Looking for a Kindergarten homeschool curriculum can be overwhelming. There are so many choices. Should you order an all-in-one curriculum? Mix and match different kindergarten resources that you like? What should you focus on in this foundational year? Do I need to teach my child to read this year?! Before you make any big purchases or over plan your homeschool year, let me just say that I think a simple kindergarten homeschool schedule is the best and most effective – you can always add to it as you go!
Kindergarten is often the first time homeschool moms are doing any kind of formal teaching with their children and it’s only natural to make sure you do a good job and give your child a good start on their educational journey.
But, that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank to do it! Kindergarten homeschool curriculum can largely be found for free online. It might not be “open and go” like some of the pricey kindergarten programs out there. If you are looking to save some money and still teach your child all they need to learn in kindergarten, then it is quite doable.
Let me start by saying that kindergarten standards don’t actually cover as much as you think they do. And they are meant to be covered over an entire year. Your child doesn’t need to master all of the skills listed here in September. You will be surprised how much your child and (and his brain) grows and changes over the course of his kindergarten year.
That said, one reason a lot of people homeschool is so their child doesn’t have to conform to the public school standards. And I totally get that. I don’t follow the standards to the letter in my kindergarten homeschool schedule, either. But, I do use them as kind of a quick check to see if we are generally covering what we should be.
Kindergarten homeschool should be all (or at least a lot) about play! Kids learn so much better when movement, games, and fun are involved, so I’ve included a wide variety of resources and ideas to keep your 5 year old learning and having fun!
Today, I’d like to share 215 homeschool activities for 5 year olds that you can use to help you teach kindergarten this year. I’ve rounded up free printables, activity ideas, games, kindergarten math songs, and more to help make your kindergarten homeschool year relaxing, simple, and fun!
Kindergarten Math Resources
Kindergarten math standards can be broken into five categories: counting and cardinality, measurement and data, operations and algebraic thinking (don’t let that word scare you), geometry (also known as shapes in kindergarten), and numbers and operations in base 10.
In regular terms, the categories cover
>counting to 100 by ones and tens, becoming very familiar with numbers 0-20, and realizing that each numeral stands for a number
>comparing numbers 0-20
>describing objects (color, weight, height, etc) and comparing objects
>sorting and classifying objects
>simple addition with numbers 0-10
>place value for one and two-digit numbers
>describe the position of an object
>identify and compare 2-D and 3-D shapes
I’ve gathered free resources for each of these skills, and a few more below. It is so important in kindergarten to include more than just worksheets because children are still working on their fine motor skills. Using stickers, cutting, and placing objects in specific places can all work on those gross and fine motor skills! Just click on the link to take you to the resource. If you find a link that is not working, please let me know in the comments, so I can remove it or find something else to take its place.
Happy hunting!
Count to 100
Skip Counting with Money Activity Sheet from Teach Me. I’m Yours.
skip counting to 100 hundreds chart from Education.com
free skip counting resources from Teachers Pay Teachers
skip counting activity by 2s, 5s, and 10s from The Curriculum Corner
activities for skip counting by mathisfun.com
skip counting mazes from Confessions of a Homeschooler
using chalk to practice skip counting from Kids Activity Blog
printable puzzles for skip counting from Life Over Cs
Skip counting cards from Teach Me. I’m Yours. (that’s me!)
lacing plates for skip counting from 123homeschool4me
Number Bubble game by ABCya.com
skip counting songs on YouTube
Count and Write Numbers to 20
Number Recognition Caterpillar (Subitizing) 1-10 by Teach Me. I’m Yours.
Free activities and worksheets for counting to 20 from Teachers Pay Teachers
more counting resources from Teachers Pay Teachers
Free worksheets from Education.com
number sense to 20 activities from Proud to be Primary
a free PDF from Intensive Intervention that has some good ideas and a fun rhyme for writing the numbers 1-9
monster count and clip cards from The Measured Mom
worksheets for 1-20 from The Preschool Mom
count the room activity from The Kindergarten Connection
Free math resources from Southern Cross Consultancy – lots of topics here!
