Fun in kindergarten
Kindergarten activities and learning games
Looking for some fun games and activities for kindergarten students to keep little ones occupied — and learning — at home? Check these out!
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Create a personalized placemat
Writing activity: This activity will help your kindergartner build reading and writing skills.
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Sorting beans
Math activity: By sorting and categorizing beans, your kindergartner will begin to build math and problem-solving skills.
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Amazing bubbles
Science activity: This fun activity engages your child’s curiosity and builds observation skills, which will become important as your child studies science.
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Telling tales
Reading activity: By sharing family stories, you will reinforce an understanding of family and how things are similar or different from generation to generation. This provides a building block for studying social studies.
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Making hieroglyphics
History activity: By delving into the art of ancient Egypt, you’ll be giving your child a glimpse of art history.
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Letters in clay
Writing activity: Forming letters out of clay is a fun and easy art project that gives kids a hands-on feel for learning handwriting.
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Create a name book
Reading activity: Using a computer and a camera, your kindergartner can learn basic computer skills by making this name book. Once the book is complete, they can read it over and over, and practice their reading skills.
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Make a personalized bookmark
Writing activity: This easy project will help your child begin to learn the letters of the alphabet, and how to spell her name.
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Make music in a kitchen Band
Math activity: Banging pots and pans, and beating on an oatmeal tin can teach the basics of finding the musical beat.
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Counting coins
Math activity: By counting pennies, nickels and dimes, your child will learn how to count by ones, fives, and 10s.
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Make a story map
Reading activity: Have your child make a story map to sequence the beginning, middle and end of a story.
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Shape walk
Math activity: Go outside with your child and look for shapes.
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The “scents” of smell
Science activity: Have your child explore the sense of smell by having her guess different scents.
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Letter collage
Reading activity: In this activity your child explores letter sounds by making a collage.
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Word family flip book
Reading activity: Have your child create this fun flip book to practice reading.
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Make your own wrapping Paper
Art activity: Try printmaking to make your own wrapping paper!
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Fruit fractions
Math activity: Here’s a clever and tasty way to review fractions with your child.
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Make a storytelling board
Reading activity: In this activity your child acts out a story with a hand-made storyboard.
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Living things and nonliving objects
Science activity: Have your child find living things and nonliving objects.
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Name puzzle
Writing activity: In this activity your child makes a puzzle that helps her spell and recognize her name.
1000+ Engaging Kindergarten Activities for Learning & Play
Kindergarten activities are magical because they combine curiosity and learning with play. Kids Activities Blog has the best math, science, reading (& pre-reading), phonics, STEM, sight words, worksheets, activity sheets, coloring pages and more for Kindergartners.
Embrace your Kindergartner’s curiosity through learning and play. In fact, most Kindergarten activities for kids ARE learning games which lead to education through playful exploration.
Kindergarten Learning Games & Activities
What age do kids go to Kindergarten?
Generally, most schools have Kindergarten programs for kids between the age of 4-6. Often Kindergarten students may be separated by age into classrooms like Kindergarten 4 or Kindergarten 5.
Kindergartners who are 6 usually turn that age during the school year and most school districts in the US require that students must attend Kindergarten before they turn 7.
The average age of Kindergarten students in the US is 5.
Kindergarten Activities & Age
Here is the deal. Every single kid has a unique learning path and matures at a different pace. That is what makes Kindergartners so amazing. They are learning different things within the SAME activity or lesson or game.
While these activities have been chosen age-appropriate for 4-6 year olds, they may be used for kids younger and older as well. We try to keep almost every Kindergarten activity play-based which opens up its age range to literally 1-101 with modifications!
Kindergarten Class Activities
Almost any Kindergarten activity can be adapted for a group of children in a classroom setting.
Simple games like hangman, charades, bingo, puzzles are fun with more than one student present. Scroll below to see many less traditional options that can be modified to include a group of Kindergartners.
Hands-On Kindergarten Learning
We have talked about how kids ages 4-6 learn best through play, but what might be overlooked is how a Kindergartner defines play. Anything that holds their attention and is fun would qualify! Keep kids playfully learning with hands-on activities that put them INTO the fun.
Intuitively we realize that Kindergarten age students have a hard time “sitting still” because they crave engagement with everything around them. Instead of squashing that, let’s leverage it for their education!
