16 Fun & Easy Ways to Use Pop-Its Fidget Toys for Learning

When it comes to fads what is the latest and greatest? POP-ITS! Are your preschool and kindergarten students as obsessed with pop-its as mine or maybe you’re wondering what on Earth I am talking about… whether you’re fully aware of what they are or I am speaking a foreign language to you, you’re going to want to keep reading to learn all about this highly engaging learning tool and also grab a few fun and easy activities that you could use with your students as soon as tomorrow!

If you love this do check out my year round Manipulatives bundle.

What is a pop-it?

So what exactly is a pop-it? It is a silicone fidget toy that is almost like reusable bubble wrap! However, it is (almost) silent, unlike bubble wrap. You press the bubbles and it “pops” then you can press the bubbles back. It is fun, relaxing, and even a little bit addicting!

Where can you find pop-its?

Pop-its are available pretty much everywhere. Walmart, Target, Dollar Stores, Amazon, and more! To see some of my favorites, check out my Amazon Store Front, you can find a whole variety of pop its there plus many more STEM Manipulatives!

Pop the Letters Alphabet Match

Our Pop the Letters Alphabet Match activity is a fun way to practice letter recognition while also developing strong fine motor skills. This activity is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, or homeschool students. This activity requires a pop-it as well as our printable letter/alphabet task cards. Your students could also use a tweezer and a small manipulative like pom-poms. (You will need to label your pop-it with the letters in the alphabet if it does not already come with the letters printed on it.)

To begin this activity, students will need all the needed supplies listed above. This could also be set up as a literacy center activity with all the needed supplies in a literacy tub/station. Students will draw a task card and then pop the correct letters of the alphabet on the pop-it toy. Try another version where students pop the letter and then place a pom-pom onto the correct letter with a tweezer – this adds an extra fine motor component to the activity.

Pop the Numbers & Shapes

Pop the Numbers & Shapes is a math center activity that your preschool, kindergarten, and homeschool students will LOVE! This center activity provides fine motor skill practice along with number and shape recognition. You will love the colored and black-and-white versions of these pop-it center activities.

Students will need a pop-it labeled with the numbers 1-30 and various shapes and our printable number/shape task cards. Students will draw a task card and then pop the correct numbers and/or shapes. Add another layer of fine motor skills to this activity by giving students a tweezer and a variety small manipulatives.

Pop-It: Upper and Lowercase Letters

Need a literacy center activity or perhaps you need an engaging morning tub or work bin activity for students to work on independently. Here is the perfect upper and lowercase letter practice activity for early learners (kindergarten, preschool, homeschool). So, grab your pop-it toy and our lowercase letter pop-it task cards to get started today!

This task card activity can be used in a variety of ways. Start by drawing a lowercase letter task card and popping the bubbles to create that letter then add in a little more fun when you use a small manipulative to really make the letter stand out. For the manipulatives think of pom-poms, mini erasers, pinecones or acorns, m&ms, or any other mini-items that make the letters really “POP!”

Pop-It: Numbers 1-20

This pop-it math center activity is a fun and easy way for students to learn number formation and counting while also practicing fine motor skills. Your kindergarten, preschool and homeschool students will enjoy using these (colored or black-and-white version) number task cards. Use this activity as a morning work tub, math center activity, or independent math practice activity.

To start, print the task cards and get a pop-it. Students will draw a number card (1-20) and pop the bubbles to recreate the number on the task card. Once all of the bubbles have been popped, add a small manipulative to each popped bubble and “trace” it with your finger. Your students will love popping the bubbles and creating numbers 1-20.

Pop the Shapes

Learning shapes with your students? Check out our Pop the Shapes math center activity for preschool and kindergarten students. This activity contains a variety of shape recognition practices along with fine motor practice.

Your students will need a pop-it and a printed version of our shapes pop-it cards. Students will draw a card and then recreate the shape as they pop it. The shapes included in this activity are square, rectangle, rhombus, line, parallelogram, cross, circle, star, heart, octagon, triangle, oval, crescent, hexagon, pentagon, trapezoid, and arrow.

Pop-It Bundle (Spelling Words)

Check out this amazing Pop-It bundle! Your preschool and kindergarten students will get a TON of literacy skill practice along with fine motor practice. The literacy skills included in this bundle are beginning sounds, middle sounds, ending sounds, spelling words, and CVC word cards with missing letters.

