Keeping the activities hands on and play-based is crucial for successful learning at home with preschoolers. Here are five more fun set-ups for the week ahead.
A few tips...
Keep the set up simple to avoid frustration for both you and your preschooler. I can remember so well how I used to spend ages making complex set ups with my first-born. Unfortunately I was often left feeling that the investment of time was not worth the play outcomes (i.e. he would play for ten minutes or so and then wonder off). Sound familiar? With my daughter, I simply don't have the time to spend too long setting up any given activity and this is a good thing. It encourages me to make sure they are simple and also achievable for her. She doesn't need complex materials and lots of stages if it's an art project. She needs the opportunity to explore and make her own choices, and most importantly she needs to feel a sense of 'I can do this' fairly early on in the activity. Hence, simple activities make for successful outcomes in my experience.
1. Fill the Balloons with Color
What you need: small pieces of white paper or card, black marker, colored markers and corresponding dot stickers.
How to set up: on each piece of card write a number and draw that many balloon strings and outlines in different colors. Present along with the dot stickers.
How it works: this activity is all about working on color matching and counting skills whilst giving your preschooler's fine motor skills a great workout too. Ask your preschooler to count the number of balloons on the card and tell you what color they are. Referring to the number on the card is also great exposure for number recognition too. Challenge them to add the correct number and color dot stickers to the card. Repeat this process for all of the cards, constantly naming the colors and counting. It's all about the exposure here!
For younger kids: you can simplify this activity for younger kids by taking out the element of numeracy and just asking them to match the color dot sticker with the color balloon outline. Not mixing colors on the cards will also help to simplify it. A little tip is to peel off the dot stickers and place them on the edge of the table if your child starts to get frustrated with it being tricky to peel them off.
For older kids: to make this more challenging you can work with higher numbers and even make simple addition or subtraction sum cards. From my experience even older kids like working with the dot stickers.
2. Invitation to Make Perfume
What you need: water, containers and jugs, spoons and scoops, pestle and mortar, and natural loose parts such as flower petals and leaves.
How to set up: we did this in our mud kitchen but it will work just as well using a storage bin or a few different large bowls. Put out some water, the natural loose parts and all the containers in a nice big space.
How it works: both my 3 yr old and 6 yr old got so into this invitation to make perfume. I let them loose with loads of different containers and a fun selection of flower petals from an old bouquet. They got started by deciding which containers were best for mixing and which would be their perfume 'bottles'. They carefully crushed different combinations of petals in the pestle and mortar to make unique smells, always testing as they mixed. There was so much sensory exploration happening. Once they were happy with their creations, they put them in spray bottles and then tested them out on me... actually not too bad!
For younger kids: even little kids will love the simple sensory joy of combining flower petals and water. Encourage them to smell and touch, and continue to discuss with them what they are experiencing even if they can't yet talk.
For older kids: as I said earlier, my 6 yr old was just as into this as my toddler! He loved running off and finding new ingredients for their perfumes, and even had the idea to crush pinecones to add an 'essence of wood'. Older children might like the challenge of naming and pricing their creation.
3. Daffodil Prints
What you need: white paper or card, toilet paper rolls, acrylic paint, paint brushes, and a plate.
How to set up: squirt some large areas of paint over the plate. To prepare the toilet paper rolls cut slits up the sides on one end (try to make the slits approx. the same length). Then splay the strands out into a flower shape. Put out the brushes and paints, along with the toilet paper rolls.
How it works: Start off by asking your preschooler to paint a nice green stem and a leaf or two. Next you can either press the toilet paper rolls down on the paint or if it's easier use a brush to paint the strands. Just be sure to get a nice coating of paint ready to press down onto the card as it helps to leave a bold print. We did three different colors to give the daffodil a lovely layered effect. My little one also insisted on painting the middle area.
For younger kids: paint the stem for them and ask if they can dip the toilet paper rolls in paint and stamp them onto the card. They will love seeing the effect on the paper.
For older kids: challenge them to cut their own flower designs using their toilet paper rolls and scissors. Ask them if they know the names of the flowers they are making and whether they have seen one before (or is it a new invention?!).
4. DUPLO Water Drops
Thanks @howweplayandlearn for this fabulous idea. Be sure to check out Vicki's original version!
What you need: DUPLO blocks, water, food coloring (optional), pots, tray, pipette / dropper.
How to set up: I decided to add a fun color matching twist to this so I mixed in some red, blue and yellow food coloring into three separate pots of water. I set up the tray with color matching pipettes, water and DUPLO blocks.
How it works: this one is all about fine motor skills and control. It took my toddler a few tries to get used to but once she did she was so proud of herself! I challenged her to drop little beads of the correct color water into the DUPLO holes. I encouraged her to try and not let the holes overflow, which added a great problem solving element. We talked about volumes in the simple context of too little and too much. My preschooler loves water play so this was a huge hit for her!
For younger kids: using the DUPLO block holes will be too delicate for little ones so why not flip the block over and see if they can simply fill the underneath of the block with water using a spoon. I'd also recommend just using regular water for this. Food coloring might get a little too messy!
For older kids: see if your older child can be as accurate as possible, i.e. no spillages. Can they also count how many holes on each block as well? Add in more math by using the pipette to suck up the water from a few DUPLO holes, how many are left now?
5. Fine motor Journal
Thanks to Stay at Home Educator for this great idea! Make sure you head to the blog link to read just how beneficial a fine motor journal can be for a preschooler's pre-writing skills.
What you need: paper, hole punch, yarn / string, selection of stickers, and markers or crayons.
How to set up: the idea here is to create a small book with stickers on the pages which your preschooler then explores with their markers. I used three pieces of A4 paper and folded them in half before hole punching them and threading yarn through to create a little book. I then added different stickers to each page in different arrangements. I used dots, stars, hearts and numbers.
How it works: the idea here is that your preschooler will be able to practice their pre-writing lines and shapes, with the stickers as a prompt / inspiration. You can see in the pictures above that my toddler enjoyed color matching the stars with her markers by drawing adjoining lines. She also circled the number stickers (we spoke about each number as she did this), and explored coloring on the dot stickers. There is no right or wrong way for them to use these journals. It is their journal and therefore try not to guide too much. My little one thought she was super special having her own little book to draw in. The best thing is that she has kept coming back to it throughout the weeks, adding new lines and tracing over old ones.
For younger kids: instead of making a book, just make one page for them with a few stickers on. Give them a jumbo crayon and see what they do. Do they color on the sticker? Around it? Or nowhere near it? There is no right or wrong, this is simply a fun stimulus for their mark making.
For older kids: even older preschoolers will enjoy being let free with their own little journal. Why not arrange the stickers in the formation of the letters in their name? Or put the same number of stickers as their age on a page. Can they write the number? Try to be creative and let their own imagination determine how they use the journal. Another fun thing for older siblings to do is make a fine motor journal for a younger sibling!
We hope you also have fun with these activities. Remember to keep the set ups simple and the expectations low. All exposure is good exposure so even if the outcome is not what you would have expected, there will still be plenty of learning happening. Find out more about these and plenty more preschooler activities at @findthelittlemind.
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