Pool noodles are excellent additions to classrooms because they’re useful for hands-on activities. The material also makes pleasant decorations. Look at the 10 tips for using pool noodles in school activities to determine how you can use them for your classroom.
The Importance of Interactive Learning
Interactive learning enhances the educational process by supporting collaboration and giving students extra chances to engage with objects and each other! Furthermore, interactive environments sharpen critical thinking skills and help students develop analytic reasoning. For younger students, interacting learning helps them fine-tune motor skills and explore the world around them.
A misconception about interactive learning or hands-on activity is that it requires complex sensory items. Luckily, that’s not the case! Foam noodles are helpful learning tools that are inexpensive and easy to use. Boost classroom engagement with the practical—and enjoyable—activities below. Your students will love these ideas!
Alphabet Practice
Write all 26 letters of the alphabet on pieces of foam noodles. Then, ask your students to stack them in ABC order. Encourage kids to say a word that aligns with each letter. For instance, “A is for apple” and “B is for bat.” Furthermore, you can make the activity age-appropriate for older students and have them stack words on the pieces instead of letters. When you complete the alphabet lessons, repurpose the foam into cubes or other classroom toys.
Greater-Than and Less-Than Identification
Math lessons are easier with visual representations. In particular, students can understand the value of numbers with a pool noodle exercise. Cut two colors of pool noodles into 2-inch pieces. Write different inequality signs on one of the foam colors and write numbers on the second foam color. Compare numbers and have your students use the inequality signs to identify the bigger and smaller numbers.
Paintbrush Holders
Painting is a fun yet messy activity, especially for younger kids. You’ll probably see paint on the tables, floor, and hands by the end of the activity. Instead of dealing with a mess, use foam noodles to combat problems.
Cut foam noodles lengthwise (around 5 inches) and then slice them down one side. Attach the noodles to the edge of containers for cleaning brushes. Next, cut slits into the pool noodles so students can balance their paintbrushes on them. This way, brushes won’t sit on tables and create stains while children work. This idea is great for all art classes or creative workshops. Furthermore, paintbrush holders also work for other utensils like markers, colored pencils, and large crayons.
Classroom Decorations
Make your classroom picture-perfect with pool noodle decorations. String various foam noodle slices on a thick piece of twine to create foam streamers. Hang them with other decorations like fairy lights, posters, or colorful fans.
Another classroom decoration is a rainbow display. Line up pool noodles according to the colors in the rainbow (ROYGBIV), and tape them together. You can also add a cardboard cloud at the end of the display. Use the rainbow for a bulletin board, wall, or door decoration to create a colorful theme for your classroom.
Water Play Lesson
Creating a water play lesson is an excellent tip for using pool noodles in school activities. Water play comes in handy for science lessons because foam teaches kids about buoyancy and floating. Fill a bin with water and cut foam slices into 2-inch pieces. Showcase how pool noodles float inside the bin and teach kids about the lightweight material. Next, attach heavy items like blocks or glue sticks to the noodle slices and explain why foam sinks with heavier objects.
Letter Plates
Use foam noodles as card holders so kids can practice spelling words. Cut small letters out on construction paper and challenge children to spell grade-appropriate words. This interactive activity is perfect for young learners! Boost the difficulty level by asking multiple students to create a sentence with the letter plates. You’ll increase classroom engagement and encourage creativity. You can also use letter plates as name holders or to showcase signs and directions.
Ring Toss Game
Who doesn’t love ring toss? Use pool noodles as stakes and inflatable innertubes as rings for a large-scale ring toss game. This idea is suitable for PE class, field days, or recess. If your students love challenges, turn the game into a fun competition. Whoever places the most innertubes on stakes wins a prize!
Mix-and-Match Characters
An interesting pool noodle project is “character match.” Have kids draw a full-size cartoon character on a foam noodle. Then, cut the noodles into three equal pieces. Students can mix and match parts of their character with other students. Who knows—a student might end up with a duck with a robot torso and skeleton legs. This silly activity unlocks creativity as kids create funny character combinations. The more out-of-the-box the characters are, the better! Afterward, students can write a creative story with their interesting characters.
Stress Reliever
School is sometimes stressful, and students experience difficult days. Whether you’re a guidance counselor or a teacher, you can support kids by using foam noodles in stress-relieving activities. Cut pool noodles into handheld slices and encourage students to squeeze the material when they get tense.
The sensory material helps students calm down, eases their nervous system, and releases tense muscles. Too much stress can cause knots to form or trigger points in the body. Therefore, this stress-relieving activity is a simple way to support students’ well-being, especially during intense days. You can keep a basket of foam slices in your classroom and encourage kids to use them if they need support.
Quiet Blocks
Do you want to avoid the loud noise of wooden blocks? If so, use foam noodles as quiet blocks. Cut noodles into 3-inch cubes and let kids play with them. You’ll reduce noise and prevent injuries from kids throwing hard blocks at each other. This idea is perfect for daycare or preschool classrooms, letting students safely create structures with soft foam.
Honorable Mentions
As you can now see, students can interact with pool noodles in the classroom in so many ways. All it takes is creativity and a few extra supplies. If the ideas above weren’t enough, here are a few honorable mentions to inspire even more creativity in your classroom:
- Use pool noodles as stamps for art projects.
- Create a foam sensory chair.
- Make a DNA model with noodle slices.
- Have sight word boat races with noodle floats.
- Challenge students to build structures with pool noodle slices.
- Host a fractions lesson with different-sized foam noodles.
Revamp your classroom with pool noodles from Honor Trading Company. These hands-on tools are suitable for lessons or school fun! We offer standard-size, jumbo, and solid-core foam noodles to fit your needs. You can order white pool noodles in bulk (or in any other color!) to ensure you have enough foam for students. Browse our awesome selection today!
