I absolutely love teaching my students about community helpers. It’s one of my all-time favorite classroom themes, and kids love it too. Teaching about community helpers is a great way to help our students learn more about and understand the community they live in. It teaches them about people and places they see every day. I’m sharing a few of my favorite community helper activities so you can use them in your classroom, too!
My Favorite Community Helper Activities
Community helpers are such a fun topic to teach, don’t you think? There are so many different jobs to talk about, so there’s a little something for everyone in your room. I find this topic to be so large that I like to use a special tool to corral all of our community helper activities into one place… Community Helpers Lapbooks!
Lapbooks, or Flippy Flaps as they’re called in my room, are going to be your new favorite thing! Think of them as a small interactive notebook that is filled with everything you’re learning on a specific topic. Instead of encompassing an entire year of a subject, they focus on one unit or topic.
In my room, we make lapbooks out of manilla file folders. But don’t worry, these aren’t just folders holding papers. We add foldables, writing prompts, and other fun activities to them as we learn. When they are complete, you’re left with a fantastic visual record of everything you learned on the topic and a fun way to review.
I often save these as keepsakes for parents to look back on and see student progress. Aside from being really handy, they’re super engaging too! Students love to make lapbooks, and they’re even more excited to show them off afterward. So, are you ready to see the fun community helper activities that I tuck away in our lapbooks? Let’s dive in!
Community Helper Activities for Writing
A key component of our lapbooks is writing activities. To make these community helper activities work for a variety of ages, I made sure to include many different types of writing activities. For example, there are simple graphic organizers, labeling activities, and more detailed writing prompts to allow for easy differentiation. The great thing about these community helper lapbooks is that you can pick and choose what activities work best for your students. Here are a few examples of some of my favorite writing activities in the resource.
Community Helpers KWL Chart
What better place to start in these lessons than with a KWL chart? This is such a great way to assess what students already know about this topic, want to know, and what they learned. Before beginning, I like to read a few books on this topic and then ask students to think about some things they already know about community helpers. They can record their answers in the box. Then, I have them think about what they might want to learn as we explore this topic and write that down, too. Younger students can draw pictures and write single words instead of sentences.
Then, as we dive into this topic, we will pause and record things we are learning that feel special and important to students. I find that this activity is especially helpful for reflection and retention of the information we’re covering.
When I Grow Up Writing Prompt
Another one of my favorite community helper activities in this lapbook is the writing prompt that asks students to consider what they’d like to be when they grow up. This is an obvious theme to explore as you learn about community helpers and is very popular among the students.
For this activity, I would like to work with students in small groups, if possible, and have a short discussion beforehand. I ask each student what they would like to be when they grow up and why. This will help prompt them as they prepare to write and share their future dreams. It’s always fun to see what students come up with for this activity!
Community Helper Activities for Sorting and Comparing
Another theme that you’ll see throughout this Community Helpers Lapbook is many opportunities to compare roles and sort objects. I find that these activities help to deepen understanding of this topic and prompt the students to think about things they might not have on their own. Here are some of our favorites.
Compare a Community Helper
First up, this activity features a Venn diagram and a variety of community helpers pictures to choose from. Students will pick two helpers to compare and then list out some things that are both unique and similar to each helper.
I like to complete a large example graph as a group first. I draw it on the board or on a pad of chart paper and choose two helpers to focus on. I talk through similarities and differences the community helpers have in their jobs, uniforms, duties, and roles in the community and add them to the chart. The students usually chime in with things to add as well. After this activity, I encourage the kids to choose two helpers of their own to compare and make a mini chart to add to their lapbooks.
Community Helpers Sorting Activity
This is another fun community helpers activity that helps students think back on what we’ve learned about community helpers and discern if specific things fall into that category or not. Students will cut and paste two paper squares that fold into small pockets onto their lapbooks to hold the cards. Then, they will cut out picture word cards that feature a variety of things. Next, they choose one card at a time, say what’s on it, and then decide if it falls into the category of “community helpers” or “not community helpers.”
More Community Helper Activities
This lapbook is jam-packed with tons of fun activities, and there are many more beyond these. In addition, I have included quite a few cut-and-paste activities that ask students to do specific things as they add pieces to their lapbooks. Here are a few that we love:
- Label a Community Helper: This activity has students cut apart label cards along with a picture of a community helper. They will glue the picture down first and then add the labels to the appropriate places.
- What Tools Do I Use?: Everyone loves this activity! Kiddos will get to cut out pictures of community helper tools and place them under the correct label. These are organized in a mini flipbook so that when they lift each flap, the tools are revealed.
- Who Am I?: In this activity, students will cut and paste pictures of community helpers into boxes that feature a short clue about each one. My kids love “solving the mystery” in this activity!
- Where Do I Work?: This activity asks students to cut and paste community helpers into their workplace picture. I love this activity because it requires no reading at all.
Community Helper Activities for Mini Books
In this Community Helpers Lapbook Resource, I also included some activities for mini-lapbooks as well. These activities take a deeper dive into specific jobs and roles rather than the broad topic as a whole. You can have students make mini-lapbooks with these activities or incorporate a few into the larger ones you’re working on. The jobs included are:
- Doctors
- Fire Fighters
- Police Officers
- Veterinarians
- Dentists
- Teachers
- Farmers
- Construction Workers
These community helper activities are great for learning more about specific roles and jobs. If you plan to have a visit from any people in any of these fields, these activities would be a great follow-up! You could also allow students to pick specific topics that interest them and make their own mini-lapbook to explore it a little deeper.
Make Planning Community Helpers Lessons Simple!
Aren’t these community helper activities fun?! My favorite thing about them is how simple they make it to plan a whole unit on this topic. Everything you need to explore this topic and build Community Helper Lapbooks is included in the resource! Make sure to check it out if you’d like to simplify your planning while ensuring you have a variety of engaging activities ready to go!
More Lessons to Go Along with These Community Helper Activities
Are you looking for more ways to help your students learn about community helpers? Make sure to read this post next – Fun With Community Helpers: 5 Engaging Ideas Your Students Will Love! You will find books, teaching tips, and many more community helper activities you can easily weave into your lessons.
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