Homeschooling Kindergarten
One out of my three boys were homeschooled for Kindergarten. It wasn’t because I set out to homeschool Kindergarten, he just didn’t seem ready to go when he was 5. So we worked on an informal “curriculum” at home which consisted of many of the things that are published here on Kids Activities Blog and by the time the new school year rolled around, he was ready for first grade instead of Kindergarten (based on the school’s placement testing).
Is My Kid Ready for Kindergarten?
I learned not to be afraid to trust my gut when it came to this question. Kids Activities Blog has a really good Kindergarten skills checklist that you can go through and make sure that you aren’t pushing him/her into something before they are ready.
Kindergarten Distance Learning Resources
Ack! One of the biggest parts of Kindergarten learning is the invisible impact of socialization – students interacting & students interacting with teachers (sometimes for the first time outside the home). The ability for an entire class to play a coordinated game outside, or listen quietly to one another talk once called on, or stand in a line as instructed, or lay on a mat while listening to the teacher read aloud without poking your mat mate! We could go on and on with scenarios in which Kindergarten classrooms are key in the full education of Kindergarten students.
And then there are good reasons why these things can’t happen “normally” which introduces distance learning.
One of the biggest things that parents and caregivers can do to optimize distance learning at this level is to make sure the child is getting enough play. The activities that we have here at Kids Activities Blog will make your job easier! One downside to kids being on the other end of a screen for school is that their hands-on PLAY time gets cut. Don’t discount their playtime with you or siblings either…it is all important right now while we get through this season and try to make the best out of the situation.
Here are the Kindergarten Activities [keep scrolling]…
| V. Tovarkov Why do they say that? Kindergarten, kindergarten... Why do they say that? We are not leaves, We are not flowers Blue, scarlet - We are little guys! Kindergarten, kindergarten...
E. Poems about kindergarten Our favorite kindergarten - Our wonderful kindergarten - Our cheerful kindergarten - Our cozy kindergarten -
Wonder Garden What is this miracle garden?
P. Mazikin The sun has already peeped
Z. Aleksandrova Katya in the nursery One, two, three, four, five: Knotted Katenka ... Girls and boys Why isn't he dancing ... The lights went out, Only Mishka is not sleeping,
E. Grudanov Our favorite kindergarten Our favorite kindergarten! And without us he is sad, bored, Well, of course, we will not leave him alone -
Ivan Demyanov I came to kindergarten I said directly to my mother: And then Vanya and I Look - there are so many dolls!
| A. I work as a child I will get up and wake up my mother. A job is already waiting for me. I'm at work all day And if you ask me,
E. Ranneva Kindergarten my job Before dad, before mom I'm growing up, I'm trying so hard I have my own worries
I. Gurina My favorite kindergarten! I wake up together with the sun, There are books and toys, The dearest educator,
E. Grudanov Our favorite kindergarten Our favorite kindergarten! And without us he is sad, bored, Well, of course, we will not leave him alone -
N. Naidenova Our toys Lots of toys
O. Vysotskaya Kindergarten We come to kindergarten,
Ladonshchikov About myself and about the guys The sun has disappeared behind the houses,
S. Volkov Children in the kindergarten - Five! Olya stands with a bucket. And now vice versa: |
Ranneva 
Vishnevskaya 
.. 
Fun games in kindergarten - Kindergarten and child
This article contains fun games in kindergarten. The games were prepared by Natalya Prishchepenok, a methodologist at the Kirov Children's and Children's Educational Institution. Illustration by Anna Lukyanova. nine0027
Fun game for kindergarten "Guess the syllable"
This is an active fun game that can be played in the kindergarten on a walk or in the gym. The main thing is that the players have a flat surface under their feet.
Any fun game in kindergarten is not just for fun, it sets a number of developmental goals and objectives.
The purpose of the fun game "Guess the syllable" is to train children's attention, ability to listen and take actions only after you understand what is being said. Also during this fun game in kindergarten, children get acquainted with new words and concepts. Each time, giving the teams words, the teacher should ask the children if they know the meaning of a particular word, and if not, introduce the children to an unfamiliar concept. nine0004
A line is drawn on the floor or on the ground, along which the players stand. Up to twenty people can play, divided into two teams. You need to stand up as follows: the toe of one leg is at the line, the second leg is slightly behind.
The task of the team members - having heard his word, which the leader will say, cross the line and hit someone from the other team. Then everything is repeated from the beginning.
