Fun Career Activities for Elementary Students
When you were little, do you remember doing career activities that told you that you wanted to be a teacher or did you just know? I just knew! I was making and grading worksheets when I still could only write in scribbles. Oh how I loved teaching those attentive stuffed animals and making bulletin boards all over my basement walls!
I didn’t even consider the possibility of another career until it was time to get my masters. I felt myself drawn to school counseling, yet I still loved teaching. Well, I got my masters in school counseling and it was such an amazing experience to explore another career! One of my favorite things that I learned during my masters program was about career lessons for elementary students. I had never seen this done before, have you?!
I immediately got so excited at all the possible career activities that I could do with my students. Imagine during a read aloud, you could talk about the jobs of the people in the story. This is such a simple change in your routine read aloud discussions, but has a huge potential for an impactful moment for your students.
FREEBIE For Your Career Activities
During my school counseling internship, I made a career inventory activity to accompany the book, The Magician’s Hat. This book is an incredible inspirational story that discusses students choosing a future career possibility based on their likes and interests.
After sharing this book with the class, they completed this career inventory. This is the FREEBIE!! Click the picture above or the button to get the free career activity for elementary students. Students color in the activities they are interested in and then you reveal what types of jobs each category represents.
This is a great way to begin discussion with your class about the types of careers they might want to do when they grow up and what is involved with getting there. It is helpful for students to begin to think about and believe in their potential to reach these goals. I also like to talk to students about which professions require college educations, just to get it in their heads now that they have the ability to do that!
So why talk about careers with primary grades?
- promotes goal setting
- provides purpose to learning and high achievements in school
- encourages confidence in their abilities
- expands their thinking about their future
There are so many ways that you can work discussing career activities in with your lesson plans, just put in on your radar! Notice if in a word problem, science lesson, or story if there is a mention of a job that you could expand on or begin a discussion about with your students.
Now I completely know that if I had career activities and lessons in elementary school I still would have ended up being a teacher, but I would have learned a lot about myself and my abilities as well as information about other careers!
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