5 Hands On Activities For Teaching Main Idea In First Grade Missing

Leo Migdal

-Dec 9, 2025, 9:36 PM

5 hands on activities for teaching main idea in first grade missing

Teaching main idea in first grade and second grade can feel like a struggle. It can be a difficult skill to teach. So often, students focus too much on the tiny details or miss the big picture entirely. If you’re tired of repeating “What is this passage mostly about?” only to be met with blank stares, you’re not alone, teacher friend! Why is main idea so challenging to teach? For young learners, distinguishing between what is important and what is an interesting detail takes practice.

First and second graders are still learning to summarize and they naturally focus on small, concrete facts instead of the big picture. The good news? Hands-on activities can completely transform how your students understand and identify the main idea. When students can sort, move, create, and collaborate, the concept finally clicks. Gone are the days of simply reading a passage and expecting young readers to just “get it.” Instead, we can engage all learning styles — from visual to kinesthetic — to make sure every... In this post, I’m sharing five tried-and-true main idea activities that are perfect for first and second grade.

Best of all? These different ideas come straight from my Main Idea Reading Unit, so you can grab everything you need in one spot and save hours of planning time! The main idea, or central idea, of a text is the message the author is trying to convey. It mainly summarizes the key message of a text. When determining the main idea of a story, it is important to think about the big idea. The supporting details, or key details, support the main idea.

You can typically determine the main idea from the first sentence or last sentence of a short paragraph. Great post! I'm a kindergarten teacher and I find these are useful for my area too! Awesome! So glad you could use some of these ideas in a kindergarten classroom. 🙂

That's great! Thank you… so glad you found these resources helpful! 🙂 Great ideas and resources! Thank you so much. Jan Laughter and Consistency

Hi Cindy, I hope you and your students enjoy these activities! I love these cute activities to teach main idea!! My second graders would love them! I love the mystery bag idea and how it can not only teach main idea, but also how it can help students classify common items. Wow, Angie! What a fabulous set of resources you put together on main idea.

I have already purchased your main idea set and love your approach to teaching main idea from small parts to whole. These videos are high quality and I appreciate you sharing them with us. I guess I need to poke around your site more to see what other supporting materials you have here. Thanks so much! I actually used most of these ideas and resources in my class and my students loved them! Thank you for your creative ideas!

I want to sign up for the Lucky Videos. You are AMAZING!!!! Finding the main idea is a useful skill that students will use for life. When we quickly tell someone about a book we read, a show we watched, or a podcast that we listened to, we’re essentially speaking about the main idea. For students, finding the main idea primarily focuses on finding the main point of an article, passage, essay, paragraph, chapter, section of a book, or even a picture. The following main idea activities will deepen students’ understanding of main idea and supporting details.

What’s more, because this reading skill naturally integrates with all content areas, it doesn’t matter what subject you teach or what curriculum you use. How do you feel when you hear the words main idea or main topic? Do you cringe or do you get excited? If I’m being honest, I used to completely tense up when this unit was up next because it’s a HARD concept for students. Not only was it really difficult for students to understand at times, it often felt repetitive and well….boring. So you know what I had to do- figure out how to PLAY with it!

Before we dive into all the fun, let’s talk a little about the difference between main idea and main topic. While teaching primary grades K-2, it is our responsibility to teach the main topic in preparation for the main idea beginning in third grade. But what’s the difference? The main topic is one or two words about the text, whereas the main idea is a sentence that explains what the text is mostly about. For example, when reading about animals, ‘dolphins’ might be the main topic, while the main idea is ‘Dolphins care for their calves’. So while the title of this blog is teaching the main idea, take note that these activities will focus on the main TOPIC as it is the prerequisite skill for our primary learners before...

Of course you can always extend any of these activities as needed but either way, with all this fun, they’ll be on their way to mastery in no time! So let’s get into some enjoyable, hands on, engaging ways to teach the main topic!! Setting the stage for this concept can get students SUPER excited about this crucial new skill! This super easy, low prep introductory lesson is an amazing way to get students engaged and interested in the mystery of what they’ll be learning. Start by creating some topic bags for students. All you need is some paper bags, printed pictures, and a recording sheet.

Told you it was super easy! I like to give 6 different topics for students to figure out. You simply cut out the pictures that relate to each topic and stick them in the bag for students. I also like to write the topic on the bottom so students can do a quick self check when they are done. Check out THIS resource where is the activity is completely done for you! The main idea is defined as the central point or big picture of a story or informational text.

The details are those statements that support (go along with) the main idea. Main idea and details are important in all types of texts (literature and informational), as well as in writing. The central message of the story is the main point that the author wants you to remember. Many consider this the “big idea” of the story and can be described in a word or two. It may also be the lesson that an author wants you to learn from the text. <img fetchpriority="high" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" data-pin-url="https://educationtothecore.com/10-great-activities-to-teach-main-idea-and-details/?tp_image_id=18147" data-pin-title="10 GREAT Activities to Teach Main Idea and Details" class="aligncenter wp-image-18147" src="https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled-683x1024.png?strip=all" alt="" width="400" height="600" srcset="https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled-683x1024.png?strip=all 683w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled-385x577.png?strip=all 385w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled-220x330.png?strip=all 220w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled.png?strip=all 735w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled.png?strip=all&w=147 147w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled.png?strip=all&w=294 294w, https://enhtne6i59t.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Copy-of-Untitled.png?strip=all&w=441 441w,...

Identifying the main idea and details in a text are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to comprehending text. You can scaffold how to understand a piece of literature for your students through the activities listed below, as well as using graphic organizers. I have both fluency and comprehension building resources on Education to the Core Premium. For a low monthly or annual fee, you can unlock unlimited access to resources for reading instruction and all of the other subjects. Take a look at everything you can use on ETTC Premium by clicking the button below.

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That's great! Thank you… so glad you found these resources helpful! 🙂 Great ideas and resources! Thank you so much. Jan Laughter and Consistency