an educational goal in mind. Whether it’s math, literacy, or social emotional learning, small group activities can be a great way to engage kids in the curriculum.

• Time of Day: Scheduling small group activities at the right point during the day can make all the difference as tired or hungry kids may be less engaged in an activity. Aim to do small group activities when your students are most engaged in learning time.  

• Size of Group: The ideal group size for preschool is between 3 and 6 students. It may take some trial and error in the classroom to figure out the types of activities that require more or fewer kids in a group, and to also figure out how your own students respond to various group sizes.

• Students’ Strengths: When grouping students, you’re going to want to ensure that your groups are well-balanced. Leaning on student assessments when deciding groups can be a great way of ensuring everyone is set up to learn from each other.

What are the different small group activities for preschoolers?

The fantastic thing about small group activities is that they can be interchanged to fit specific curriculum and learning goals in a preschool classroom — whether those goals are HighScope, academic, or anything in between.

Combining literacy and math goals with a highly engaging activity like art or music can also help kids learn faster while having fun.

The following small group activity ideas cover math, literacy and other subjects. Once you find the activities that work best for your class, these templates can be recycled to fit whatever curriculum goals you may have.

Kick the letter / number cup

Applicable Subjects: Math, literacy, fine motor

Group Size: 3 to 6

Materials: Plastic cups, permanent markers, a small ball

Instructions: Write individual letters or numbers on plastic cups. Line the cups up in rows, and give your group a small soccer ball. Instruct the kids to kick the ball towards the cups. You can either have the group call out the letter/number to aim towards, or have the group call out the letter/number that was hit. 

Color sorting letters / numbers

Applicable Subjects: Math, literacy, art, fine motor

Group Size: 3 to 4

Materials: Poster board, paint, colored dot stickers, markers

Instructions: Have either a teacher or small group paint a rainbow on a poster board. Write individual letters and numbers on colored dot stickers, then have students peel off the sticker with the correct letter or number and place it on the corresponding color on the rainbow. 

Trace and draw

Applicable Subjects: Art, fine motor

Group Size: 5 to 6

Materials: Large sheets of paper, markers

Instructions: Have every child lay down on a long sheet of paper and trace their outlines. Then, have the rest of the group fill in all the outlines by coloring and drawing nice things about each person in their outline. This activity can also be tailored to individual curriculums. For example, you can draw a butterfly outline and have each student draw caterpillars, etc.

Our own storybook

Applicable Subjects: Literacy, art

Group Size: 3 to 6

Materials: A book, papers, markers

Instructions: This activity works best if teachers can lead individual groups. A teacher will read a single page out of a story. When the teacher is done, aske the small groups to each draw a beginning, middle and end for how they think the story should go. Once the groups are done, they’ll have their own storybooks.

The clapping game

Applicable Subjects: Math

Group Size: 3 to 6

Materials: N/A

Instructions: Ask the students to listen carefully as the teacher claps a number between 1 and 10. From there, invite each group to take turns clapping the same number back to the teacher, counting as they go.

ABC go fish

Applicable Subjects: Literacy

Group Size: 4 to 6

Materials: Flashcards, markers

Instructions: This activity works best with larger groups, as kids tend to lose attention if they have too many cards. Write a single letter on each flashcard, making two of each letter. Split the cards between the players, and invite the kids play go fish. 

Snowball fight

Applicable Subjects: Literacy, math, fine motor

Group Size: 3 to 6

Materials: Flashcards, marker, tape, ping-pong balls

Instructions: Write individual letters or numbers on flashcards (one letter / number per group) and tape the flashcards to the wall. Call out the sound a letter makes, the name of a letter, or the name of a number, and ask the kids to throw the snowball at what you called out. 

Spider building

Applicable Subjects: Art, math, fine motor

Group Size: 3 to 6

Materials: Color coordinated playdough, pipe cleaners, googly eyes

Instructions: Ask each child in the group to select a color for their spider. Invite them to work together to separate the pipe cleaners by color, and put the right colored legs onto their spiders. Encourage kids to count out the correct number of pipe cleaner legs by adding in extra pipe cleaners. Once they’re finished, ask them to count out two googly eyes to put on their spiders.

Making the most of small group time

Small group activities provide a great chance for teachers to get some individualized observations in. They can also present the perfect opportunity to share important moments with families. 

Teachers can snap photos of students engaged in small groups, and send notes to parents highlighting what they’ve worked on, how their child is progressing and why these activities are important to key learning outcomes.

If you’re already a MomentPath user, you can safely share highlights from your small group activities via the secure messaging center. Teachers can quickly take photos of students, write a personal note about what they’re working on, and send updates to parents while staying engaged in the activity. 

Learn more about how MomentPath can help you track your curriculum, monitor a child’s progress, and keep families close. Schedule your free demo today.