Words can be different, meaning that each time both pairs of words begin with the same syllables.
Each pair of words can be repeated five or six times. The host pronounces the word, deliberately stretching the first syllable to give the game intrigue and interest the children. Before each change of words, the leader agrees with the teams who will have which word. nine0004
Examples of word pairs: cow - crown, butterfly - grandmother, camel - helicopter, plane - scooter, cheburek - Cheburashka, transition - pass, dam - carpenter, change - break, desert - emptiness, ball - scarf, mittens -
Funny game for kindergarten "Dandelions"
Funny game "Dandelions" is held in kindergarten to develop children's coordination, develop attention.
Up to twenty people can participate in the fun game "Dandelions". All children stand in a circle. The right palm is raised up, and the index finger of the left hand is placed on the neighbor's open palm. nine0004
The facilitator says that everyone is now a dandelion, and dandelions have this feature: when the sun is shining, their flowers are open, and if it starts to rain, all the flowers are closed.
The left hand of all the players symbolizes the bee, which must be sure to quickly fly away from the flower when it closes so that it does not close in a dandelion.
If the leader says: “Sun”, all palms are open, and the “bee” fingers of each are on the palm of the player on the left. When the host says: “Rain”, everyone should close their palms and try to simultaneously catch the neighbor’s finger with their right palm, and quickly remove their finger from the neighbor’s palm on the left to prevent him from catching it. nine0004
This fun game always brings excitement. You can also play it for the winner: each time those who are caught leave the circle.
Fun game for kindergarten “What do you take with you?”
This fun game can be played standing or sitting in a circle. The leader tells each player where he is going. The player must say which item he will take. The subject must begin with the same letter as the place where the player is going. For example:
- You go to the cinema and take with you .
..
- Envelope.
- You go to the theater and take with you ...
- Cake.
Anyone who cannot name a word starting with the corresponding letter is out of the game.
Second option. The players throw the ball to each other, saying where to go. The one to whom the ball was thrown catches it and says that he takes it with him. Then he throws the ball to the next player.
For example:
- You go to school and take with you ...
- Chocolate.
— You go to kindergarten and take with you…
- Bag.
This fun game for kindergarten always brings joy to the children.
A modification of this fun kindergarten game is the Knock-Knock-Knock Train Game.
Fun game for kindergarten "Tuk-tuk-tuk"
All players stand in a circle. The host goes in a circle with the words: “Tuk-tuk-tuk, the engine makes a cheerful sound!”. After that, the train stops in front of someone and the host announces: "Station .
..", pronouncing the name of the city. The one in front of whom the train stopped says: “I take with me ...”, naming an object whose name begins with the same letter as the name of the station. He then joins the train, becoming a trailer, and they continue to walk in circles together. This continues until all participants in the game join the train..
Fun game for kindergarten "A walk in the zoo"
Children are divided into two teams. Each team has the task of pulling out a figurine of an animal from a box or bag and depicting it in such a way that the other team guesses what kind of animal it is. You can show animals individually. When showing, you need to depict the characteristic features of animals.
A variant of this fun game is the animal relay race. Teams pull animals out of the bag at the same time and, at the command of the host, move to the finish line in the same way as these animals move. Sounds cannot be produced. nine0004
Animal examples: frog, hare, cat, deer, horse, bear, snake, fox, tortoise, squirrel, chicken.
Variant of the game: one team, having taken an animal out of the bag, depicts how it moves, and the second team, having guessed this animal, voices it, imitating the voice of the animal. This game can also be paired and individual.
Fun game for kindergarten "Singing Zoo"
The game develops creativity.
Task — sing (grunt, croak, hum, etc.) a famous song in the voice of an animal. nine0004
The task can be executed individually or by commands. The animal, with the voice of which the children will sing, can be pulled out of the bag, as in previous games - in the form of a toy.
Fun game for kindergarten "Chorus from the Zoo"
The game develops attention, the ability to hear. Everyone is divided into groups of three. Everyone in the group thinks of some kind of animal (or the leader whispers the names of animals in everyone's ear). Then, at the signal of the host, all together in a trio loudly make sounds with which the hidden animal “talks”.
Everyone else guesses which animals were guessed. And so each group in turn. nine0004
A more complex version - the sounds are made not by one group, but by several.
Fun game for kindergarten "Logic chain"
The game develops logical thinking, creative imagination, enriches vocabulary. In the game, children learn to build sentences, argue their point of view.