Activities for counting from 11-20 from The Teaching Mama
writing numbers 11-20 worksheets from Pam Barnhill
a YouTube playlist I created for counting from 0-20
free worksheets from 11-20 from The Measured Mom
building numbers 11-20 from Math Geek Mama
worksheets for 11-20 from Math Salamanders
Compare Groups of Objects
lesson plan for comparing groups from ThoughtCo.
more and less number comparison graphs – this goes right to Google Drive and there is no copyright on the page, so if it’s yours please let me know, so I can give you credit!
roll and cover one more activity from Kate in Kinder
more or less Jack and the Beanstalk activity from Pre-K Pages
less or more worksheets from megaworkbook.com
lots of kindergarten math worksheets from littledotseducation.com
greater than, less than activities from The Measured Mom
one-to-one correspondence up to 20
apple seed counting mats from Simply Living Creatively Learning
seed counting cards from Modern Preschool
watermelon seed counting activity from The Kindergarten Connection
Watermelon printable activity from Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls
fish bubble counting mats up to 10 from The Measured Mom
Underwater sticker counting sheets from 11-20 from Teach Me. I’m Yours.
one-to-one counting activity ideas from Pre-K Pages
more one-to-one activity ideas from A Wellspring of Worksheets
Comparing Attributes (height, weight, length, etc.)
free comparison worksheets and activities from Teachers Pay Teachers
free worksheets from Education.com
comparison worksheets from Little Worksheets
measurement worksheets from BigLearners.com
fun ideas for creating your own balance from Kindergarten Kindergarten
pumpkin math measuring activity from Little Bins for Little Hands
Classifying Objects
classifying worksheets from mathworksheetland.com
free classifying worksheets and activities from Teachers Pay Teachers
free sorting objects worksheets from Teachers Pay Teachers
sorting and categorizing worksheets from My Teaching Station
15 ideas to practice sorting from Stay at Home Educator
classification games from kindergarten-lessons.com
8 tools to teach sorting from kindergartenworks.com
Addition and subtraction to 10
intro to addition and subtraction form Khan Academy
adding and subtracting with objects from This Reading Mama
Addition and subtraction game ideas from Proud to be Primary
addition and subtraction game from The Measured Mom
Sums to 10 Maze from Teach Me. I’m Yours. (that’s me!)
add or subtract Bingo from wismath.org
simple addition and subtraction word problems from We Are Teachers (you could read the problems to your child.)
Mom Junction has some fun color by sum or difference pages
color by addition and subtraction pages from Teachers Pay Teachers
Domino Addition and Subtraction Activity Pages by Teach Me. I’m Yours.
10 fairy tale addition coloring pages from The Measured Mom
color by code addition pages from The Stem Laboratory
2D and 3D Shapes
free shape worksheets from Education.com
shape worksheets from My Teaching Station
worksheets, activities, and games for shapes from Preschool Mom
color by shape printables from The Kindergarten Connection
find and color the shapes worksheets at allkidsnetwork.com
printable shape booklet from ThoughtCo
pattern block mats from prekinders.com
2D shapes printable pack from Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
3D shapes free activities and printables from Life Over Cs
2D shape activities from Life Over Cs
shape activities from Packet of Preschool (the activities are below the printables that are not free)
some great ideas here for teaching 2D shapes from Kindergarten Works
10 Activities for describing 3D shapes from Kindergarten Works
2D shape description Bingo from Kindergarten Works
magnetic tangrams printables from Tot Schooling
hidden shapes game from Kindergarten Works
2D shapes booklet from Kindergarten Works
how to draw 2D shapes from Kindergarten Works
activities for teaching shapes from prekinder.com
Place Value
a place value mystery number song from Miss Kindergarten
place value game from The Measured Mom
online place value games from Education.com
hands-on place value activities from Teacher Thrive
place value war from childhood 101
place value scavenger hunt from Primary Theme Park
place value stacking cups activity from We Are Teachers
place value video from Math and Learning Videos 4 Kids
Lego math place value activity from Science Kiddo
decomposing teen numbers activity from Teach Plan Collaborate
teen numbers place value worksheet from keepingmykiddobusy.com
number line place value activity from Hands On as We Grow
rainbow math place value activity from School Time Snippets
place value toss from Saddle Up for 2nd Grade
learning place value with building blocks from Teach Me Mommy
place value Whack It! game from Creekside Learning
Decompose Numbers 11-19
decomposing worksheet and activity from Kindergarten Works
free composing and decomposing activities on Teachers Pay Teachers
decomposing and number worksheets from ABCs, 123s for Me!
