Preschoolers are a lot of fun, but they can also be very energetic. What’s more, as preschoolers learn about the world around them and grow as individuals, they often begin to assert their independence. Preschool-aged children will want to try things on their own, including playing by themselves. But you can provide some additional entertainment for your preschooler to make sure he or she gets the most out of their playtime.
Many parents of toddlers wonder how to entertain their very energetic preschoolers at home. After all, a baby’s world is so limited. Faced with such enormous imagination, the extremely noisy playroom, and the fancy toys, it’s natural for children to ask what to do next. Reading is not on their brain at this age, but a mom still has something to do in terms of entertaining her toddler at home. My son was four when we had this problem, and I can see his friends growing up in the same situation now.
In this article, we’ll show you how to entertain preschoolers at home.
- Make shapes with their food. It’s a fun activity that will keep them occupied for hours and easily doubles as a snack or a meal.
- Play with water. Fill up buckets of water and add some toys, like boats or sponges.
- Put on educational cartoons for your child to watch. This is a great way to keep them entertained while also teaching them something new!.
- Create a coloring area: If your child is into coloring and drawing, set up an area in the house just for that activity. Use a large piece of butcher paper (or tape together multiple sheets) to cover an area of the floor so they can draw on it with washable markers. For more advanced artists, consider giving them access to crayons, colored pencils, or paints if they don’t already have those somewhere else in the house. Make sure they have access to plenty of paper too!
- Give them access to play dough or modeling clay. There’s nothing like a good lump of Play-Doh or modeling clay to keep kids busy for hours—especially when you add in some cookie cutters and other accessories for sculpting and shaping purposes. You can even have them create
- Make a fort. Forts are awesome things; they’re the perfect hideout for little rascals, a secret place for them to call their own. They’re also easy to make; just grab a couple of chairs and some blankets.
- Play dress up. Preschoolers love to pretend, so give them an outfit to act out their favorite character or person in real life. Start with something easy like pretend chef or firefighter, then move on to more complicated characters such as classical piano virtuoso or professional skateboarder.
- Color All the other kids are doing it, so why not your preschooler? Get out some crayons and paper and let their imaginations run wild! No need to worry about staying within the lines; that’s what coloring books are for!
- Let them help you cook! They’re probably already bored with eating plain old cereal every morning, so why not let them help you make breakfast? Be sure to let them crack open the eggs (under supervision) so they can feel all
- Set up an Obstacle Course in Your Living Room
- There are many ways to create an obstacle course in your living room. You may have some old boxes lying around that you can turn into an obstacle course, or you could use empty laundry baskets and chairs to design a maze that your preschooler must navigate through. Just make sure that your preschooler is supervised while they are navigating the obstacle course in case they fall or hurt themselves.
- If you don’t have any boxes or other household items lying around, you can always purchase a few extra at the store—they don’t have to be costly! Just make sure that your child is supervised when playing with these new pieces of equipment.
- You can make this even more fun by timing how long it takes for your child to complete the obstacle course, then challenge them to
- Play a Sorting Game: You can play a sorting game with almost anything! Start by gathering about ten items from around the house. these could be things like spoons, toothbrushes, socks, etc.and put them on a tray. Have your child sort the items into two or three piles based on some criteria, such as how big or small they are
- Build with Blocks: Building with blocks is a classic children’s activity that never gets old. This is great because it helps develop fine motor skills as well as critical thinking skills as they figure out how to balance the blocks and make their structures stand up. If they’re having trouble building on their own, encourage them to use tape or glue to connect the pieces together.
- Make funny faces in the mirror.
- Draw pictures and tell stories about them together.
- Read books while wearing funny hats or glasses.
- Create a scavenger hunt for toys around the house with clues to help find each toy, then play with the toys once they’re all found.
