Preschool Edition

If you’re like we are, you are receiving about 50 great ideas every day for activities to do with your kids. Even though I have a background in sifting through these resources, I still feel totally overwhelmed by the quantity, and that actually makes it less likely that I’ll actually pick any of them to try. So here are my top picks, by age, starting with preschoolers!

Preschool Edition

For starters, most preschoolers just need time to play and explore, use their imagination, and have someone read to them. (Here’s a nice overview of ways to engage.) Here are some ways we’ve been doing this with our twins:

You may have heard that less is more when it comes to toys, and that is very true. In that vein, you might just have farm animals to play with and see where that leads. Children might act like animals, do yoga poses like those animals, sing songs like Old Macdonald, feed their real or pretend animals, draw a picture of a farm, or have races with the animals. (Another “station” idea could include cars/trains and building or drawing roads/tracks and making or using items to be landmarks like a house, store, school, or friend’s house.)

For the craftier among us, playdough is always a huge hit! Bonus points for making it, which is easier than you think, so it’s actually soft and usable. Of course, if you have a cardboard box, there are endless possibilities of how to decorate it and then use it as a fort, rocket, racecar...

If you’re able to get outside, give your child a bucket or container (and a magnifying glass or binoculars if you have them so kids can act and think like a scientist) and go collect things, like acorns, leaves, and cones. When you come inside, you can use these as a counting and/or sorting activity, or simply as a way to observe closely, noticing similarities and differences between things. What questions does your child have? We all know about Google, but here’s a kid-friendly search engine too.

By now you’re probably exhausted, so take advantage of celebrities reading children’s books online. A favorite quote I once heard is, “I’m a parent. My hobbies include silence and going to the bathroom by myself.” Now’s your chance to foster those hobbies.

My kids all love music and there are lots of great online options for that as well, like Go Noodle, Mr. Steve, Mr. Chris and Friends, Jam with Jamie, and Ramblin’ Dan.

Putting on my professional hat, here are some awesome (and free!) hands-on games and apps that support early math and science learning.

Finally, when it’s time to just let them watch a show, my favorites are almost always on PBS Kids (special shout out to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, but there’s also Sid the Science Kid, Molly of Denali, and Super Why!), and Peppa Pig is also a fan favorite.

I’d love to hear your top choices for preschoolers too. Please comment or email us!