Learning at home doesn’t have to be boring; it can be a lot of fun for you and your little one. With the right preschool activities, you can turn your home into a learning environment that sparks curiosity and creativity in your preschooler.
But coming up with fresh ideas can be challenging. That’s why we compiled this list of 50 simple preschool activities. These activities promote the 5C’s of the Begin Approach — core skills, creativity, critical thinking, curiosity, and character — to help your child thrive in school and life.
Table Of Contents
- Preschool Activities: Core Skills
- Preschool Activities: Creativity
- Preschool Activities: Critical Thinking
- Preschool Activities: Curiosity
- Preschool Activities: Character
Preschool Activities: Core Skills
Help your child build a solid academic foundation with these simple preschool activities focused on math and language arts.
1) Snack Sorting By Color
Are you eating something multicolored, like those popular rainbow fish crackers? Ask your child to sort their snack into piles by color before they dig in.
2) Letter Soup
Set a big pot in the middle of the floor and set out the letter cards from the Explore Letters Kit. Call out a letter for your child to find and put into the pot. Let them stir their “soup” after every five letters.
3) Shape Hunt
Go on a hunt around the house for different shapes. How many circles, squares, and triangles can your little one find?
4) Name Block
Using a dry-erase marker, write the letters of your child’s name on plastic building blocks. Then, have them arrange the blocks in order.
5) Counting With Blocks
Use any type of block to teach counting. Let your child stack and count the blocks as they build.
6) Rhyming Game
Say a simple word like “cat” and ask your child to change the first sound and make a new word.
7) Fun In The Kitchen
Have your child help you measure and count ingredients while following a simple recipe.
8) HOMER Early Learning Kits
Get a new box full of learning activities delivered to your door each month with HOMER Early Learning Kits. Your learner will practice letter identification, number recognition, counting, and more!
9) Blending Practice
Pick a word and say each sound slowly for your child. See if they can blend the sounds into a word. For example, pat would be /p/, /a/, /t/.
10) Refrigerator Number Line
Tape a simple number line to the refrigerator. Throughout the day, use it to count from 1 to 10 with your child.
11) Letter Ball
Spread out a few letter cards on the ground around the room. Hand your child a small ball and ask them to throw it at the letter you call.
12) Numeral Search
Get out some newspaper advertisements and challenge your child to find and circle each number from 1 to 5.
13) Alphabet Books
Check out some alphabet books from the library and read them together.
14) Hopscotch
Draw a hopscotch board on the sidewalk and have your child say the number as they jump in each square.
15) Counting Book
Staple a few pieces of paper together, and help your child write a number on each page. Illustrate it by drawing the corresponding number of objects.
16) Playdough Letters
Ask your child to build letters out of playdough.
17) Counting Walk
Walk around your neighborhood and count objects like trees, cars, or houses. See how many of each you can find before you reach home.
18) Educational Screen Time
Let your child have some educational screen time with HOMER. Our program features personalized activities to help your child build their literacy skills while playing.
19) Letter Hunt
Hide the letter cards around the room and see how quickly your child can find and name each one.
20) Letter I-Spy
Practice finding letters when you’re out and about with a twist on this classic car game. For example, tell your child you see an “A” and ask them to find it.
21) Natural Letters
Collect natural materials together and challenge your child to use them to build different letters.
Preschool Activities: Creativity
Unleash your preschool’s creativity with these fun activities.
22) Pretend Play
Provide simple props or dress-up clothes and encourage your preschooler to use their imagination and play pretend.
23) Egg Drop Challenge
Give your child an egg and ask them to invent something to keep it safe when you drop it. Let them gather some household items they think will help to use in their invention.
24) Dream Home Design
Using this free printable, ask your child to design their dream home.
25) Craft Kits
Sign up for the Craft Around the World subscription from Little Passports and let your little one try new crafts each month.
Preschool Activities: Critical Thinking
These activities help your child practice processing and problem-solving skills.
26) Open Ended Questions
When talking with your child, occasionally ask open-ended questions. For example, instead of asking, “Did you have fun at the park?” ask, “What did you enjoy doing most at the park?”
27) Mystery Box
Gather a few objects from your home and place them in a box. Have your child reach inside without looking and guess what they’re feeling.
28) Obstacle Course
Use furniture, pillows, and other items to set up an obstacle course in your backyard or living room.
29) Similarities And Differences
Ask your child to name some similarities and differences between two items.
30) Hide The Button
Hide a button or another small object in a room. As your child tries to find it, let them know if they’re close or far away.
Preschool Activities: Curiosity
Encourage your preschoolers’ curiosity with these simple, scientific activities.
31) Sink Or Float?
Fill a large container with water and encourage your child to see if different objects float or sink. Can they predict what each one will do?
32) Snow Flurries In A Jar
Follow the steps in this science experiment to create a snowstorm.
33) Sugar Water Layers
Use the principle of density to layer colorful liquids with this quick preschool science experiment.
34) Animal Study
Learn more about the animals of the world with an Animals Wild subscription from Little Passports.
35) Tree Drawing
Ask your child to pick a tree. Have them study its details as they draw it.
36) Jumping Paper
Cut colored paper into small pieces and hand your child a comb. Have them comb their hair and try to make the paper jump.
37) Build A Boat
Give your child a chunk of aluminum foil and ask them to design a boat. Then, see if it’ll float in the sink.
38) Senses Everywhere
Ask your child to name things they can see, touch, taste, hear, and smell.
39) Nature Walk
Walk outside and observe different colors, shapes, and textures around you. Have your child gather rocks, leaves, and other natural objects to examine more closely.
40) Magnifying
Encourage your child to study different things using a handheld magnifying glass.
41) Bridge Building
Challenge your preschooler to build a bridge strong enough for a toy car using materials they find around the house.
42) Sensory Bottles
Work together to make different sensory bottles. As your child plays with them, they’ll learn more about how the world works.
Preschool Activities: Character
Strengthen your child’s mental health and overall well-being with these activities focused on character building.
43) Guess That Feeling
Take turns acting out different feelings and guessing the emotion being portrayed.
44) Kindness Rocks
Have your child paint rocks with positive images and leave them in parks or similar areas for others to find.
45) Sharing Circle
Gather with family or friends and allow everyone to say something they’re grateful for.
46) Learn With Sesame Street
Help your child navigate big feelings with a Learn with Sesame Street subscription. It combines screen time and hands-on activities for a complete blended learning experience.
47) Calm-Down Kit
Work together to create a calm-down kit that your child can use when they need to self-regulate. Include items like putty, a stuffed animal, and coloring pages.
48) How Do We Behave?
Role play going to different environments, such as the library, a friend’s house, and a park. Ask your child to act out how they’d act in each situation.
49) Stories About Pictures
Break out the family picture album and ask your child to guess what was happening before or after some of the pictures were taken. This may turn into a family storytelling session!
50) Emotion Masks
Turn paper plates and popsicle sticks into cute emotion masks. Cut each plate in half and ask your child to draw a different emotion on each one. Use tape to secure the popsicle stick to the back and do some role-playing.
Make Learning Fun With Begin!
These preschool activities can set your child up for a lifetime of success. For even more tips on developing the 5C’s through play, check out these parent resources from Begin.
You’ll also want to take this quiz to create a personalized Begin membership. We offer the perfect combination of hands-on and digital play to help your child grow and thrive!
