How to entertain a 4 year old at home

15 activities for 4-year-olds to educate and entertain

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Here are several fun things to do with curious 4-year-olds who always want to try something new.

If you’re the parent or nanny of a 4-year old, it’s no surprise children this age have a short attention span and always seem to be in search of something to do. They’re also curious to discover new things and constantly learning. Here are several activity ideas for 4-year-olds that can both entertain and engage them.

Outdoor play

1. Sidewalk chalk

Using the sidewalk as a canvas inspires them to think big. Sidewalk chalk can also be used for hopscotch, tic-tac-toe, tracing out a roadway for toy cars or even making life-size game boards, which is the perfect combination of creativity and physical play.

2. Nature walk

A great way to make fresh air educational is a nature walk. Collecting leaves, interesting rocks or acorns can be a great way for kids to learn about their environment. Be sure to supervise that what they’re touching is not something harmful like poison ivy.

3. Sandbox

Adding a few plastic dinosaurs to your child’s sandbox for a dinosaur dig or even coins for a treasure hunt can make sand really exciting and ignite a hunger for exploration and discovery. Sand can also be one of the best activities for 4-year-olds who love building and construction.

Independent play

4. Book exploration

Letting your 4-year-old explore books is an important activity as she develops the skills necessary to read. Looking at pictures, imagining their own stories and reading aloud are all invaluable.

5. Dry erase boards

Your child can practice new writing skills or draw a picture from his imagination. Without a lot of different materials to confuse or overwhelm him, this simple activity is perfect to entertain.

6.

Letting your child play with stickers is a great way for her to manipulate materials, develop fine motor skills and control the progress of the activity.

Creative play

7. Dough

Manipulating clay or modeling compound is an open-ended way for kids to create and express their imagination with the benefit of developing their fine motor skills.

8. Dramatic play

A few costumes or props are all that your 4-year-old needs to act out different roles such as pretending to be mommy or daddy, a chef, farmer, ice princess or whatever his growing imagination thinks of. This type of play helps him to learn about other people in the community and is a great way to introduce new vocabulary words.

9. Art

Paint, crayons, markers, pipe cleaners, tissue paper — the supplies and possibilities are endless. Providing an opportunity for your children to express themselves, their ideas and their emotions helps them develop valuable communication skills that they will use for sharing with others their entire lives.

Water play

10. Laboratory

Use a few bottles of colored water to allow your children to mix and create new colors. You can also let them add dish soap or mud so they can experiment with materials and their results when added to water.

11. Washing

Let your child wash things with a bin of water, some soap and a rag or scrub brush, or even let her wash a few dishes. Although this cleaning activity could get messy, she will take great pride in the chore.

12. Ice dig

Plan ahead and freeze a few small plastic toys in water, and then let your kids dig and chip the toys out. Ice is an exciting substance to discover, and because it melts, the fun lasts for a long time.

Physical play

13. Playground

Visiting the playground in your community is a great way for your 4-year-old to socialize with other kids as well as get a little exercise to burn off some of that extra energy he has.

14. Obstacle course

For more substantial physical activity, try creating an obstacle course with a variety of different activities like balancing, hopping and running throughout your yard or local park.

15. Sports

Whatever your 4-year-old’s favorite sport might be, sports equipment is a great way for her to be more involved in the activities that she loves. Sports can also be a way to teach sportsmanship, gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

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22 Best Activities For 4-Year-Olds At Home (2022)

Table of Contents

Four years old is an extremely fun age as your preschooler is learning an entirely new set of skills and perfecting the ones that they have already learned.
There are never ending opportunities for activities that you can do with your little one and almost as many that they can do alone. Four is a great age to really encourage independent play and give them opportunities to entertain themselves.

Towards the end of the article we also have some helpful suggestions on free activities for 4-year-olds that will keep your little person busy!

22 Engaging Activities for 4-Year-Olds

• 1. Practice with Flashcards

  Flash cards are a fun way for your four-year-old to perfect their knowledge of shapes, colors, letters, and numbers. This is an educational activity that you can do with your child as well as something that they can do on their own.

  View on Amazon.com ➜

• 2. Learn with a Play Laptop

  Leapfrog laptops are an awesome way to let your preschooler learn their letters in a fun and independent way. Working with the buttons is a great way to improve their fine motor skills and your little one will love working on his laptop while you work on yours.