Our Pop-It activity is a simple, no-prep activity to learn key literacy skills using fine motor skills in an engaging way. These task cards can be printed and laminated for repeated use. Start by drawing a task card and popping the sounds, letters, words, or missing letters! Your students will love these fidget popper activities! It makes a perfect literacy center intervention or early finisher activity!!

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CVC Pop-IT Words

When learning to read CVC words are super important for preschool and Kindergarten students ! This pop-it activity provides preschool, kindergarten, and even first grade students with CVC word practice. Grab a lettered pop-it toy and our adorable CVC words task cards (in either black-and-white or color). Let students pop and spell the words. There are also task cards that show a picture with missing letters that students need to figure out how to spell the word as well! Fun, engaging, and perfect for those early readers!

Pom-Pom Match Fine Motor Activity

Here is a super fun, easy, and quick fine motor activity that is perfect for the toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners in your life! This activity promotes a wide variety of fine motor skills: strengthening hand muscles, hand-eye coordination, and more!

All you need is a pop-it toy, mini pom-poms and tweezers or clothes pins! Yep… that’s it! Now, to get started all kiddos need to do is pop all of the “bubbles” and then pick up the mini pom-poms with a tweezer or clothespin and add them to each popped “bubble.” This activity is sure to engage and excite your young learners!

Simple Addition with Pop-Its

Here is a super quick and easy preschool/kindergarten math activity! Did you know you can add with just a pop-it and a pair of dice?! Grab two dice and roll one and press the number of “bubbles” down on the pop-it. Next, roll the other dice and pop that amount of “bubbles.” The result will be the sum of the two dice. Take this activity to the next level by using a whiteboard and expo marker or a piece of paper to document the number sentence!

Count and Pop Syllables

Counting syllables is a very important early literacy skill students need to practice! Students from kindergarten through 3rd grade would LOVE this pop-it syllable counting activity. To complete this activity students will divide words into syllable chunks (this really helps promote decoding skills). For every syllable chunk, pop a bubble! (i.e. play-dough, car-toon, pil-low)

Popping Odd & Even Numbers

Students will love learning about odd and even numbers when pop-its are involved! This is a great activity for early learners as well as older students in grades 3, 4, and 5! Grab a pop-it of your choice and label them with different numbers. Give students a direction to pop even or odd numbers. Go a step further and play “what’s my number” by giving clues as to what your number is (i.e. My number is less than 20. It is even. It is two digits. The two digits added together are 3. My number is 12.)

Pop-It Marble Game

Here is a super fun game for your students to play! This is a fun partner game for students to play promoting partner/small group learning skills. This game works for students of ALL AGES! Grab a marble and a pop-it of your choice. Students will pop all of the bubbles and place the marble into one of the bubbles. Then flip it over and have the other person pop the bubbles until they find out where the marble is. So much fun and such a great activity to promote partner interaction!

How Fast?

This one is simply for fun! Students will work independently or as a small group/partner to play this one! Students in preschool through elementary (and beyond – let’s be honest, I’d love to play this too!) Grab a timer and a pop-it and let’s get started! Students will start the timer and see how fast they can pop ALL the bubbles: easy, quick, and extremely engaging!

Sort Your Colors with Pop-It

Your toddlers and preschool students will LOVE learning their colors with this interactive activity! Grab a rainbow pop-it (needs to be rainbow colored), some small sorting manipulatives (colored items like beads, pom-poms, erasers, skittles, etc…), and tweezers, and let’s get started! Students will pop the bubbles on the toy and then pick up each of the small items and put them into the hole of the corresponding color. Simple, fun, and effective!

Patterns with Pop-Its

Teaching patterns to your preschool or kindergarten students? This interactive math activity gets kids learning hands-on and building fine motor skills. Simple, yet extremely effective pattern lessons are right around the corner!

Start by gathering your supplies: a pop-it, tweezers, and small manipulatives (buttons, beads, mini erasers, mini marshmallows, skittles/m&ms, etc.…). Next, students will pop all the bubbles on the pop-it. Using tweezers, students will grab the small manipulatives to create a pattern. Patterns could be colors (i.e. red, blue, red, blue, red, blue), manipulative type (pom-pom, marshmallow, pom-pom, marshmallow), or any other pattern your student comes up with!

Pop-It Names

Preschool and kindergarten students learning to spell their names? Grab a pop-it and help them to learn the letters and order of their names! Start by taking a pop-it of your choice and writing the letters of the alphabet on it. Then give students a name card or name tag that shows how to correctly spell his/her name. Students will then use their letter recognition skills to find the letters in their names in the correct order!