Activity Ideas for Preschoolers

Loved this list!

You can find the list and more on this site.

• Plastic (or cardboard) coins and a piggy bank - bought or home-made (Pringles can, slit cut in top).
• Playdoh with a plastic knife, rolling pin, cookie cutters, etc.
• Painting: watercolors, paint books, or food coloring in water with a Q-tip.
• Chalk on dark construction paper.
• Scissors and paper (no other objective in mind!)
• Easy-to-use paper punch and strips of paper.
• Stencils, paper, colored pencils.
• Lacing cards: Cardboard shape with holes punched around it. Attach yarn, wrap masking tape around the end.
• Plastic canvas with yarn attached, wrap end in masking tape.
• Poke holes in thick cardboard with a tack.
• Shallow bucket on a towel on the floor. Add water, boats, plastic fish, measuring cups, etc.
• Writing tray: Put a layer of rice or cornmeal in a cookie sheet. Good for spelling practice or picture-drawing or practicing ABC's.
• Mini-sandbox: Put a layer of sand in a box the size of a banana box. Add trucks, cars, popsicle sticks. Throw a blanket over a card table or a couple of chairs. Offer clothes pins. They'll know what to do next!
• Make a tunnel of kitchen chairs.
• Give them a crochet hook and a length of yarn. Demonstrate chain stitch a few times. This is not for everyone, but if you refuse to do it for them, you'll be surprised at what they figure out.
• Stack cups or containers of different sizes.
• Nuts and bolts, same or different sizes.
• Scrap wood, hammer, nails.
• Bucket of water and a paintbrush-for outside painting. Works best on wood or concrete.
• Chalk on sidewalk or steps.
• Let them "wash" a few plastic dishes. Put an egg beater and baster in the water.
• A cup with non-toxic soapy water and a straw to blow bubbles. You may put it on a sheet of paper and add food coloring to the water.
• A cloth measuring tape to measure with (the metal ones have sharp edges).
• Make a necklace or snack chain with yarn (masking tape on end) and any cereal with holes: Froot Loops, Cheerios, etc.
• Arrange blocks by size, color, or shape.
• Dip string pieces in thinned poster paint. Fold a paper in half. Lay string on one side and fold over to create designs.
• Flash cards: ABC's or whatever you may have.
• Pictures with colored glue. If you put these on a smooth plastic sheet, it can be peeled off when dry.
• Superball or small car and a paper towel or wrapping paper tube.
• Tops - bought or made with ½ toothpick and cardboard disk.
• Draw roads, houses, etc. on large paper or cardboard. Use cars and trucks on it.
• Look through the button box.
• Watch a bug! At the table, at an anthill, wherever.
• Water color with food coloring, eye dropper or paint brush, coffee filter. Once this is dry, you can iron it. Then cut the center out of a paper plate. Glue filter to it for a sun catcher.
• Pins and pin cushion.
• Beanbags and a bucket.
• Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.
• A large box.

What A Four Year Old Should Know, and What More Can I Be Doing?

Lauren is just about to turn three, which means she gets to move from being a "toddler" to becoming a "pre-k." I get so excited about the curriculum and programs and workbooks I have collected for pre-k and k, that I tend to push her to get there. Sometimes I wish that we could finally just "start school." Fortunately, I've just finished reading some interesting articles that have set my heart in a different direction.

First off, I read this article, "What a 4 year old should know." A woman posed this question and received answers from a multitude of mothers with "laundry lists" so-to-speak of all the things their son or daughter could do. This included things like naming all the planets, counting to 100, knowing how to write their first and last name, etc. The author reminds us that getting through childhood isn't a race.

I'm copying and pasting her words here:

So here, I offer my list of what a 4 year old should know.

1. She should know that she is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.
2. He should know that he is safe and he should know how to keep himself safe in public, with others, and in varied situations. He should know that he can trust his instincts about people and that he never has to do something that doesn’t feel right, no matter who is asking. He should know his personal rights and that his family will back them up.
3. She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs.
4. He should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If he couldn’t care less about learning his numbers, his parents should realize he’ll learn them accidentally soon enough and let him immerse himself instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or playing in the mud.
5. She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she’s wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous. She should know that it’s just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics. Scratch that– way more worthy.

But more important, here’s what parents need to know.

1. That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra.
2. That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books.
3. That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children “advantages” that we’re giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood.
4. That our children deserve to be surrounded by books, nature, art supplies and the freedom to explore them. Most of us could get rid of 90% of our children’s toys and they wouldn’t be missed, but some things are important– building toys like legos and blocks, creative toys like all types of art materials (good stuff), musical instruments (real ones and multicultural ones), dress up clothes and books, books, books. (Incidentally, much of this can be picked up quite cheaply at thrift shops.) They need to have the freedom to explore with these things too– to play with scoops of dried beans in the high chair (supervised, of course), to knead bread and make messes, to use paint and play dough and glitter at the kitchen table while we make supper even though it gets everywhere, to have a spot in the yard where it’s absolutely fine to dig up all the grass and make a mud pit.
5. That our children need more of us. We have become so good at saying that we need to take care of ourselves that some of us have used it as an excuse to have the rest of the world take care of our kids. Yes, we all need undisturbed baths, time with friends, sanity breaks and an occasional life outside of parenthood. But we live in a time when parenting magazines recommend trying to commit to 10 minutes a day with each child and scheduling one Saturday a month as family day. That’s not okay! Our children don’t need Nintendos, computers, after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US. They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take walks with them and not mind the .1 MPH pace of a toddler on a spring night. They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that they’re a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them.