Both two teams and children divided into pairs can play.
Each team makes a chain of objects, and the other team explains how these objects are sequentially connected to each other. Then the teams change. The same process occurs in pairs. The explanation may be similar to a logically built story, or it may be based solely on the description and parameters of objects. For example, a toy dog is made of the same material as a toy apple - plastic. The car is the same color as the apple - red. The doll is also plastic, and her dress is red. The cube is square, like the body of the typewriter. nine0004
There may also be a creative logical explanation.
For example: on the table there are a toy dog, an apple, a car, a doll, a cube lined up in a row. The explanation can be, for example, this: the owner of the dog loves to eat apples and always takes them with him when he walks the dog. Apples are brought to the store by a car. And next to the store that sells apples, there is a toy store that sells dolls and blocks.
Do not limit children with any rules and algorithms for finding a logical connection between objects, let them think for themselves. This game will also be a little diagnostic - during it you can see how children think, who has more figurative thinking, and who has practical. nine0004
Fun game for kindergarten “Find the object”
The purpose of the game is to study or repeat letters, enrich vocabulary, develop the ability to act quickly on a task.
Can be played indoors and outdoors.
Task — within a certain time to find in the kindergarten for a group or in the area objects whose names begin with the letter that the host calls.
Everyone must either bring an item or go up to it and show it to the host, naming this item. nine0004
Fun game for kindergarten “Guess the details”
Task — Guess the object by one of its details drawn in the picture or presented in the photo.
You can play both in teams and individually. The game develops observation, attention and imaginative thinking.
Examples of items:
Bicycle (you can show the handlebar)
Skis (ski bindings)
Hat with earflaps (ears)
Watermelon (watermelon tail)
Cat (tail)
Car (headlight, wheel or steering wheel)
Moon (lunar craters)
House (roof, chimney, porch)
Elevator (buttons)
Tabletops (mouse)
)
Lock (keyhole)
Key (key beard)
Skates (skate blades)
Boots (laces)
Shoes (heels)
Boots (zipper).
Fun game for kindergarten "Fly away - stay"
This game is also suitable for direct educational activities in the educational area "The World Around".
The task of children is to guess which birds are wintering and which are migratory, waving their hands like wings, when the leader calls the birds that fly away to warm countries for the winter, that is, migratory birds, and stay in place, nothing doing, if the host calls the birds that stay with us for the winter, that is, not migratory. You can also show the children pictures of birds. nine0004
Examples of birds: sparrow, crow, swan, duck, black grouse, partridge, thrush, dove, parrot, rook, hen, oriole, penguin (since it does not fly at all, this can bring a cheerful animation to the game).
Fun game for kindergarten "Whose portrait?"
The game develops attention, observation, the ability to act in a team.
Task — each of the teams (there can be 3-5 people in the team) needs to find out the portrait of which literary hero is in front of them by one of the details shown to them. The team that correctly guesses more portraits in one minute wins.
The task can be completed individually. You can draw portraits and their elements yourself or use real objects. As an option, you can simultaneously offer children these works so that they compare characters and books. nine0004
Examples of literary characters and elements of their portraits: Pinocchio - cap, nose; Malvina - blue hair with a bow; Karabas-Barabas - beard; Chicken Ryaba - a golden egg; Chippolino - green onion feathers; Cinderella - shoe, pumpkin; Puss in Boots - boots; Harry Potter - wand, glasses; Little Red Riding Hood - hat, basket.
Fun game for kindergarten "News"
The presenter plays the role of the presenter of a TV news program. All children stand in a circle. The presenter says: “Dear viewers! Look at the news from the city (names the city). In this city today, everyone ... (names some action). All other players perform this action. For example, dancing, jumping and so on. The leader evaluates the quality of the task and chooses the one who liked him more than the others.
This person becomes the new leader. It is desirable that as many players as possible be the hosts. nine0004
More complicated: the action can match the name of the city from which the news is “displayed”.
Fun game for kindergarten "Pieces"
The game develops attention, the ability to divide words into syllables and compose words from syllables, vocabulary replenishment.
Task - two or more teams of children (there can be from three to five people in a team) are given a set of words cut into syllables. The task of the teams is to add as many words as possible from the proposed sets of syllables - “pieces of words” in five minutes. You can also play individually. nine0004
Cheerful game for kindergarten "A cheerful start"
The game develops thinking, memory; With the help of this game, children replenish their active vocabulary. You can play in teams and individually.
