10 Fun Activities to Occupy Your Toddler/Preschooler During Homeschooling-
One of the biggest challenges in homeschooling that I have is my 3yr old’s wonderful curiosity of the world around him. I start to teach a math lesson and I hear a yell from one of my older children that my 3yr old has just dumped out all the sugar and is creating art patterns with his finger as he gobbles up as much sugar as he can. He is a bright and intelligent toddler which can lead to many creative messes around the house. So I decided that he needed to do “school” too when the other kids were being taught. I researched and created some fun activities that he enjoys doing when its his “school” time. Some activities are things that you would buy but some are just things you might have around the house. The simplest activities created are sometimes the most entertaining. Here are some of the his favorites…
1. Cutting Paper
Supplies: Paper, Scissors (Kid friendly), Kumon Books on Cutting (optional)
My 3yr old is obsessed with cutting paper at this moment. He gets so excited to sit at his little art table and cut scraps of paper. I purchased the Preschool Kumon Cutting books to teach him cutting skills. These books are amazing at teaching simple things like cutting and pasting in a fun way. I have used them with other kids in the preschool years and all the kids that did them, love them. Each page is a different activity that teaches kids how to cut, going from easy to harder skills in cutting. I love the size of the toddler versions because the books are smaller pages for smaller hands to easily manipulate the paper for cutting. Kumon books are great, but your preschooler may have just as much fun with scraps of paper and some scissors. After I had done a Kumon page with my toddler, he proceeded to cut up the Kumon page into tiny little pieces because he wanted to keep cutting. That’s when I started just giving him scraps of paper. Kumon books are good for teaching kids skills, but if your child just needs a fun activity to occupy his/her time, give them scraps of paper instead.
2. Office Supply Stickers and Paper
This is a simple and fun activity that can keep your little one busy. At the office supply store they have those bright colored labels in the form of circles. You can buy them pretty cheaply. I give my toddler a couple of sheets of those stickers and he loves putting them in different designs on a piece of construction paper. Another idea for a fun craft would be to paint or color over the paper after they put the stickers on. When you take the stickers off, you have an interesting and fun polka dot design. I was surprised how entertained my toddler was with this simple activity and the best part was that it didn’t cost hardly anything. If you plan on turning it into an art project then you will want to use a lighter color for the background paper.
3. Bubber
I am not a big fan of play-do. I kind of cringe inside when one of my kids asks if they can take the play-do out. I loved the concept of play-do and having the kids create things that they can mold but I hated the mess that it made or when it would get stuck in carpet. A friend of mine introduced me to Bubber. Bubber is an amazing alternative to play-do. It works just like play-do and your kids will have fun molding and creating all kinds of wonderful things but its not sticky like play-do on the carpet. It is easy to either sweep or vacuum all the crumbs right away. Even on the table surface it doesn’t stick or have to be scraped off. You can either sweep the little crumbs into the garbage or I have had my kids go on a “Bubber” search and they pick up the crumbs and put them back in the container. I no longer have to worry about it sticking to the rugs or scraping it off the tables. You can find Bubber on Amazon.
4. Kid O a to z Magnatab (Lower Case) by Kid O
This is a great addition to your different preschool activities. A to Z Magnatab is a great way to teach your toddler or preschooler how to write their letters. The Magnatab has magnetic beads for each letter of the alphabet. The child takes the magnetic pen and traces each of the letters. As your child traces the letter, the magnetic beads appear. Then when they are done, they can push the magnetic beads down with their hands and start over. I have this magnatab board on a shelf in my classroom and my toddler frequently grabs it for his “school” time. They have options of Lower Case Letter, Upper Case Letters or Numbers. It is a favorite in our household.
