We often rely on schools and daycares to teach our children, but there are many ways that we can promote learning and development in children at home as well. In this article, we will suggest several valuable activities to do with children at any age, from toddlers to school-age children. Besides just keeping them busy and entertained, these activities will inspire creativity and build skills needed for success in school (and life).
Toddlers: Age 1-3
Keeping your little whirlwind occupied when you can’t go anywhere is no small feat. Activities that promote motor skills, coordination, and balance are so important for little ones, as well as those that promote basic skills like color and shape recognition. Here are a few of our favorites:
Sorting and Matching Colors
Try taping different colored sheets of construction paper to the wall. Give your little one colored dot stickers and challenge them to match the dots to the correct papers. You can also help your toddler learn to sort small objects around the house – try it with ABC magnets, marbles, socks, dyed pasta. The possibilities are endless.
Movement Activities
Get those muscles moving and have fun while helping develop gross motor skills. Here are a few of our favorite movement activities for toddlers:
Dancing with Maracas – Make your own by filling plastic Easter eggs with rice or sand and closing with packing tape. Then put on some music and have some fun!
Follow the Leader – practice movements like running, marching, skipping, and hopping with this fun game. Take turns being the leader!
Walk in a Line – make lines on your floor with painter’s tape. Challenge your toddler to walk on the line without falling off. Once they master this, place the lines in zig zags and other fun patterns. She will love trying to walk, run, or hop while keeping her feet on the lines.
Make Some Art
Take advantage of your time at home with some fun art projects. Here are a few of our favorites that toddlers will love:
Finger Painting – See what kind of fun designs your toddler can make. For extra fun, try mixing different colors together to see what new colors can be made.
Paint Stamping – Use different household objects as stamps to make interesting designs and shapes with paint. Try an empty paper towel roll, a spool of thread, and different sized buttons.
Collages – Cut out pictures from magazines and glue them on a sheet of paper to make fun and interesting art. Ask your toddler to describe what he sees in the picture.
Preschoolers: Age 4-5
Children at this age are learning and growing so much. We recommend activities that teach basic skills such as counting, matching, and alphabet recognition. Games and activities that promote fine motor skills are also important at this age. Help strengthen those school readiness skills while still having fun with a few of our favorite preschool activities.
Sensory Letter and Number Hunt
Hide some letter or number magnets in a bin filled with dried rice, beans, or sand. See how many letters and numbers your little one can find and name,
Make a Color Collage Book
Help your preschooler look through magazines and cut out pictures of a given color. Glue them together on a sheet of paper. You can even work together to write the name of the color. Once you have assembled several color collages, staple them together to make a color book. Practice reading the book together.
Make Froot Loop Jewelry
This simple activity helps teach color recognition, counting, sorting, patterns, and fine motor skills. String Froot Loops onto pieces of yarn to make colorful jewelry. Talk about the different colors you are using and see how many pieces of each color are on your bracelet or necklace. Discuss the different patterns you can make. Dyed macaroni works well here, too.
Play “Letter of the Day”
Focus on a different letter each day, or each week if you desire. Talk about the letter’s name and sound. See how many different household objects your child can find that begin with that sound. Go on a walk around the neighborhood and look for more examples.
School-Aged Children: Age 6 and Up
Many school-aged children are now engaged in virtual or remote learning during their time at home. Rather than overload them with more assignments and work to complete, we want to find activities to occupy their downtime at home that are fun, interesting, and engaging. Here are a few suggestions to consider when planning activities for older children:
Focus on Their Interests
With many sports and other extracurricular activities currently suspended or on hold, your child may be missing out on some of his favorite hobbies. Now is a great time to get creative and think about what you can do to help him keep up his interests. We recommend Outschool.com for all kinds of virtual classes about almost any hobby imaginable. From dance, to music, to arts and crafts, there is a class for almost any hobby out there. Unlike virtual schoolwork, these classes are purely for fun, so no need to worry about grading or scoring This is a great opportunity for your child to perfect his skills or maybe pick up a new one!
Keep Up with Sports and Movement
If your child is missing sports practice, she can still keep up with athletic drills at home. Check out these youth sports drill videos from the National Academy of Athletics. She will enjoy keeping up her skills for when sports practice can resume again. The physical activity will help keep her blood flowing and give her more energy and motivation to tackle her schoolwork, too! The whole family can participate in these drills together for a group workout experience.
Start a New Family Hobby
Weekends may look a lot different than they did pre-pandemic. Many families are finding themselves spending much more time at home together than they ever did previously. This is a great opportunity to take up something new as a family. Many families enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, geocaching, or exploring local or state parks.
If your family prefers indoor activities, there are still many exciting options. Now is a great time to learn a new board game, such as backgammon or chess and challenge each other. Family game nights can become a new normal. When your children see Mom and Dad excited about a family activity, they will be excited, too! Sit down together and see what everyone can agree on, and then tackle it as a family!