Task - get a card with a sound "image" of laughter from the "Funny bag": "Ha-ha", "Hee-hee", "Ho-ho", "He-he" and, having laughed appropriately, say as many words as possible that start with that syllable.
The winner is the participant who, in one minute, remembers more words that begin with the corresponding syllable. nine0004
Fun game for kindergarten "Who can count faster"
This fun game develops attention, thinking, mathematical skills, reaction speed, the ability to count to ten.
Teams of 10 people participate. Each person is assigned a number that can be written on a card and attached to the player. Players stand one after another in a column so that the numbers go in order.
The host calls the numbers of the players, they run to the line with the flags, run around the flags and come back. The team in which the player runs faster than the players of the other teams wins. nine0004
An advanced version for children who can count to ten.
The leader first sets an arithmetic example within ten. Children solve it, get an answer. The person whose number matches the answer of the example is running.
Option for children who can count within a hundred.
The host calls two-digit numbers, the players run in twos, those whose numbers are included in the named number. Also, the presenter can set examples, where the answer is two-digit numbers. nine0004
Fun game for kindergarten “Drive”
All children sit on chairs and pretend to drive a car, saying all the words in chorus: “We are driving, we are driving a car, how fast the tires are rushing! Suddenly we saw a sign! Explain what to do? As?".
After these words, the facilitator shows the children some kind of road sign, from those that are studied in the classroom on the rules of the road in kindergarten. Children explain who and what should do, if there is this sign.
In this game, it is very convenient to use the educational games "Road Signs", "Laws of Streets and Roads", "ABC of Safety" and demonstration materials "Observe traffic rules", "Signs on the roads". nine0004
Two teams can participate in this game: one is “drivers” and the other is “pedestrians”.
It's great if the kindergarten has a specially equipped area for learning the rules of the road, then the game can take place there.
Fun game for kindergarten "Getting Together"
The game develops attention, the ability to hear others, to act in a team.
Everyone stands in a circle, the host passes behind the circle and in each ear, so that others do not hear, calls some literary or cartoon character. There should be so many options for heroes that they make up several groups of three to five people. nine0004
The facilitator then explains that all identical characters should form a group, not naming themselves, but saying some phrases that they say in a literary work. Alternatively, you can say these phrases in the ear of the players, but this will slow down the pace of the game.
For example:
Wolf from the cartoon "Just you wait!" - the phrase "Well, hare, wait a minute!".
Cat Matroskin from the work "Uncle Fyodor, Dog and Cat" - the phrases "Moustache, paws and tail - these are my documents!", "And I can even use a typewriter .
.. And embroider with a cross." nine0004
Little jackdaw from the same place - the phrase "Who's there?".
Cat Leopold - the phrase "Let's live together!".
Fox Alice from the fairy tale "The Golden Key or the Adventures of Pinocchio" - the phrase "Poor Pinocchio!".
Winnie the Pooh from the fairy tale "Winnie the Pooh and all-all-all" - the phrases "Who visits in the morning, he acts wisely!", "These are the wrong bees!", "Both of them, and you can without bread."
Piglet from the same work - the phrase "It seems it's going to rain!".
Eeyore donkey - the phrase "And it goes in and out, it comes out great!". nine0004
Each character's phrases may be different.
The task of the players is to understand that these phrases also belong to their hero and unite into a group. When all the same heroes unite, they must say one of their phrases in unison.
Fun game for kindergarten "Let's go, let's go"
The game develops attention, speed of reaction, coordination of movements.
All children sit or stand in a circle, clapping their knees, saying: “Let's go, let's go…”, against this background the leader periodically names some part of the body. Everyone should take her hand. For example: “Let's go, let's go ... Nose! Let's go, let's go ... Heel! Let's go, let's go ... Ear! Let's go, let's go ... Neighbor's ear! nine0004
The facilitator deliberately confuses the children by not doing what he says.
The task of children is not to get confused by listening carefully to the leader. The children's mistakes and the host's witty comments make this game especially fun.
Fun game for kindergarten "Forbidden Number"
The game is designed for children who already know how to count to one hundred. The game develops attention. All players stand in a circle.
Task - count to one hundred, without naming the agreed figure and those numbers where this figure is included. For example, the number four.
