Preschoolers love to play. But did you know you can introduce educational activities into their playtime to teach them basic math, literacy, and other skills?
Preschoolers are curious about the world around them. Finding activities that combine learning with their natural curiosity and strong imagination is one of the best ways to keep their developing brains entertained for hours.
Educational Activities for the Home
While enrolling your child in a curriculum-based preschool is a great way to continue their education, learning starts at home. Educational activities don’t need to be complicated. In fact, simple is better.
Don’t know where to start? These three fun ideas might spark some inspiration! Your child will love these activities, and so will you. They’re easy and will keep your child entertained while strengthening their math, science, and reading skills.
DIY Dice Matching Game
For preschoolers, math is less addition and subtraction and more number and value recognition. Dice are an excellent way to teach your child what each number looks like. You could use a standard dot die. You could also make a homemade one out of a square box by covering it with wrapping paper and dotting each side appropriately.
Then, take six paper plates and write one number on each plate. Have your child roll the die, count the number of dots, and then find and color in the correctly numbered plate. As soon as they easily recognize 1-6, create another die with the numbers 7-12, and so on.
Throwing the die and coloring the plates help your preschooler improve their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It also teaches them their numbers, how to count, and introduces the idea that some numbers are bigger (or smaller!) than other numbers.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Vinegar and baking soda are common parts of any elementary or middle school science fair. While your preschooler won’t be ready to make volcanoes anytime soon, they can still have fun learning about chemical reactions with this educational activity.
First, take any size plastic bin. Fill it with baking soda. Then, take an ice cube tray or any smaller divided container, and fill each compartment with a little bit of vinegar and some food coloring. Have your child mix a little bit of vinegar into the baking soda using either a small spoon or a plastic pipette. The colorful fizz and bubbles should keep your preschooler entertained for a while. You can even have them mix colors together to see what other colors they can make.
This activity introduces your child to science, chemical reactions, and colors. Squeezing a pipette or using a spoon helps with hand-eye coordination and other fine motor skills.
Find-a-Letter Sensory Bin
Reading your child a picture book while they sit on your lap is a great way to introduce the relationship between words and their meanings. However, before they can read on their own, they need to learn and recognize each letter.
All you need for this learning activity are:
- A plastic bin
- A foam alphabet puzzle
- Rice, beads, or other sensory material
First, fill up your bin with the sensory material. Next, take the foam letters out of the alphabet puzzle, and bury them in the bin. Then, have your child gently dig through the bin. As they find a letter, they place it in the correct spot in the puzzle while saying it out loud.
Doing puzzles helps your child improve their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and letter recognition. When you read to your child at night, you can reinforce the letters they’ve learned by asking them to point out letters in their favorite picture book. Having them point to the letter “A”, for example, helps with recall.
Continue Your Child’s Education at Parkland Children’s Academy
At Parkland Children’s Academy, we take your preschooler’s education seriously. We combine educational activities with creativity to satisfy your child’s curiosity while teaching them and improving their fine motor skills.
Contact us today at 954-688-5877 or fill out our contact form to learn more about how our curriculum makes your child’s education a priority.