Early Finisher Activities Teaching Resources
Explore early finisher activities created by teachers to help you answer the question "I'm done, now what?" when your students complete work ahead of their classmates!
This collection of worksheets, quiet activities and more for those "fast finish" students is packed with options that provide students with a challenge that will keep them occupied — and keep them learning — while classmates complete a task!
Looking for ideas for early finishers and how to build this important part of classroom management into your classroom routines? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is an Early Finisher?
Whether it's completing a test before their classmates or wrapping up an assignment in half the time that you allotted, some students work more quickly than their peers.
The reasons are varied. Some kids speed through work because they aren't taking time to carefully read what's in front of them or address the assignment, but others are finishing early simply because they can.
Early finishing could come down to:
- Differences in Abilities — We know our students have individual learning styles and abilities, and with that comes an ability for some to work at a faster pace than others.
- Prior Knowledge — Your early finishers may possess prior knowledge or skills related to the task, whether from a previous class or even something learned outside of the school setting.
- Motivation Levels — Some students may be highly motivated and focused, leading them to complete tasks efficiently.
What to Do if a Student Finishes Early
Before you decide what to do with your early finishers, you need to consider why and how your students are completing their work at a rapid pace.
If the "why" is that a student is not appropriately addressing the assignments, you'll need to work with them to slow down and focus on the task. If you're looking at students who finish work early simply because they can, the next question is how to keep them engaged so they're not disrupting their classmates and getting value out of this class time.
How Do You Engage Early Finishers?
We recommend you focus your early finisher activities on a mix of practice and enrichment work rather than focusing on "fun" that may tempt students to speed through their work. As you explore this collection of activities, you'll find they're focused on skill building, rather than simply giving students a chance to goof off!
We didn't stop there! Here are some clever ideas from our teacher team to engage fast finishers.
- Establish early finisher procedures. Let students know from the first week of school what to do when they've completed individual tasks so that they can move on directly to early finisher work. You may want to establish a "must do," "may do" and "may not do" structure for this procedure so students know what they should — and should not — be doing when they've completed a task! The actual procedures will look different depending on your grade level — a kindergarten early finisher activity procedure will likely be simpler than one for fifth grade — but having it set in stone is key to good classroom management!
- Set up an early finisher destination. Minimize classroom disruptions by setting up a spot in the classroom where students know they can go to find their early finisher work such as a set of busy bins, a "what do I do now?" station or even a bulletin board with folders where students can find challenging worksheets to complete for extra credit.
- Have fast finishing students help you keep classroom supplies in line. Do you have puzzles that may or may not be missing a few pieces? It's an all-too-common problem in classrooms, and it's one that you can solve by having your fast finishers count out the pieces to ensure everything is in place. Similarly, students can use this time to ensure board games are still in working order and so on.
- Assign a classroom job. If some kids are always finishing ahead of their classmates, why not assign them a job such as helping classmates who could use their assistance?
- Differentiate your instruction. If you recognize that the same students are always finishing their work ahead of their peers, plan ahead with extension activities, independent research projects or creative assignments that encourage critical thinking.
- Have early finishers work together. You can challenge your early finishing students to work together on group projects such as a STEM challenge which can help them build their teamwork and social skills.
- Extra reading. When in doubt, allow students to spend time reading to keep their brains active (and their mouths quiet) while their classmates finish up a task or test.
- Plus Plan
What Time Is It? Telling Time Playdough Mats
Use playdough to practice telling time to the hour and half hour with printable playdough mats for kindergarten.
- Plus Plan
Hours, Seconds & Minutes - Estimating Time Sort
Estimate activities that take about a second, minute, hour, and week with a printable unit of time sorting activity.
- Free Plan
Free ABC Tracing Sheet Bundle Pack
Use ABC Tracing Worksheets to help your students develop their handwriting and fine motor skills.
- Plus Plan
Months of the Year Playdough Mats
Use printable playdough mats to help your students learn to read and spell the months of the year.
