Make the first morning of school inviting and stress-free with these first day of school pattern blocks activity mats. This set includes 28 printable mats for the back to school season. With no prep required, these pattern block mats make an excellent first day of school arrival activity, a getting to know you activity, a brain break, a fast finisher,  a time filler, or an activity for a substitute! These will be a lifesaver anytime at back to school. 

The benefits of pattern blocks as your first day of school arrival activity are:

✅ They’re open-ended and keep kids engaged for a long time. No more “I’m done!”

✅ They’re loved by kids of any age! Kindergarteners can jump right on. And even reluctant 6th graders can get absorbed creating designs.

✅ They require no instructions. Kids see pattern blocks and know just what to do.

✅ They’re calming! The tactile nature of the pattern blocks help with back to school jitters and the way they lend themselves to making patterns makes it a really peaceful experience at the start of your first day.

✅ They invite collaboration and connection between students. Creating next to each other is a low-stress way for your students to start to get to know each other. It’s easier to chat with a stranger if your hands are busy.

Using pattern blocks as an arrival activity on the first day of school has been a favorite of ours for years but adding these printable mats makes it even easier to do it. Students will love the challenge of working with the back to school shapes or creating a new design from a prompt.

Here’s what you’ll get in this activity set:

• 12 printable pattern blocks mats with lines for shapes
• 12 printable pattern blocks mats with open ended options for shapes
• 4 printable pattern block mats with prompts for creations
• Get-to-Know-You questions on every page to invite conversation 
• Editable welcome slides
• Teacher’s Guide

❤️ Your students will love having this engaging task to dive into as an arrival activity on the first day of school. The tactile nature of the blocks will help calm any back to school jitters and the prompts on each mat will invite them to start connecting with their classmates right away.

All you need to do to prepare for this activity is print out the pattern block mats (they look amazing on bright colored paper as well as on plain white) and grab some pattern blocks. Then you’ll be ready to go for the first day of school! You can laminate the mats or put them in sheet protectors if you want them to hold up for a long time. 

Most teachers have pattern blocks on hand, making this an easy first day of school activity to plan. But it’s also a common enough tool that you could borrow from other teachers as well if you need more.

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✅ Bundle & Save! 

Purchase the Back to School Mega Bundle to get this resource and all our other Back to School resources for a great discount!

You may also like…

• Guided Discover of School Tools (Procedures & Routines)
• Back to School Vocabulary

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