Roll it! Make it! Expand it! worksheet from Classroom Freebies Too
Describing the Position of Objects
positional words cut and paste books from The Measured Mom
where is the snowman cut and paste from Mrs. Albanese’s Kindergarten Class
positional words book from Cahill’s Creations
Pete the Cat activity from Christina’s Kinder Blossoms
Where’s the Bear? worksheet from greatschools.org
zoo positional words printable from No Stress Homeschooling
positional word freebie from Pint Size Learners
position worksheets from mathskills4kids.com
left and right worksheet from myteachingstation.com
above, on, and below worksheet from myteachingstation.com
Kindergarten Language Arts
Kindergarten language arts standards focus on pre-reading and pre-writing skills such as letter sounds, syllables, narration (telling a story or telling about a story), and basic writing and grammar.
Just like in math, I don’t follow the standards to a T, but I do use them as a jumping-off point when I am planning my kindergarten homeschool schedule to make sure we are generally covering what needs to be covered. I have used the major parts of the standards when looking for free kindergarten curriculum for you. Let’s get right to it!
Standards Covered by Reading to Your Child
>Read a story and ask your child questions about the story. As your child gets comfortable answering questions, put a (gentle) emphasis on answering in complete sentences.
>”book reports” – After you read a story have your child tell you what the story was about or what happened in the story. If you want to record their efforts, simply grab a piece of paper and write down what they tell you.
>The “book reports” can be done for fiction and non-fiction books.
>Have your child tell you in what order a set of events took place in a book.
>Author Study – Read several books by the same author and discuss with your child how they are the same and how they are different.
>Identify the main topic of a book or text and a few details about it.
>Ask your child what they think an unknown word might mean based on the context of the story. Discuss possible meanings. You can even look the word up after you discuss it.
>Discuss the parts of a book – cover, author, illustrator, illustrations, text, captions, chapter titles, page numbers, table of contents, index, etc.
>Use context from the story to identify people/items/characters in the accompanying illustrations.
>Talk about grammar. Particular attention can be paid to capitalizing the first word in a sentence, capitalizing names, and punctuation (., ?, !).
>Discuss parts of speech – verb, adjective, noun, pronoun.
>Discuss opposites.
Upper and Lowercase Letters
upper and lowercase letter matching worksheets from biglearners.com
handwriting activities and worksheets for uppercase and lowercase from Teachers Pay Teachers
“find the letter” worksheets from The Measured Mom
alphabet chart and worksheets from Doozy Moo
alphabet tracing worksheet from Ziggity Zoom Learning
uppercase and lowercase letter crafts from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
geoboard letter match activity from A Little Pinch of Perfect
uppercase and lowercase letter matching activity from Living Well Mom
A to Z letter finds from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
Syllables
fairy tale themed syllable cards from Teach Me I’m Yours
free syllable activities from Teachers Pay Teachers
dot the syllables worksheets from This Reading Mama
free syllables worksheets from Education.com
word syllable worksheets from cleverlearner.com
breaking words into syllables from superteachersworksheets.com
syllable counting printables from The Letters of Literacy
Rhyming
rhyming worksheets from k5learning.com
lots of rhyming activities and printables from This Reading Mama
rhyming videos playlist from YouTube
rhyming worksheets from jumpstart.com – some of these are more advanced, just an FYI (rhyming “enough” with “cuff, bluff, etc., but not with through”)
Down by the Bay rhyming cards from Early Learning Ideas
rhyming match game from The Many Little Joys
rhyming word games and activities from Lessons for Little Ones
Consonant Sounds
which sound is different clip cards from The Measured Mom
beginning sounds coloring pages from The Measured Mom
consonant sorting mats from The Measured Mom
lots of consonant activities from Have Fun Teaching
tons of phonics printables and activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler
beginning sounds printables from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
cut and paste beginning sounds activity from Planes and Balloons
letter sound activities form PreKinders
alphabet match printable from Childhood 101
dinosaur beginning sound match from Fantastic Fun and Learning
CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words
color by code from Primary Playground
middle sounds cvc clip cards from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
cvc short e words booklet from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
CVC and word family activities from Teach Me. I’m Yours.