  View on Amazon.com ➜

• 3. Play with Puzzles

  At four, your little one should be able to put together a simple puzzle with around fifty or less pieces. Allowing your preschooler to play with puzzles is a great developmental activity that helps with dexterity, spatial awareness, and cognitive skills. As a bonus, this is something that can be done multiple times without it losing its luster.

  View on Amazon.com ➜

• 4. Practice Drawing with Crayons

  Crayons are fun and inexpensive which makes it an ideal learning activity for a lively preschooler. At four, you are able to give them a little more freedom to color without having to worry as much about the mess they will make. It’s a fantastic and easy activity to perfect their fine motor skills and encourage their imagination.

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• 5. Play with Playdough

  Play dough has endless combinations which not only makes this fun activity entertaining, but also lasting. Your little one can enjoy hours of rolling, shaping, and cutting all the while using their imagination and creativity.

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• 6. Build a Fort

  Forts are even more fun at this age than ever before because your preschooler can make it exactly what they want. It becomes a fun place for them to read books, play with stuffed animals, and maybe even take a nap. Fort kits are a fun way to let your child’s imagination really run free because of the endless combinations you can create.

  View on Amazon.com ➜

• 7. Ride a Horse or a Unicorn!

  PonyCycle is a fun way for kiddos to burn off some extra energy indoors or outdoors. Easy for kids to operate on their own, this riding toy doesn’t require batteries or electricity to move. Functional steering and braking provide a “kid-powered” experience that’s not only practical but a great way to get some extra exercise. Available in a range of sizes and styles, PonyCycle’s soft fur and friendly face make for a lovable plush companion between rides.

  View on Amazon.com ➜

• 8. Play a Board Game

  Although this is a fun activity for four-year-old’s, it does require a second player. However, board games are a great learning activity to teach your little one about taking turns and following instructions. They will simply feel like they are playing while they are learning these important life skills.

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• 9. Play with Musical Instruments

  Music is crucial for children’s development and playing with instruments is a fantastic and stimulating activity for preschoolers. Simply playing some music and allowing your little one to play along with it is a fun way to keep them busy and let them learn at the same time.

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• 10. Play Pretend with Imaginative Toys

  At this age, your little one is using their imagination at all times. You can foster that creativity by allowing them to play pretend whether that be chef, doctor, or astronaut. Having toys that your little one can play with to help their imagination is a great way to encourage imaginative play.

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• 11. Imaginative Play with Dress Up

  Dress up is fun for kids of all ages and four-year-olds are no exception. There are a plethora of different costumes you can let your little one experiment with, and they will enjoy running around playing pretend and dreaming.

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• On An Important Side Note… Asher and I (pictured) feel it’s necessary to highlight the value of life insurance for parents with young kids. After extensive research, we discovered that parents can get insured for as little as $10 per month. We use Ladder Life who offers coverage up to $3M per parent (without a medical exam, just a few health questions) and you can apply 100% online.

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• 12. Build with Legos

  Legos are great for both imaginative play and practicing dexterity. The bright colors make this a stimulating activity for preschoolers and they will have fun experimenting with different shapes and structures as they learn more about foundations and building techniques.

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• 13. Make a Sensory Bin

  Sensory activities are an awesome way to stimulate and entertain your little one. At four, you are able to branch out a little bit with the fillers that you use because you are able to trust that they aren’t going to try to eat it. I love using kinetic sand for sensory bins now that my son is older because it not only acts as a filler but also entertainment in and of itself. All you need to do is throw in some fun toys and your preschooler can enjoy digging and playing.

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• 14. Play Actively with Bubbles

  Bubbles are an awesome way to encourage active play in your four-year-old. In order to make this a hands-off activity for parents, it is important to utilize a bubble machine or toy that your little one can use on their own. For preschool aged kids, these bubble guns are a fun way to let them make their own bubbles without getting frustrated.

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• 15. Practice Letters with Alphabet Cards

  Four is the perfect age to really start learning how to write and recognize letters. Letting your little one look at letters and practice writing them on their own is a great educational activity to ensure that they will be well prepared when it comes time to learn the alphabet in preschool or kindergarten.

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• 16. Cool Off in a Kiddie Pool

  On warm days, water activities are a great way to entertain your preschooler as well as instantly improve their mood. If you’re able to sit outside within a safe distance from the pool, you can let your little one enjoy splashing in a couple inches of water on their own. When you add some waterproof toys to this activity, it can keep your child happy and entertained for long periods at a time.

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• 17. Read and Learn with Books

  Four is generally too young to know how to read entirely on their own, but it’s the perfect age to practice as well as imitate what they see. Flipping pages and looking at the different pictures is a great way to encourage dexterity as well as imagination and it will build good habits for your little one and foster a lifelong love of reading.

