Here are some activity ideas to complete with your preschooler. Try to pick one activity from each category each day.
Gross motor-
Outdoor Sensory Motor Scavenger Hunt
“The Freeze” by Greg and Steve (a freeze dance song with pauses built in)
“Listen and Move” by Greg and Steve
"Make Any Shape & Freeze" by Jack Hartmann
"Let's Get Fit: Count to 100" by Jack Hartmann
Hopping, galloping, skipping
Yoga (Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube is fun)
Fine motor-
Pre-writing (tracing/ drawing basic shapes- horizontal line, vertical line, crossed line, circle, square)
Practice printing name (or specific letters in name for 3 y.o.)
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Write with pointer finger in shaving cream or sand
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Make name using Play-Doh “snakes”
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Use different writing utensils (crayon, marker, highlighter, pencil, sidewalk chalk)
Coloring inside the lines (coloring books, color by numbers)
Mazes - scroll down to the blue "download" button to download mazes in PDF format.
Clipping clothespins, picking up objects with tweezers or tongs
Cutting- snipping for 3 y.o., curved and zig-zag lines for 4 y.o.
Play-Doh (rolling a ball or “snake” between 2 hands)- use snakes to make letters/ numbers/ shapes/ simple sight words
Draw a basic shape on a piece of paper and have child turn it into something creative
Language Arts/ Literacy-
Read for at least 15 minutes each day (try the Epic! Or Vooks app on a tablet)
Ask comprehension questions during and after reading (What was the story about? How is (character) feeling? What do you think will happen next? What was your favorite part?)
Have child read to you (look through the book and tell a story based on the pictures)
Write about a drawing (one line to represent each word in a sentence)
Practice naming letters in his/her name
Play a game of hopscotch!
Go on a letter hunt- take a walk and look for things that start with a certain letter sound
Math-
Practice rote counting to 20
Practice naming written numerals
Simple addition and subtraction using snacks!
Matching using 1-to-1 correspondence
Counting out a certain number of objects (example: “Can you get 3 forks to help set the table?”)
Naming colors and shapes
Sorting objects by color, size, shape
Compare groups of objects using “more” and “less” or “most” and “least”
Go on a shape hunt- find objects of a certain shape (indoors or outdoors)
Science-
Pick an object to observe and describe its color, shape, size, texture, smell, etc.
Go on a nature walk and talk about living and non-living things you see
Talk about plants you see growing, stages of plant growth (seed, sprout), label plant parts...
Dramatic Play-
Play pretend and act out certain roles
Have child make a written plan for his/her play (draw a picture, write one line to represent each word in a sentence, fill in initial letter sounds for each word)
Life skills/ Self-help skills-
Cook with your child. Let him/her help with measuring, pouring, and mixing. Talk about the ingredients that go into what you are making.
Household chores- have your child help with making their bed, sorting and folding laundry, setting the table, drying dishes, etc.
Practice putting on clothes independently
Putting on socks and shoes independently
Putting on coat independently (put it on the floor, stand behind hood, put arms in, and "flip, flop, over the top")
Practice zipping & unzipping coat/ backpack/ lunchbox
Practice opening snack bags ("pinch, pinch, pull")
Washing hands with soap (rubbing hands together with soap on them, rather than putting soap on hands and rinsing right off)- Wash Your Hands with Baby Shark
Practice blowing nose into a tissue
Putting on and removing a face mask