2 Easy April Fools Day Ideas for Teachers

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Squarehead Teachers

Easy Idea submitted by a teacher friend in AZ:

“I went to school today with straight hair (I always curl my hair), and wore clothes that I had never worn to school. I also wore tallish sandals which I don’t wear to school. When I went to pick up my second grade kids from the playground to start the day, I had my teaching partner introduce me to my class as my twin sister, the substitute for the day. It was pretty fun. I acted like I didn’t know their names, the routine, etc. After a half hour, most of the kids were believing that I was my sister. It was pretty funny. I finally told them April Fool’s Day after a couple of hours, when 2 of my kids began arguing about who I was. The more vocal of the two was defending the position that I was indeed the sister. They enjoyed the prank!”

A sixth grade neighbor of ours told me about this prank his teacher pulled last year:

His teacher said their class was participating in a contest. He said they all had to write paragraphs about how their class could use I Pads in the classroom. The teacher told them that the class with the best paragraphs would get I Pads. So everyone worked diligently on the paragraphs. On April Fool’s Day, the teacher told them they won and the I Pads were on their desks for them when they walked in the room. The students were very excited, but moaned as they discovered an eye pad on each desk! Here is an example of the eye pads the teacher handed out.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Easy Science Project: Life Cycle

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Squarehead Teachers

A friend of mine sent me this photo and explanation of a simple life cycles project she uses in her kindergarten class. I love that this project is simple, almost zero prep for the teacher (other than gathering everyday supplies) and happens fast enough that the kids don’t lose interest. Here are the steps:

1. Soak lima beans in cold water overnight.

2. Put a lima bean in a moist paper towel.

3. Put the paper towel (containing the lima bean) in a Ziplock bag.

3. Seal bag so water doesn’t evaporate (kind of like making a terrarium).

5. Staple to the wall (we put ours near a window). Last year in a different classroom we taped it to a window.

6. Students kept a two week log (words and drawing pictures). At the end, send it home!

If you’re got an idea that works well in your classroom, let me know!

Counting Coins Worksheet

Posted on January 28, 2026 by Squarehead Teachers

Long time, no see! I’ve got another free worksheet for you. This time it’s a coin counting practice page. It’s appropriate for 1st or 2nd grade. I’ve included an answer key, so be sure to download that too. Click the “download” button below the worksheet to access it. Enjoy!

Pirate Treasure 2- money coin counting Download

Pirate Treasure 2- money coin counting ANSWERS Download

Paper Plate Hat: Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss)

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Squarehead Teachers

Happy Read Across America Week! (What would we do without Dr. Seuss?! Such creativity from one person!) My kids needed a quick Cat in the Hat costume for school and I didn’t have much time. I came up with this simple paper plate hat and it took me about 3 minutes. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It would be easy to have my class make them!

Supplies:

White paper plate (I used uncoated, but I’m guessing the coated would work as well. I would not use Styrofoam.)
Red marker
Scissors
Tape (I used packing tape, but Scotch tape would work too.)

Steps:

Cut the paper plate as shown below. Consider cutting a small hole to get each kid started (or if you teach younger kids, cut them out ahead of time and just let them color the stripes.)

2. Color 3 red stripes as shown below.

3. Turn the paper plate over and reinforce the fold with a small piece of tape. Without the tape, my son’s hat started to tear when he pulled it down on his head too hard. After we put the tape, it was just fine.

4. Fold the center piece up gently.

Note: you may need to cut more off (making the brim more narrow) if you’ve got larger heads you’re making this craft for. But overall, it was so simple and it turned out great. Enjoy!

Build A Jack-o-Lantern Race (Low Prep Halloween Math Facts Game)

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Squarehead Teachers

This game can be used to practice any kind of math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) or really any content where the kids have to provide a specific answer (teacher asks a question, students provide a short responds). I don’t recommend this will spelling though, because it will be hard to hear 3 kids spelling the same word all at the same time and know who got it right. Here’s the game:

Prep:

Cut out paper pieces for each team: orange pumpkin shape, 2 eyes, a mouth, a nose
Need glue to assemble the team pumpkin
Tell your students a day or two beforehand that they will do a game using multiplication facts

Goal

Be the first team to build your jack-o-lantern by answering multiplication facts correctly the fastest!