Isn't that a great list? 

Additionally,  this article is about homeschooling 3 and 4 year olds, and what you can do to get them ready. What I really took away from this was to spend more time on building attitude and character at this age than focusing on academics.  

Here is, copy and pasted, one of my favorite responses in article, addressing the question, "What more can I be doing?":

I have no doubt that you can teach your children academics before they turn five. The important question is, should you? I would suggest that the answer is "no" for two reasons.

First, just as a ballet dancer who starts dancing on her toes when she is too young will ruin her legs; just as a pitcher who starts throwing fast balls when he is too young will ruin his arm; so also a child who starts academics too young will often ruin her eagerness for learning. What was fun when she was three and four has become drudgery by the time she is six or seven. Then you have to fight to make her willing to learn, the rest of her schooling.

I'll admit that this burn-out does not happen in every case of early academics, but considering how commonly it does happen, are you willing to take that chance, considering how much is at stake? And surprising though it may be, you're not gaining anything by starting early. Research shows that whether a child started reading at three or at six, their reading skills are about the same by the time they are nine. Education is a marathon, not a sprint. What would happen to a marathon runner who sprinted the first mile?

Second, imagine a builder who does not take the time to build a solid and true foundation under a house. After all, what his customers want is houses! What do they care about a pile of concrete in the ground where no one will see it? What will happen to that house without a good foundation? (Some of us have lived in houses like that one!)

There is a season of preparation and a season of progress. But if you hurry through or skip over that season of preparation, then you will not have as solid of a foundation laid when that season of progress arrives. So what can you be doing during this season of preparation?

• As Cathi said, there is no other time like the preschool years to work on character issues. You have more influence on their future now than at any other time. The attitudes and character issues you build now will impact the rest of their life. That is not to be taken lightly. Consider the extremes. Who would you rather your daughter married: a godly, responsible man of character who was a ditch-digger and couldn't do long division to save his life? Or a nuclear physicist who was a drunken, womanizing, compulsive liar? Character is more important than all the academics in the world.
• As Julie said, take this time to educate yourself. Read the great literature you always meant to get to. Pursue an area of history, science, or the arts. If you are learning and growing, you will be better able to teach your child when the time comes.
• Read, read, read to your children. The benefits are manifold. They'll gain an appetite for books. They'll see books as something you read for fun, not something you have to do for school. They'll develop a greater imagination and attention span, both important skills when the time is ripe for academics. They'll realize that stories come from a printed page, not just from a TV set. They'll be more eager to be able to read to themselves. They'll be able to cuddle up with you on the couch. They'll have their minds expanded without the stress of performing academically. The list goes on and on.
• Experience things. Many, many things. As we learn new things, we connect them to existing "hooks" from things we've already encountered. The more your child encounters during these preparation years, the easier his brain will process new things when school starts. Sing and dance together. Hold kittens. Plant radishes (they sprout fast). Make goop from cornstarch and water. Play in the sprinkler. Go to a duck pond. Dress up. Roll down a hill. Watch an anthill. Touch things, feel things, experience new things.
• Play, play, play. There is a tendency to hyper-schedule a small child's day. Remember that there is a tremendous amount of learning and development which grow out of play, but this can only happen if we give them time to just be kids and create their own entertainment.
• Talk, talk, talk to them. This will help develop their vocabulary, comprehension, thinking skills, interpersonal and conversational skills, ability to follow directions, and more. It will draw you closer together, make them feel valuable, and establish a view that the world is interesting and understandable. 

And in other sections of the article:

So there’s nothing wrong with letters and numbers. But all the non-academic activities that people recommend for preschoolers are actually better preparation for school. Reading to your child develops listening skills and attention span. Projects like putting together puzzles, stringing beads, and cutting construction paper all develop fine motor skills and attention span. So does participating in household chores and cooking. There’s a lot of learning in sweeping a floor, planting a garden, or baking a batch of cookies - don’t sell them short! And of course, nature walks and trips to the zoo or train station or children’s museum develop curiosity and a love of learning. That’s probably the best school preparation of all.

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Some say, "But my preschoolers are so much happier if they have workbooks to do." Regarding early academics, just make sure that through the preschool years, child training comes first! Remember, it's not a readiness issue. The child may be developmentally capable of doing something; but the important question, in light of all the research which shows that an early start does not translate into anything except possible burnout, is "What else can my child be doing with his time that is more valuable at 3, 4, and 5 that WILL translate into a richer life?"

If your child needs several hours of academic activities or even constant input from you during the day in order to keep him from being bored and whiney, then this is a much bigger problem than whether to teach him to read and write at 3 or 4. Providing schoolwork may just be masking character issues which need to be addressed before school age. This is one of the reasons I am against early schoolwork--it gives the child and parent something to focus on other than those things which should properly be taught during those years. When a child is whiney and bored, he needs to be taught how to find acceptable activities, how to entertain a younger child, how to wait for Mom's attention, etc. Am I making sense? Providing structure can be helpful, but not if it is a "remedy" for character problems. Schoolwork is the easy way out.

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You asked, "shouldn't I be doing more to prepare my 4-year-old for school?" What you are doing now is much more important than any academic curriculum. Please relax and know that you are laying the foundation for many years of enjoyable and successful home schooling by concentrating on character, discipline, and order during these early years. If you wait two years to begin any formal education and just work on developing obedient, cheerful children and a spirit of cooperation in the family, you will be light years ahead of the family who begins academics at age 4 but has little control over the children.

Rest in the season in which God has placed you. Do all the research necessary for you to make good decisions about academics, but please don't "jump the gun" and shortchange the current season.