‘Play is the highest form of research’ – Albert Einstein
Einstein couldn’t have said it better. Through constructive play, children can learn without any of the pressure that comes later in life.
All that is needed is to disguise learning with loads of fun and you have children scampering for more! Bookmark this page for a rainy day so you always have something to fall back on, to spark your budding Einstein’s intellect.
The best preschool games for kids
Here are some cool games to keep your play-schooler busy.
- Connect the dots, but with letters
- Match the Rhyming Word
- Broken telephone
- Bowling with plastic bottles
- Paper plate ring toss
- Painted Leaves
- Paper Plate rainbow
- Straw bead necklace
- Paper Turtle
- Button Fish
- Make a bird house with ice cream sticks
That’s right. All your child has to do is connect, say, the ‘g’s that are drawn alongside a multitude of other letters, to earn a pat on the back!
Shown a list of words, the child has to identify the word called out (eg. Snake). The words are dictated by a narrator to enforce auditory reinforcement.
Children on a playdate sit in a circle and the sentence you say (only a few words of course) must be transmitted intact from the first avid listener to the last. This game’s great for honing listening as well as social skills.
Can’t go to the mall? Try bowling at home instead! A few empty plastic bottles and a ball are all you need.
Again, one doesn’t need to go to the fair to indulge in this delightful game of skill.
Crafts for preschool
Crafts are a great outlet for creative exploration and developing cognitive skills. Here are some fun preschool activities using crafts.
What you need: some leaves handpicked from your garden or locality. How to do it: Have you child paint several leaves and make a collage of them. One of the fun crafts for preschool!
What you need: a paper plate and some non-toxic crayons.
How to do it: Cut the paper plate into an arch and have your child paint the colours of the rainbow on it.
Bonus points for gluing cotton at the bottom to resemble clouds!
What you need: different-coloured straws and plenty of string.
How to do it: Cut different-coloured straws into sections that a string passes through to make a wonderful necklace. Great for colour recognition.
What you need: Paper plates and cardboard.
How to do it: Paste carboard legs and face of the ‘turtle’ to its main body, the paper plate. Have your child go wild painting it.
What you need: buttons and cardboard.
How to do it: Cut the shape of a fish out of cardboard and paste buttons of various colours on it.
What you need: ice cream sticks (plenty of ice cream to be eaten, yes!) and cardboard.
How to do it: Use cardboard for supporting the ice cream sticks that form the bird house outline and create cut-outs of tiny ‘birds’ that come and visit the house.
Preschool classroom games
Who says being in class is boring? Here are some games that will set the classroom alive!
- Copy dance
- Simon Says
- Red light, green light
- Freeze dance
- Musical chairs
- Story Time Clap game
- Touch and Feel box
Really as simple as it sounds. One child dances, while the others copy their moves. One of the best preschool activities.
This classic game never goes out of style. Say ‘Simon says jump like monkeys’, and watch the kids squeal with delight. A great way for kids to learn to pay close attention to instructions, and comprehend the meaning of leadership.
The harmless version of the dangerous opening game in ‘Squid Games’, this one will help your child harness fine gross motor skills. The teacher stands at the front of the classroom and the children move fast towards him or her at the utterance of ‘Green Light’, and freeze at ‘Red Light’. The first person to touch the teacher wins. One of the more fun preschool classroom games!
Yet another one of the coolest preschool activities. Play a favourite song and have the children freeze when it stops. Repeat.
Have children scrambling to not be the ‘only one standing’ when the music stops. Great in teaching patience.
Tell a story and have children clap whenever they hear a particular word. A great way to boost sound recognition and language development.
Pass a bog of items with unusual textures around. After everyone has felt what’s inside, see who can identify ‘what’s in the bag’!
The best preschool activities for kids
Here are some preschool activities that hit the sweet spot!
- Play dough
- Scavenger hunts
- Yoga
- Create a cup tower
- Ice cube painting
- Make an obstacle course
- Preschool Activities for Reading
- Create a Letter Parking Lot
- Make a Book
- Play Kick the Cup
- Practice Rhyming with Blocks
- Preschool Activities for Math
- Sort Pom-Poms
- Learn symmetry with LEGO bricks
- Practice Geometry with Popsicle Sticks
- Preschool Activities for Gross Motor Skills
Give them some play dough and watch them unleash their creativity. One of the tried and tested activities for preschoolers!
Make a list of things to find. This game will boost the memory of your young Sherlock Holmes! One of the preschool activities that are a cut apart from the others.
Start them young, with the simplest of yoga poses. Great for fitness, of body and mind!
With paper cups, have your child create the largest possible tower. Before it topples, of course! One of the better preschool activities for boosting critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Add liquid food colouring to water in ice cube trays, for some colourful fun! Great to improve the sensory skills of preschoolers.
Bonus: Talking about the basic science of water freezing.
Ensure the obstacles are things that won’t hurt your child. Wonderful to improve your child’s coordination skills.
There are several preschool activities for reading, that your child will love. Like the following.
Letter Bingo. All you have to do here, is make bingo cards with the 16 letters of the alphabet, not numbers! Read Aloud Everyday. Even if it’s for fifteen minutes a day, reading stories to them daily will help nurture their creativity.
On a flat cardboard surface, draw a letter parking lot with ’26 parking spaces.’ Then label some toy cars with random letters, and have your child drive the cars into the ‘corresponding’ parking spaces.
All you have to do is get them a writing space, a pen and some markers. Then let them use their imagination to create their very first book, that includes images, too!
Label cups with letters, and place them on the floor. Using a ball, your child must proceed to kick a cup. They must then pick up the fallen cup, and recite the letter on it.
Plaster images of rhyming words on same-coloured blocks. Then let you kids go wild, as they attempt to say those words.
Math can be fun, too! Like with the following activities.
Counting Fun. Get them to count everyday objects. Like the number of buttons on their shirt! Count Patterns and Numbers with Bears. Counting Bear Pattern Cards make for a great way to honing those matching, sorting and even counting skills. All with those cute little ‘bears’, of course! Use counting mats. Give your child a counting mat and many small objects. The objective for your child is to identify the number of dots on the mat, and then assemble the correct number of objects and match them with that number of dots.
Place differently coloured soft pom-poms in a large bowl. Your child has to sort the same-coloured pom-poms by placing them in one of the smaller, empty bowls placed next to the large bowl.
Children have to use Lego pieces to create structures that are ‘the other half’ of the structures displayed on Building Block Symmetry Cards.
There are several cool 3D models that you can help your kids create, like a Tetrahedron and even, a Cube!
This is the time when those Gross Motor Skills are best developed, with activities like the following.
Preschool years, you will find, are a time of unlimited fun and learning. The ideas for preschool activities in this article are among the most tried and tested ones, that will spark your child’s fancy as well as help them develop critical skills.
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