5. Bambino Luk System (Beyond123)
The Bambino Luk system is series of logic books for ages 3-5. They have a a universal controller for all the books. This controller consists of 6 picture tiles in a transparent case that are easy for a young child to use. They have a demo on how to use the system on their website at beyond123.com. My toddler loves these books. Each book is a different set of puzzles to solve using the controller to solve them. For example, on one of the books you have to match pictures or another your toddler decide which pictures go together based on sequencing. What I love about these are that they are easy to use and the kids can use the same books as much as they like. They have logic systems for older kids too. The easiest way to understand how they work is to watch the demo. This is another favorite activity that my toddler pulls out frequently to work on.
6. Bunny Peek A Boo by Smart Games
This is a game that ages 3-5 will enjoy immensely. The game has a set of blocks and a bunny made out of wood. It also has a set of cards with various pictures on it of how you can put the blocks and bunny together in different combinations. I was surprised how entertained my toddler was on trying the different combinations. This is a great way to teach kids at an early age some logical and critical thinking skills. My 3yr old will ask for “Bunny Boo” frequently. You can find “Bunny Peek A Boo” on Amazon or I also found it on Timberdoodle.
7. Drawing on a Bigger Scale
Supplies: Butcher Paper, Washable Markers, Masking Tape
Sometimes when you change things up a bit, it can make a great impact on your child’s interest level. I love using big butcher paper to invite creativity. Here are some ideas that you can implement with butcher paper. Roll out a big piece of butcher paper and tape it to a hard surface on the floor in your home. Grab some comfy pillows and put a large pile of washable markers in the middle of the butcher paper and let your toddler go for it. Another creative idea I heard of was putting the butcher paper taped to the bottom of a table top and let your kids pretend there are like Michelangelo while creating their drawings. You could also tape it to a wall in your home and have them create an artistic masterpiece. Get creative with how you create a drawing area for your child.
8. Building Forts
You have to be willing to have a mess in your house for this activity, but I will tell you that my younger kids have had a blast for hours creating forts. The only materials you need are blankets, pillows and a child’s imagination. My children have created all kinds of elaborate forts that have delighted them for the entire day. The most challenging thing for me in this activity is letting them create elaborate messes in my home. I have to just not think about the mess when I see the kids grab all the couch cushions and blankets from the linen closet. Its worth the delight that they are having in using their imaginations. So, fort building is encouraged in our house as long as they pick it up at the end of the day.
9. Wedgits (Blocks)
Wedgits is a unique set of blocks that my kids call “Pyramid” blocks because when you put them together the kids think it looks like the top of a pyramid. There are all sorts of designs that you can make with wedgits. The more wedgit blocks you have the complicated the design can be. We ended up buying another set to add more blocks because our older kids were wanting to make more complicated designs.
10. Create Box
My kids and I have gone on a field trip to a place called “Creation Station”. The Creation Station was a place where they had all sorts of different supplies that kids could use to create whatever they wanted. They had paper towel rolls, gears, duct tape, cardboard, scraps of paper and many more different types of materials for the kids to create. You can have a box like this for your preschooler at home. Some of the things you can fill it with are paper towel rolls, various colored tapes, pipe cleaners, scraps of paper, cardboard, and other various creative materials. Anything would work. You can put it all in one “Create Box” that you can pull out and have the kids create something during “school” time. Its fun to see what they create!
Resources:
TinkerLab-A Hands-on Guide for Little Inventors by Rachelle Doorley
Some of the ideas that I mentioned above are in this book. This book has many more ideas to implement creative activities for your preschooler. The author does an amazing job of explaining and also illustrating how to implement the various ideas. I originally checked out this book from the library to see if it would receive a permanent spot on my library shelf and I found out that it does deserve to be part of my library. I would use this as a resource for my little ones quite a bit. Its my favorite book on preschool activities so far.
Tips-
One thing I have found to help make the activities more enjoyable is if you only let them do these activities during “school” time. When I only pulled out some of these activities during “school” time, they looked forward to playing or doing them and didn’t grow tired of them too quickly. Now some of the activities that I mentioned above like building forts are done anytime and throughout the day but other activities I have designated for only “school” time.
Living the Adventure 