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• 18. Play Backyard Sports

  Sports are undeniably a wonderful activity for kids, but what you may not realize is that it doesn’t need to be an organized sport for it to be fun. Simply letting your little one play with balls, bats, or hoops in your backyard will be enough to encourage active play and foster a love of sports. T-ball is a great sport that your little one can play entirely on their own so that you can enjoy some time to yourself.

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• 19. Practice with Scissor Skills

  Arts and crafts are more fun than ever before now that your preschooler is old enough to really participate in them. Kid-safe scissor activities are great for practicing dexterity and fine motor skills and it is a great way to let your preschooler have a little bit of freedom and independence.

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• 20. Explore Nature

  Curiosity both works with us and against us at this age, but activities that encourage our preschoolers to use that part of their brain can help to harness it in a productive way. A great activity for curious kids is to let them explore nature within your own yard. My son loves to find cool rocks, pretty flowers, and interesting-looking leaves and collect them in a shoebox.

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• 21. Make Puppets

  As we mentioned, arts and crafts are an awesome stimulating activity for preschoolers and making puppets is a great way to combine that with imaginative play as they make up a life for their puppet afterwards. Coming up with puppet shows after is another great activity that will last for a long time.

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• 22. Make Marble Art

  All you need for this activity is a Ziploc bag, some non-toxic paint, a piece of paper, and a couple of marbles. Just place the paper and a couple dollops of paint into a Ziploc bag, throw the marbles in and let your little one push the marbles around. It creates a cool effect on the paper and it’s a non-messy way to let your preschooler finger paint.

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7 Free Activities for Four-Year-Olds

If you are looking for activities that don’t require any additional supplies or if you want something that you can do with no notice, we have included some activities that you can do with items around your house.

• 1. Practice Letters

  A simple way to let your preschooler practice recognizing and writing their letters is to just take a piece of paper and write an uppercase letter on it and then let your little one copy it. You can also do this activity with numbers depending on what you are working on.

• 2. Build a Fort

  You can build a fort just using items around your home whether that be couch cushions, blankets, sheets, or kitchen chairs. You can let your preschooler experiment with different shapes and structures and then they can enjoy reading or playing in their own private room.

• 3. Make Your Own Playdough

  If you don’t want to purchase playdough, you can make it with a few simple ingredients. All you will need is flour, cream of tartar, water, food coloring, oil, and salt and simply mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. After they’ve been mixed separately, you combine the two and cook over medium heat until it resembles the correct texture. Then you can store it in an airtight container for endless fun!

• 4. Help with Chores

  While this may seem like it would not be a fun activity, you might be surprised with how much your little one enjoys doing what they see you do. While doing housework, you can give your preschooler a damp cloth and ask them to clean something in the room you’re working in. Not only is this a great way to teach them to follow instructions, it also encourages them to learn life skills at a young age!

• 5. Have a Scavenger Hunt

  You can create a scavenger hunt list, complete with pictures, and let your little one run around your house and find objects. If you can write the list on durable paper, this is an activity that can be repeated over and over again. It is a great way to teach your preschooler to follow directions and complete tasks.

• 6. Have a Dance Party

  If you’re okay with a little extra noise in your home, you can hold a dance party for your little one. Music in general is a wonderful developmental activity and your preschooler might even come up with some unique and creative instruments while they jam out.

• 7. Make a Self Portrait

  All you will need for this is a piece of paper, a mirror, and some sort of drawing utensils. You can set your little one up in front of the mirror and encourage them to draw themselves by what they see in their reflection. This is a great learning activity to encourage them to look at their own face and recognize parts of it while honing the fine motor skills necessary to draw details. Just be prepared that they will probably also use their imaginations and add details like rainbow hair or a third eye!

Conclusion

While it may be a daunting task to try to entertain an active and lively four-year-old while also trying to do all of the things that you need to accomplish in a day, that doesn’t mean it is impossible. It may even prove to be a fun challenge as you and your preschooler learn and play together and also as they learn how to self soothe and play independently. One or more of the activities on the list would be a great way to get started and help you figure out the best ways to entertain your little one while maintaining your sanity.

27 ways to entertain a child - Lifehacker

Some ways will help distract the child and win a few free hours, others are suitable for joint leisure and will bring a lot of pleasure not only to children, but also to parents.

1. Have a sumo wrestling

Put a large T-shirt on your child and stuff soft pillows under it.

