As any parent knows, keeping a preschooler engaged and learning can be a challenge. However, there are plenty of fun activities that can help kids learn while having a blast! With that said, here are seven super engaging learning activities for your preschooler to try.
Bubble Wrap Finger Painting
Focused Skills: Hand-eye coordination, Fine motor development, Pinching, Tactile stimulation
Finger paint AND bubble wrap offer the ultimate sensory experience! Could an activity get any better than this?
If you need a creative way to engage your kiddo, this is the one to try.
Bubble wrap is a brilliant tool to develop your child’s fine motor skills as they have to use their fingers to pop the bubble wrap.
Items Needed
- Bubble wrap
- Washable finger paint
- Painters tape
- Plastic covering
What To Do
First, take the plastic covering and tape it with “painter’s tape” over a table or flat surface. Then, use a piece of bubble wrap to tape onto the plastic covering.
The plastic covering acts as a protective shield over your table when your child gets messy finger painting outside the bubble wrap lines.
The painter’s tape is strong enough to secure around your table and the bubble wrap. It’s great to use because the adhesive is designed to not damage furniture.
Feel free to get creative here by cutting the bubble wrap into smaller shapes or one large shape for your kiddo to finger paint on.
Safety Tip
To avoid any harmful chemicals getting near your child’s mouth or skin, use non-toxic washable finger paint.
Activity and Image by Childhood 101
Egg Carton Color Sorting
Focused Skills: Fine motor development, Cognitive thinking
This is a super simple activity to teach your kiddo all about colors while enhancing fine motor development.
Items Needed
- Clean egg carton
- Colored paint
- Paint brushes
- Fluffy pom poms
- Tweezers
Directions
Paint the egg carton holes in different colors and let them dry. Then, place the pom poms on the opposite of the egg carton.
Allow your child to use the tweezers to match the pom with the color.
If your child has mobility issues using their hands and fingers, use a ‘Jumbo Size Tweezer‘ or just their hands and fingers alone.
Safety Tip
I recommend purchasing a non-toxic paint that is free of harmful chemicals.
Activity and Image by Laughing Kids Learn
Glow Stick Bath
Focused Skills: Sensory play, Tactile and visual stimulation
Let’s kick bath time up a notch with a glow stick bath! This is a great way to get your little one into the tub while having a blast. It’s an easy activity that only requires glow sticks and water in the tub.
Plus, it makes a wonderful sensory experience.
The bright colorful sticks emit a gentle hue which provides a calming environment.
Simply put your child into the tub, add your glow sticks to the water, and turn off the lights.
Safety Tip
If your child happens to swallow a mouthful of glow stick liquid it’s considered to be mildly toxic which may cause minor irritation in their mouth and throat. To avoid a situation like this altogether I’d recommend getting non-toxic glow sticks.
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Go On A Nature Walk
Focused Skills: Sensory exploration, Colors
Getting out into nature is a great way to engage all of the senses in learning activities.
Exploring the outdoors can provide opportunities for children to learn about plants, animals, ecosystems, and more.
This was one of my favorite activities to do with our oldest when he was in preschool. Especially during fall time, we would gather the beautiful colored leaves to learn about the different hues of fall.
You can do this right in your own neighborhood or find a local park to look for different types of plants and animals. This is a great way to teach your child about the world around them!
Jumbo Puzzle
Focused Skills: Problem-solving, Fine motor development
Puzzles benefit a child in numerous ways:
- To improve fine motor skills
- Learn how to problem solve
- Understand shape recognition
- Increase spatial awareness
If your child has upper extremity challenges, the larger puzzle pieces make grasping easier.
Have your child pick up, move, twist, turn, and wiggle the puzzle pieces together.
This activity is a great way to bond with them too!
Get creative and choose a puzzle category that will pique your kiddo’s curiosity from cars to animals or Disney characters. The possibilities are endless.
Safety Tip
Larger puzzle pieces may help prevent your little one or pet from swallowing or chewing the tiny puzzle pieces.
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‘Pig’ Math Game with Jumbo Foam Dice
Focused Skills: Counting, Tactile stimulation, Grasping objects
This engaging educational activity helps enhance math skills! The jumbo foam dice add an extra layer of playful FUN.
The jumbo dice is a great tactile tool to help a child grasp an object should they have motor challenges in their arms, hands, and fingers.
Items Needed
- One jumbo foam dice
- Paper to keep score
- Pen or pencil
How To Play
The goal is to get to 100!