- Plus Plan
Days of the Week Playdough Mats
Use playdough mats to help your students identify, sequence and spell the days of the week.
- Plus Plan
Roll to Create an Animal - Adaptations Activity
Roll to choose cool animal adaptations for a mystery animal using a fun dice game and report template.
- Plus Plan
I'm Done! Early Finishers Choice Board Display
Build a useful ‘I’m Done, Now What?’ bulletin board with a printable early finisher task board display kit.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Arrays Mini-Book
Teach your students about multiplication and array models with this printable mini-book.
- Plus Plan
Vowel Team Dominoes - AI and AY
Decode words with vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 26 dominoes.
- Plus Plan
Array, Array, Go Away Dice Game
Reinforce how to match arrays and multiplication facts with this printable dice game.
- Plus Plan
Kindergarten Sight Word Worksheet - Color By Sight Word Snake
Build fluency with high-frequency words and give your students a fun way to practice with an editable kindergarten color-by-sight word worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Roll and Round Dice Game
Help your student refine their rounding skills with this set of 7 printable math games.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Word Searches
Immerse your students in common homophones with this differentiated set of homophones word searches for your vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Pattern Block Butterflies Symmetry Task Cards
Bring some colorful fun into your classroom with these symmetry butterflies, a hands-on learning activity for young students to explore the concept of symmetry.
- Plus Plan
Odd and Even Number Games
Practice identifying odd and even numbers in this fun set of game boards.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Clip Cards
Get your students to identify the correct homophones in sentences with this set of 24 clip cards for your vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Homophone Mandala Flower Worksheets
Have your students create a colorful mandala flower while simultaneously demonstrating their understanding of common homophones.
- Plus Plan
Exploring Rotational Symmetry Worksheets - Drawing Prompts
Encourage creativity and practice knowledge of rotational symmetry with a set of exciting symmetry drawing worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Interior Angles of Shapes – Differentiated Mazes
Explore the interior angles of regular shapes with this differentiated, maze-inspired worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Create a Silly Story – Sorting Activity
Explore story characters, settings, problems and solutions by creating a silly story!
- Plus Plan
Fact Family Mazes Differentiated Worksheet Set
Use this differentiated worksheet set to provide independent practice of fact family knowledge to solve multiplication expressions.
- Plus Plan
10 More, 10 Less Differentiated Mazes
Delight your students with this maze challenge, to practice calculating 10 more or 10 less than a value within 120.
- Plus Plan
Adding and Subtracting Within 10 - Word Problem Task Cards
Solve word problems practicing addition and subtraction to ten with a set of printable task cards.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Color By Number Worksheet Pack
Use this set of multiplication color-by-number worksheets to help your students learn these important number facts.
- Plus Plan
Adding and Subtracting Decimals – Dominoes
Use this game of dominoes to strengthen computation skills by adding and subtracting decimals through the thousandths place.
- Plus Plan
Equivalent Fractions – Dominoes
Identify and match equivalent fractions with an exciting game of dominoes!
- Plus Plan
Suffix Dominoes - Vocabulary Game
Identify new words that include common suffixes with 28 suffix and root word dominoes.
- Plus Plan
Equivalent Fractions – Clip Cards
Determine an equivalent fraction that matches a fraction model with this set of 24 clip cards.
- Plus Plan
Equivalent Fractions – Differentiated Math Mazes
Practice your understanding of equivalent fractions with this set of differentiated math mazes.
- Plus Plan
Antonyms Word Search
Download this antonyms word search set that helps students identify opposite meanings and strengthen their understanding of contrast in language.
- Plus Plan
Roll and Find – Figurative Language Worksheet
Explore, identify and interpret figurative language with this engaging roll and find activity.
- Plus Plan
Numbers 0 to 20 - Playdough Mats for Fine Motor Development
A set of number playdough mats to help children develop their fine motor skills and identify the numbers from 0 to 20.