In this form, children can arrange sumo wrestling - collide with a running start and measure strength without risking anything to themselves. The wider the girth of the fighters, the safer the fight will be.

2. Try checkers with sweets

Use a ready-made game board or make your own. To do this, stick strips of colored sticky tape on a square base to make a field.

Instead of checkers, use two-color cookies, meringue or marshmallows. Any other sweets that are placed in the cage of the playing field and do not stain hands and clothes will do.

During the game, the opponent's checkers will be eaten in the literal and figurative sense.

3. Have a stain-free painting session

Get an A4-sized ziplock bag. Mix a small amount of shower gel with dye.

Pour the resulting mixture into a bag, close it and fix it on the table with adhesive tape. Invite your child to paint on an impromptu canvas with their fingers - the tinted gel will move inside, creating abstract patterns.

4. Try coloring sandwiches

For this homemade entertainment, you will need toast bread, milk and food coloring.

Pour a small amount of milk into separate containers and paint with different colors. Give your child a clean brush and invite them to turn the bread into a work of art.

When the picture is ready, put the pieces in the toaster for a while, bake the picture and enjoy a beautiful meal.

5. Arrange speed games

Almost any item in the house can be turned into a game inventory to do something at speed for one minute. Here are some ideas:

• Pick up candy or marshmallows with chopsticks.
• Build the tallest tower out of coins or plastic cups.
• Throw as many socks as you can into the laundry basket.
• Don't let the balloon fall to the floor.

6. Color the Rice

You will need rice, white vinegar, food coloring, and clean, heavy-duty plastic bags.

Dilute the pigments in a small amount of vinegar. Put a handful of rice in a bag, pour the paint into it, tie the polyethylene tightly and mix the grains to paint it well.

Children will love the process itself, when you can twist and squeeze the bag, and the result. The dyed rice needs to be dried, and then it can be used for pictures, applications and all kinds of crafts.

7. Build your own car wash

A toy car wash can be made with a 5 liter plastic canister, dish washing sponges and damp-proof adhesive tape.

Cut out the sink body from the tank with inlet and outlet. Cut dish sponges into thin, long sticks and glue them vertically to the sink ceiling.

Color the structure with permanent markers. Place shaving cream in empty yogurt jars. Take old toothbrushes and toy cars. And then just use your imagination.

8. Make a slime

Cooking the mass will take no more than 10 minutes. You will need 100 ml of PVA glue, dye and 1-2 teaspoons of sodium borate. The latter is also known as "borax" (you can buy it at a pharmacy).

Pour glue into a bowl, add a few drops of dye and mix. Then add some borax and keep stirring. As it thickens, add more sodium borate, a few drops at a time.

When the mass begins to peel off the sides of the bowl and stretch, knead it with your hands like dough. After a few minutes, the slime will become plastic and will no longer stick to surfaces.

Just do not play with the mass on the bedspread with villi: it clogs in them and is poorly cleaned. And if you use food pigment, the slime can slightly paint your hands.

9. Build a house for dolls out of boxes

You will need some time for this task, but then the children will play with such a house on their own, and for more than one day.

Prepare shoeboxes, tape, scrapbook paper or wallpaper, paints, stationery glue, newspapers to make the structure.

Insert the shoeboxes into each other at a 90° angle. Two pieces will make one corner of the house and one floor. Tape the boxes together.

Then cover the construction with newspapers. To hide the joints of the boxes and make them more like a house, you can use papier-mâché, a pre-prepared mixture of soaked paper and PVA glue. But if you want to make everything faster, skip this step.

Walls, ceilings and floors can be decorated with acrylic paints or gouache, pieces of wallpaper, fabric and even linoleum, beautiful paper. Arrange the furniture and the dollhouse is ready.

You can also make a small house from one box with partitions: arrange them crosswise - and you get two floors and four rooms.

10. Play outdoor games with paper tape

You can mark the floor with masking tape. Try the following games:

• Classics . As a cue ball, you can use a plastic cup or a candy jar.
• Outdoor shooting range . Make a target on the floor from several circles and launch a plastic ball in turn. The one with which the projectile rolls closer to the center wins.
• Tic-tac-toe . Glue four strips of paper tape, and draw shapes on cups or plastic balls and put them on the field.
• Long jump . Mark the start line and arrange a competition. Mark the results of each jump with a strip of tape.
• Rope Walkers . Stick the tape in long stripes and shapes, and then ask the children to walk along this "rope" without ever stepping to the side.