First, roll the dice.
If the number is “2, 3, 4, 5, or 6” you SCORE that amount of points. Keep your points and roll the dice again. AS LONG AS you don’t roll a “1” you can keep rolling and adding to your score.
Here’s the kicker, you can stop whenever you’d like and give the dice to the next player.
If you are too impatient and don’t stop rolling, you could roll the number “1”, and then you get ZERO points and your turn is over. You will lose all the points from that roll.
This game rewards good behavior while teaching a child how to take turns.
You always have a second shot to keep your tally going strong. Having patience and taking turns is key! Click here for a helpful video that shows you how to play pig.
Safety Tip
I recommend getting the soft jumbo foam dice. Small dice can be a choking hazard for little ones, even pets.
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Whip Up Homemade Butter
Promotes: Fine Motor Skills, Taste, Encourages focus
Items Needed
- Jar with a lid
- Heavy whipping cream
- Hand mixer
Directions
- Open the jar
- Pour heavy whipping cream into the jar
- Seal up the jar
- SHAKE, shake, and shake until you have whipped butter!
This recipe is super quick and easy to whip up!
The smaller the jar the faster it takes to make your butter. For instance, a baby jar takes about 10 minutes to whip up.
For faster results or to support kids with upper extremity challenges, use a hand mixer for blending the heavy whipping cream in a bowl. Activity by Mommy Poppins.
Final Thoughts
Learning activities at home do not have to be overly complicated or expensive.
It’s never too early to start learning, and there are plenty of fun activities that can help preschoolers develop important skills.
Whether it’s learning to count or practicing the alphabet, these activities will keep your little one engaged and excited to learn.
Thank You
We want to wrap up by extending our gratitude to thank you for stopping by today!
What other learning activities for preschoolers do you recommend?
Let us know in the comments below. ♥
Was this information helpful? If so, you’d make our day by sharing it! 🙂
About The Author
Lindsey is a mom of two little miracles, MoMo twin girls, Lily Mae and Lua, plus one amazing older bro, Cody.
She is the founder of Twin Mom Blog Nerd, Content Creator/Co-Founder of the blog Intensive Therapy for Kids, and Co-Founder of The LENN Foundation 501(c)(3) charity that helps children with cerebral palsy (like her sweet nephew, Lenny) receive grants for intensive therapies to thrive. ♥
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Hello Lindsey, thanks for such wonderful information. I have often wondered how some kids would keep up with schooling knowing they have been at home and no. These are really good products and I feel they will do so much good for the kids rather than them staying up on the game all day and night. Its really nice to he hear
Thanks Justin! Appreciate the kind words.
These are some very sweet ones honestly and they are some ideas that are just over the box thinking. I like them and I will most definitely like to give them a try with my little ones too. I should enjoy doing this for sure. Thank you so much for bringing this up here. It’s very lovely stuff to learn all of this. All the activities are good ones.
Thanks for sharing Jay! Glad you found some fun activities your kiddos can enjoy doing. 🙂
First of all, I admire your encouragement and uplifting mood towards these type of topics. This school year may be difficult for a lot of parents and having simple activities to do with your little ones can make the learning experience more fun for them and more enjoyable for you. I have never seen that creative glow stick bath, any child would love having this on their bath time. Although I am a little concerned because I have heard a lot of negative things about the liquid inside those sticks, but again as you said, non-toxic ones can do the trick.
Thanks for sharing Stephanie! I appreciate hearing your thoughts. 🙂
Many thanks for sharing with us a beautiful and interesting article. The main content of this article is five budget-friendly activities for educating the child at home. Due to the current epidemic, every parent is a little worried about their child’s education so they are aware of how to educate their children at home.
I am no exception so I purchased this Egg Carton Color Sorting to teach my child. Through this, my child is able to learn the name of the color and play. So I would tell those who are worried about their children’s education to buy this kind of product which will be helpful in educating your child.
Thanks for sharing and so glad you found an activity your child will enjoy! 🙂
Hi, I have enjoyed reading your post and I have gathered very useful ideas on how to entertain and at the same time push my children’s education. I have particularly liked the idea of the Jumbo puzzle. I have also noted that my twins have begun to recognize colors so I’ll also try the egg carton color sorting.
Thank you very much!
Awesome Ann! So glad you found a couple helpful activities your kid’s would enjoy. Thanks for sharing. 🙂