free cvc worksheets from Teachers Pay Teachers
cvc worksheets from Havefunteaching.com
rainbow cvc word puzzles from The Kindergarten Connection
sandcastle cvc word activity from The Letters of Literacy
cvc interactive notebook from Life over Cs
cvc words activity pages from This Reading Mama
board games for cvc words from Playdough to Plato
short vowel cvc word activity from Modern Preschool
cvc word picture puzzles from Totschooling
CVC worksheets and games from The Measured Mom
Word Families (different beginning sound, same ending sound)
word family printables from Storytime Standouts
short a family mats printable from The Measured Mom
short i word slider cards from The Measured Mom
word family fishing game from I Can Teach My Child
word family pull out activity from I Can Teach My Child
word family blackout from This Reading Mama
Hubbard’s Cupboard has a bunch of printables and booklets for a variety of word families
word family books from This Reading Mama
word family printables from Kindergarten Mom
word family worksheets from Education.com
word family freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers
Sight Words
sight word lists, cards, lessons, and games from sightwords.com
writing sight words worksheets from sightwordsgames.com
sight word printables from Kindergarten Mom
free kindergarten sight word resources from Teachers Pay teachers
sight word printables from A to Z Teacher Stuff
how to teach kindergarten sight words + printables from Your Modern Family
free sight word printables from The Kindergarten Connection
free printable Dolch sight word lists by grade from Dolchword.net
dab and dot sight word printables from Kindergarten Mom
high frequency words worksheets from My Teaching Station
sight word worksheets from The Measured Mom
hands-on sight word activities from What I Have Learned Teaching
wall caterpillar sight words from Confessions of a Homeschooler
easy word searches from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Short and Long Vowel Sounds
long vowel sounds activities from Teach Me I’m Yours
how to teach vowel sounds so kids will remember from Child1st.com
short and long vowel sorting mats from The Measured Mom
roll a long vowel board game from The Measured Mom
5 short vowel activities from Learning at the Pond
tips for teaching vowel sounds from This Reading Mama
printable vowel chart and activities from All About Learning Press
free vowel activities from Have Fun Teaching
Sequencing
free sequencing worksheets and activities from Teachers Pay Teachers
baseball sequencing cards from 3 Dinosaurs
15 free sequencing packs from Tot Schooling
nativity sequencing pack from 3 Dinosaurs
This Little Piggy cut and paste from Tot Schooling
plant sequence cards from File Folder Fun
caterpillar sequencing cards from Frogs and Fairies
picture sequencing game from turtlediary.com
An Old Lady Who Swallowed a… matching and sequencing from Tot Schooling
nursery rhymes sequencing packs from Tot Schooling
s’mores sequencing activity from Books and Giggles
strategies and suggestions for teaching sequencing from Reading Rockets
Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Writing
uppercase and lowercase letter tracing and writing worksheets from Playing Learning
alphabet worksheets from allkidsnetwrork.com
How I Teach Handwriting (+ Printables) from The Measured Mom
capital and lowercase letter tracing worksheet from worksheetfun.com
find and trace from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
trace and erase from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
tracing, printing, matching, ordering worksheets from k5learning.com
Most Importantly
One of the reasons I don’t think a big expensive curriculum is necessary for kindergarten is because the most important thing you can for your child at this stage is read to them.
Fiction, non-fiction, magazine, labels, signs.
Just lots of reading.
Let this reading lead to discussions and questions, then answering those questions.
To supplement the reading, and to work on math and writing, I like to use free resources because, well, they’re free. I either find them on the internet or create them myself. As I was looking for activities for my daughter I decided to collect them into this post so that I could easily find them later and to help other homeschool moms. I hope you find this collection of free kindergarten resources to be helpful in your homeschooling journey.
Be sure to save this post for later, so you can refer back to it as your child progresses through the skills throughout the year!
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