11. Make an airplane out of a cocktail straw

This is a non-standard airplane that will fly much further than usual. To make, you will need three pieces of paper and a plastic straw for a cocktail.

Cut out three strips measuring 2.5 x 12.5 cm. Connect two together and close in a large ring with adhesive tape. From the third strip, make a small ring.

Attach the pieces to the ends of the straw, positioning it inside them. Launch the model with a small ring forward.

12. Make a flute from cocktail straws

Take six to eight plastic tubes, cut them off and glue them together with tape. Of course, you can not expect a pleasant sound, but the children like it.

13. Put on a bubble show

Make a bubble solution: mix 3.5 liters of water, a glass of dish soap and a tablespoon of glycerin. For blowing, you can use purchased devices or make options more interesting from improvised means.

For example, if you fasten several large straws together, whole rainbow clusters will be blown out.

You can also make a jig for giant soap bubbles. Pass a long cord through two tubes and tie the ends with a knot.

After that, it remains to fix the wooden skewers, which you will hold on to, and you can test.

14. Show your child how to make soap clouds.

Cut off the bottom of a plastic bottle and put a sock over it. In a separate container, mix dishwashing liquid with a little water.

Dip the sock in soapy water and blow into the neck. You will get a large foam snake.

15. Make a shark or crocodile with a clothespin

Draw a shark or crocodile with big teeth on paper, cut the image in half and glue the two pieces to the clothespin. Children will be able to organize battles of toothy predators opening their mouths.

16. Play Chapaev with plastic caps

For this fun, you will need a glossy cardboard box and 8-12 plastic bottle caps.

Divide the "checkers" between two players and place them on the edges of the box at an equal distance from each other. You can color if you wish. Take turns blowing on the covers, trying to knock down the opponent's chips with them and at the same time not fly out of the field.

Small cars about 2 cm long can also be added. Place the mini toys in the middle of the field and blow on them to knock down the opponent's pieces.

The winner is the one who first gets rid of all the opponent's caps, but at the same time has at least one of his own on the field. Otherwise, a draw is declared.

17. Make an unusual slingshot

For this device you will need a plastic bottle and a ball. Anything can be used as cartridges, from coffee beans and rowan berries to soft bullets from toy guns.

Cut off the neck of the bottle. Tie the tail of the balloon in a knot. Cut off the wide part and pull the half with the tail over the neck. For strength, secure with a plastic ring from the bottle.

Put a bullet in the neck and pull the tail of the ball. You can arrange championships in firing range.

18. Show the children how to make their own stickers

Give the children a piece of sticky paper and have them draw little pictures. When ready, cut out the images and use as stickers.

19. Race noodles

If you have a noodle but don't want to swim, make a toy out of it.

Cut the product into halves along the entire length. You will get two tracks along which you can run glass or iron balls, toy cars.

Place the sticks with one end on a raised platform and the other end on the box where the objects will fall. Decorate the track with "Start" and "Finish" flags and arrange races.

20. Play aim shooting with glass balls

Take a shoe box and make several semi-circular cuts with different radii - a garage with a gate will come out. Determine how many points the child will receive for hitting each hole.

Put the box on the table upside down and try to roll the ball into the narrowest gate. The one with the most hits wins.

21. Make bracelets out of popsicle sticks

You will need water, a glass, wide wooden popsicle sticks and multi-colored paper tape or colored paper.

Place the sticks in boiling water for 30 minutes to soften. Then bend them one by one and insert them inside the glass. Dry the sticks in such a position that the wood takes the form of dishes.

Then decorate the bracelet to your liking. Use appliqués from colored paper or decorative tape, felt-tip pens, paints, pieces of lace - everything that is enough for imagination.

22. Show the children how to weave bracelets from colored cords

If your child already knows how to braid and knit interesting knots, buy several meters of colored cords. You can make a lot of simple bracelets out of them.

23. Do a science experiment with a balloon

Show your child a chemical experiment in the kitchen. To do this, pour a spoonful of soda into a balloon, and pour vinegar into an empty plastic bottle.

Place the ball on the neck of the bottle and fasten tightly. Gradually pour the soda out of it into the bottle. The neutralization reaction will result in the release of a large amount of carbon dioxide, which will inflate the balloon.

24. Make a frozen dinosaur egg

If your child loves dinosaurs, show him how ancient dinosaurs hatched from eggs. Put the figurine in a balloon and fill it with water, then send the balloon to the freezer. When the water freezes, call the young paleontologists.