Play

Divide the class into two or 3 teams (more teams means each kid practices more facts).
(Round 1) Each team sends a representative up to the front to compete against each other to answer multiplication facts for the first round. Teams may not help. Hold up a flash card, whoever answers the fact correctly first a point in the round (keep track of how many each team answered). Do 5 facts for the round, and do a tie breaker if needed.
Whichever team has the most points at the end of the round, chooses a piece for their jack-o-lantern. Only 1 team will get a piece each round.
(Round 2) different representatives compete to earn another pumpkin piece for their team. You can do the same or different math facts, because it will be different kids answering. Again, teams may not help.
Whichever team has the most points at the end of the round, chooses a piece for their pumpkin.
Continue having rounds of multiplication facts until one team wins.

Adaptation for last-minute play:

Instead of doing pumpkin pieces and building a jack-o-lantern, write Halloween themed word, like “ghost” or “witch” on the board once for each team (or, if you want the game to be long, write “Halloween”). Circle letters in the word every time you would have given a pumpkin piece to the team that won the round. This cuts out the prep for the teacher, but I don’t think it’s as fun for the kids. They seem to like getting to walk back to their seat with a piece for their team.

What other low prep Halloween activities have you tried that incorporate math facts?

Make a Summer Writing Kit with the Leftover School Supplies

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Squarehead Teachers

Clever idea submitted by a reader (Diane, 2nd grade teacher):

I teach at a Title 1 school where students don’t have writing supplies available in their homes. I decided this year to divvy up all the used crayons, pencils, and erasers into used pencil boxes I had. I am also going to give them a spiral notebook so that they can have a summer writing kit. I am putting on the pencil box and a journal a label that says “Summer Writing Kit, Love, Mrs. W.” I’ve told the kids that if they come to our school next year, I’d love to see their writing from the summer. The kids are very excited about this, and it will hopefully promote summer writing! Worst case scenario, they’ll have a few more crayons at home to use over the summer.

Click here for the editable Word doc:

Summer Writing Kit labels Download

September 2024 Note: As you may have noticed, I took a break from this blog for a while. I’m trying to get back into it. Thanks for your patience as I relearn how to do it all! – Mindy

Don’t Eat Pete Game Template

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Squarehead Teachers

Don’t Eat Pete is one of my family’s favorite games. It’s also been a favorite in my classroom! Since so many people have been sheltering-in-place because of the coronavirus, my mom (and former teacher herself) had the genius idea to make Don’t Eat Pete kits to drop off to local families with kids. She made each family a game board (or included stickers so the kids could decorate it themselves) and also included candies to use to play the game. (Click here or here to read my posts on how to play.)

So, here’s the template and you can let your kids decorate their own board! Crayons, stickers, markers, glitter*, paint* or colored pencil, just let your kids get creative!

Click here to download the PDF: Don’t Eat Pete – game template

*If you use craft supplies like these, I suggest putting the board in a page protector sleeve if you’ll be playing with something edible.

Click here to check out my other Don’t Eat Pete boards to download.

Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt – Letters

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Squarehead Teachers

So many of us are stuck at home right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, that I thought I’d make an easy “stay at home activity” (even though you can definitely do this in a classroom too!). Print one copy of this page per kid. Then look for an item that starts with the letter on the egg (little ones may need help from an adult). Once you’ve found something that starts with that letter, color in the shape the letter is in (the rest of the egg can be colored at the end). For older kids, consider having them write down the item name on the back of the page or in the margins. You can also have kids cut out the egg and decorate if further if you want to make this activity more in-depth. Stay healthy, everyone and happy Easter!