Sharing five more easy-to-set-up activities which will help to keep your preschooler playing and learning creatively.
A few tips...
As time passes I'm sure in some respects the vast amount of time at home has become easier to cope with as your family find it's own rhythm. In other respects though, as I am definitely experiencing, the days seem longer. We try so hard to keep our kids happy and engaged, but some days the best policy is simply play and cuddles! These five activities are simply guidance and ideas for when the time is right to enjoy a more structured activity with your child. Some days we don't do any structured activities, some days we do one and then there are of course those days where the creativity flows naturally and we do several activities one after the other. Try to be flexible and work off how your kids and you are feeling. Avoid putting yourself under the pressure of doing one every day, just ride with the crazy rollercoaster that is life at the moment!
1. Animal Footprints
What you need: white paper or card (we used a large roll), tape, acrylic paints, paint brushes and some animals (we used our Learning Resources Jumbo Animals for extra large footprints).
How to set up: tape your white paper down to the table and set out the paint and paintbrushes, along with the animals.
How it works: I explained to my 3 year old that we would be making bright and colorful animal footprints. She got straight to work painting the animals' feet and pressing them down on the paper. She loved seeing the different prints each animal created. Although this is primarily an art activity, I love that it lead to a huge amount of creative animal play!
For younger kids: instead of asking your child to paint the feet of the animals and then stamp them on the paper, just let them dip the feet in paint. This is much easier for them and they will still get the huge sense of reward when they then stamp footprints on the white paper.
For older kids: provide them with a variety of animal types and sizes. Ask them to sort by size or color and make group footprints. You could even see if they can make patterns or shapes of animal footprint tracks.
2. Tape Resist Rolling Eggs
What you need: white paper or card, painter's tape (or masking tape), acrylic paints, rolling pin, and ideally a tray to avoid too much mess.
How to set up: cut the white card into egg shapes and set out the materials on the tray.
How it works: we started off by adding a pattern to the eggs with the painter's tape. Both kids loved being able to use the tape by themselves and enjoyed tearing and sticking it. The next step is to add blobs of paint all over the egg (you don't need too much paint, just a good covering of the egg). Then use the rolling pin to spread the paint all over the egg. Once the paint has dried, remove the tape to reveal a cool white pattern on the egg.
For younger kids: pre-cut the pieces of tape for them so all they have to do is stick them onto the card. They might also need help with squeezing the paint onto the egg, but they can enjoy telling you which colors to use. Little hands will definitely enjoy using the rolling pin to spread the paint, although it might get messy!
For older kids: challenge your older child to make more intricate designs with the tape to decorate the egg in more detail. You can also ask them to experiment with mixing the colors of paint as they roll over them with the rolling pin.
3. Book Craft - The Rainbow Fish
What you need: your favorite children's book, white card or paper, markers, crayons, paints, scraps of materials such as foil, construction paper and tissue paper, scissors and glue.
How to set up: start off by reading the book together. As you do so discuss the main character and the illustrations. Create a copy of the main character on white card, ready for your child to decorate. We read The Rainbow Fish so I drew a Rainbow Fish template. I then put out various markers and paints, as well as some foil and glue for the shimmery scales.
How it works: I explained to both my 3 year old and 6 year old that we were going to decorate our own Rainbow Fish. They were free to use any of the materials in any way they wished. I always find allowing them the freedom to create how they want to results in much better engagement. Encourage them to fill their fish with color and textures, and use the illustrations as guidance if they want it.
For younger kids: an entire character craft may be a little much for a younger child. This is where I would recommend engaging with your child and doing the craft together. Color a scale each at a time and use the time to ask probing questions about the character and its appearance.
For older kids: once they've created their own craft character, see if they can either write or verbally tell you a mini story based on the character from the book you have read. Alternatively, ask if they would like to draw their own new character for the book's sequel.
4. Easter Egg Crack 'n Sort
What you need: plastic eggs, small sorting fillers (we used Easter mini erasers), sorting tray and some fine motor tools.
How to set up: fill the plastic eggs with different combinations of the mini erasers and set them out on the tray.
How it works: encourage your child to crack open the eggs to find the fun surprises inside. As they do this they will naturally describe what they find inside. You can encourage this further with simple questions about colors, shapes and even numbers. Once all the eggs have been cracked open ask your little one to sort them back into the tray. I left it up to my toddler to choose how she sorted them. She delicately tested out the fine motor tools and used a compartment in the tray for each type of mini eraser.
For younger kids: instead of putting multiple sorting items in each egg, just put one inside. Younger children will love the process of opening the eggs and you can talk about what they find inside.
For older kids: this is a great opportunity to introduce some early Math concepts. Encourage them to tally how many of each type of sorting filler they find in each egg. Or you could even ask them to make a graph with the manipulatives.
5. Loose Parts Transfer
What you need: two different types of containers, loose parts and a fine motor tool. We used an egg tray and egg carton, pretend eggs and also some bunny tongs as we wanted this activity to be Easter themed.
How to set up: place the loose parts in one container, and place the empty container and tongs next to it.
How it works: I didn't offer any directions or guidance for this set up, instead I just let my 3 year old get to work transferring the eggs from the full container to the empty one. She soon experimented with the bunny tongs and enjoyed the added challenge. As she moved the eggs, she was working her fine motor skills hard, as well as using lots of counting vocabulary. Once all the eggs were in the new container, she got to work transferring them back to their original home.
For younger kids: this can be simplified for younger kids by just using two large bowls and a few manipulatives such as large building blocks or ball pit style balls. Encourage your little one to move the blocks or balls from one bowl to the other and talk to them about the concept of empty and full.
For older kids: older kids will enjoy using even smaller and more challenging manipulatives and fine motor tools. You can ask them to count out loud as they transfer. It could be fun to also put a timer on to see how long it takes them to transfer all of the manipulatives across.
We hope you have fun with some of these activities too. Head over to @findthelittlemind on Instagram for more daily shares and inspiration.
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