Remove the rubber "shell" from the eggs, look at the dinosaur in the ice. You can get the toy with a small hammer.

25. Make banana ice cream

Take bananas (preferably slightly overripe), peel and cut into thin pieces. Put in the freezer.

After a couple of hours, remove the fruit and mix in a blender until the mass resembles thick sour cream. Dessert can be eaten immediately or put into molds and re-frozen. Older children can handle the cooking themselves.

26. Color the gingerbread cookies.

For this culinary fun, you will need gingerbread cookies. You can buy it or bake it yourself. You also need egg white and powdered sugar icing, food coloring, and pastry bags.

If you are making your own cookies, allow them to cool completely before coloring. Mix the icing, tint it with different colors and fill the piping bags. You can also use confectionery sprinkles.

27. Make a cable car at home

Stretch a few ropes between door handles, chair legs, clothes hooks - this will be a cable car.

Take a hanger with clothespins and attach soft toys to it. Attach the hook to the stretched ropes and show your child how to launch the cable car "cars".

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• What to play outdoors: 12 ideas for any company
9Hipsta Mama a serious question arose: “What to do with a child so that he doesn’t start walking on the ceiling out of boredom?” Where to get inspiration and ideas, and how to tear children away from tablets and TVs at least for a while? We share with you our favorite selection of home games for children from 2 years old.


1. Running with an egg. We put the ping-pong ball on a teaspoon and run around the whole apartment, trying to keep the ball on the spoon. From 3 years.
2. Talkers. We speak quickly. Who can last longer? From 3 years.
3. Think fast. One player quickly calls out a word. The other must immediately say what came to his mind in connection with this. Then we switch roles. From 4 years.
4. Veterinary hospital. We put soft toys in bed and treat them: we bandage them, give medicines, measure the temperature, put compresses, etc. From 3 years.
5. Putting on makeup. We paint the face in front of the mirror in the bathroom. From 4 years.
6. Giving names. For each finger we come up with some funny name. From 2 years.
7. Maintain balance. With arms outstretched to the sides, we walk, like a tightrope walker, along the very edge of the carpet. From 3 years.
8. We score goals. We mark the gate on the carpet with a rope. From some distance, we throw ping-pong balls at the gate. Each hit brings a point. From 3 years.
9. Thinking about people. We look out the window. We invent various stories about the people we see below. From 4 years.
10. Witch game. From the rope we lay out a circle. This is the witch's house, in which one of the players - the witch - lies in wait for prey. The rest crawl around the witch's house. When the witch comes out, everyone runs away very quickly. From 2 years.
11. Ghost game. Everyone wraps themselves in white scarves and circles around the apartment like ghosts, with terrifying sounds. From 4 years.
12. Dog game. One player is chosen as a dog. Others lead him on a leash throughout the apartment. From 2 years.
13. Game of steps. We climb the stairs step by step. We come up with a name for each new step. From 5 years.
14. Playing with a magnet. We put the magnet under the paper, and on the paper - a coin. Move the coin across the paper with a magnet. From 4 years.
15. Game of forfeits. We collect forfeits from the players. We ask others: “What should the player who owns this phantom do?” From 3 years.
16. Playing traffic. With a thick brush and paints, we draw streets on a large sheet of paper. When the paints dry, we start circling the roads with a toy car. From 2 years.
17. We play ice cream parlor. Fill the yogurt cup with fruit juice, yogurt, etc. and freeze. Decorate ice cream and serve. From 3 years.
18. We play hide and seek. One is hiding in the apartment and the others have to find him. From 2 years.
19. We play robbers. We hide several items in the room. Returning to the room, the players must find the loss. From 4 years.
20. Toy money. We put the coins under the paper. With a soft pencil, rub over the top of the coin. Cut out paper money. From 5 years.
21. Depicting a snake. The more players the better. We run around the apartment one after another. The guide tells the players what they should do, such as crawl around the table or roll around the room. From 3 years.
22. Looking for pictures. The participant of the game is looking for some picture in an illustrated book. Others must guess it. From 2 years.
23. Looking for a ring. We imperceptibly shift the ring into the fist of another player. You need to guess in which hand the ring is hidden. From 4 years.
24. Blot pictures. Spray ink on paper. Fold the paper with a blot inside, then unfold it again. Draw a picture from the prints. From 3 years.
24. Swing. One lays down on the bedspread, the others lift it higher and shake it. From 5 years.
25. Skittles. We arrange the cubes on the carpet, like skittles, and knock them down with a tennis ball. From 2 years.
26. We glue the collage. Newspaper or magazine pages are torn into pieces. From this we paste a color collage. From 3 years.
27. Room out of the box. From a shoe cardboard box we make a room. We draw furniture on paper, cut it out and paste it into a box. From 5 years.
28. Matchbox beds. We make beds from matchboxes, cut out pillows and blankets of suitable size from paper. We draw little men on paper, cut them out and put them in beds. From 5 years.
29. Who will blow further. We blow on corks from bottles so that they fly off as far as possible. From 3 years.
30. Domino ribbon. We make dominoes one after another into a long ribbon, placing them on a short edge. When the tape is ready, we push the first knuckle. All the knuckles fall, tipping over one by one. From 2 years.
31. Making paper animals. On thick paper we draw any animals. Cut out. Glue a strip of cardboard as a stand. From 5 years.
32. Making a picture book. Cut out pictures from a catalog or magazine. Paste it into a notebook and decorate the cover. From 4 years.
33. Making boats. We make boats from a nutshell: we glue triangular sails from paper. We let the boats float in a basin or in a bath. We blow them in different directions. From 2 years.
34. Mother and child (father and child). With a change of roles: adults play children and vice versa. From 2 years.
35. Mosaic. Cut out a rectangle from paper. Then cut it into 10 pieces of different shapes. Mix the pieces. Again, make a rectangle of pieces. From 5 years.
36. We string the hearts. Cut out hearts from colored paper. We make a hole in each heart and string it on a string. We hang the chain. From 5 years.
37. We hum. One of the players begins to hum a melody. Others must recognize her. From 3 years.
38. Dress up dolls. We make outfits for dolls from patches. From 4 years.
39. Outline the hand. We put our hand on paper. Outline with a pencil. Cut out and paint with colorful patterns. From 5 years.
40. Omelet. From yellow colored paper, cut out a circle the size of a plate, fold in half. It's an omelet. We fill it with various trifles (for example, old photographs, unexpected pictures, fragrant flower petals, raisins or coins for good luck). We serve the omelette on a plate and offer it to the assembled family members as a snack before meals. From 3 years.
41. Emptying the wallet. We pour all the coins from the wallet onto the table and sort them. From 3 years.
42. Ping pong in the room. We sit on the floor. With the help of cardboard, we hit the ping-pong ball against the wall. From 3 years.
43. Throw up a balloon. A well-inflated balloon is tossed into the air. Use your index finger to push it up without letting it fall. From 4 years.
44. Crawl on your back. We lay down on our backs and move around the room, trying not to hurt anything. From 4 years.
45. Invents hairstyles. We bring bows, hairpins and hair bands. We do unusual, fantastic hairstyles for each other. From 4 years.
46. Prince and princess. We glue crowns from golden paper and put them on. From 3 years.
47. Scratched pictures. We paint over the surface of the paper with colored wax pencils, on top - with black paint. With some object we scratch various squiggles and lines so that a colored base appears through the black background. From 4 years.
48. Hiding sweets. All but one player leave the room. The remaining one hides ten sweets there, then calls the others again. Whoever finds the most candies wins. From 2 years.
49. Birds fly high. The players drum their fingers on the edge of the table. Everyone takes turns naming an animal. If it flies, everyone raises their hands, if it doesn’t fly, they continue to drum. If someone makes a mistake, then he gives his phantom. From 3 years.
50. "Inflate" pictures. We spray different paints on the paper, adding more water. We blow through a straw, we get multi-colored spots. From 3 years.
51. Telling stories. One begins to tell a story. In the middle he is interrupted, and the next one must continue the story. From 4 years.
52. Looking at the photos. We invent and tell stories for photographs. From 2 years.
53. Draw musical pictures. We turn on the music. On a sheet of paper we draw multi-colored figures that are associated with music. From 4 years.
54. Draw on fabric. We paint fabric with textile paints, for example, an old T-shirt or a sheet. From 3 years.
55. Draw little men. We wet our finger. Then we dip it in ink and press it to paper. From the print we draw a little man: we finish the face, arms and legs. From 5 years.
56. Drawings with continuation. Put a red dot in the center of the sheet of paper. We suggest that the next one continue the drawing. From 4 years.
57. Destroy the tower. We build a tower from boxes or cubes. From some distance we are trying to destroy it with a ping-pong ball. From 2 years.
58. Horse racing. We ride on a tightly inflated balloon until it bursts. From 2 years.
59. Folding pictures. We draw a head on paper, bend it back and pass it to another, who draws the stomach and arms, and pass it again, he finishes the legs and feet. We unfold and look at the picture. From 4 years.
60. Blind chicken. With our eyes closed, we try to pass from one room to another without hitting anything. From 3 years.
61. It is forbidden to laugh. We are trying to make our friend laugh by telling him all sorts of nonsense. His job is to stay serious. Who can last longer? From 3 years.
62. Building a house. We cover the table with a large tablecloth or bedspread. We get under the table. The main thing is not to forget the provisions. From 2 years.
63. Walkers competition. Everyone puts on very large shoes and races through the apartment. From 2 years.
64, Sort the cubes. All cubes are sorted by color and shape. From 2 years.
65. We put gates from bottle caps. We install a corridor of several gates. To do this, we make two caps with each other. We push coins through the gate with our finger. From 5 years.
66. Counting cars. We look out the window. We make a bet on how many cars (or how many cars of a certain color or model) will pass by the house in some time. From 5 years.
67. Counting points. For those who are learning to count. Let's take turns throwing the dice. The one who scores more points wins. From 4 years.
68. Dancing. We turn on the music, then we dance like crazy. From 2 years.
69. Guessing the animals. Each represents an animal. Others have to guess which one. From 5 years.
70. Guessing sounds. One player closes their eyes and tries to guess which of the other players just snored, grumbled, or meowed. From 4 years.
71. Learning to jump. Jump as long as you can on one leg. From 4 years.
72. Figure-rug. From trousers, shirts and boots we lay out a figure on the floor. We draw a face of a suitable size on paper, cut it out and apply it. From 4 years.
73. Football sitting. Two players sit opposite each other and play with their feet with a ping-pong ball. From 2 years.
74. Finger caps. From the circles we glue our own pointed hat for each finger. From 4 years.
75. Flicking a coin. Two players place a coin on the table and use their finger to shoot the coin from one to the other. From 4 years.
76. Something you can't see. We think of some colored thing in the room. We name the color and ask you to guess this object. From 4 years.
77. For example, in the blink of an eye, with the help of a tablecloth and towels, turn a table into a cave where you can hide so comfortably from everyone. Or turn the nursery into a treasure island, and children into treasure hunters, for which parents need to hide some new toys in different places (dolls, cars, balloons, etc.). Of course, there will be a lot of confusion. But the child will be happy, and save your nerves. And clean up - well, right after the games you can clean up.
78. Both two-year-olds and first-graders are very fond of different boxes, caskets and drawers stuffed with all sorts of things, in which it is a pleasure to rummage through. Chance, fantasy, passions and the age of the child will help to make something exciting out of this simple activity (just do not leave children under three years old unattended so that they do not accidentally swallow some small object).
79. Sorting trinkets. We take out buttons, nuts, spools of thread from the box and sort them. The same applies to chestnuts, sea pebbles and shells brought from vacation or brought from the last walk. We advise you to stock up on empty boxes and jars in advance (from two years).
80. Counting money. We shake out a trifle from a purse and we learn to count it. You can examine the contents of your mother's bag (after removing everything more or less dangerous from it: headache pills, etc.) (from two and a half years).
81. Putting pictures and pictures in order. We carefully consider and arrange family photos and pictures taken on vacation in order (let the children have second copies that you don’t mind spoiling). The same can be done with the image of animals, toys and children from catalogs and illustrated magazines.
82. Toddlers take great pleasure in helping their mother with her household chores. This, of course, slows down the work, but the child is in business.
83. We load the washing machine. Let the baby serve his mother the laundry prepared for washing or even load it into the car himself - even a one and a half year old baby can handle this.
84. Clean up. Wipe unpolished doors, cabinet doors or floors with a damp cloth or sponge. You can also do wiping toy cars, doll houses, boats (from three years old). Younger children can dust off with a soft brush.
85. We bake pies. Knead the dough a little more than required. Set aside a small portion in a special plastic bowl. Let's give the child some cocoa, grated nuts, coconut flakes and give him a spoon. We bake children's pies separately on a small baking sheet (from three years old).
86. If you provide a baby with paints, glue, paper and children's scissors (with round ends), he will get great pleasure, even if he is not yet three years old (scissors can be given starting from three years old). Cover the table with newspaper so as not to get dirty, put on an adult shirt or T-shirt as a working dressing gown for the child. Use a water-soluble adhesive that does not contain chemical solvents (it will not give off toxic fumes and is easy to clean).
87. Drawing money. Place a coin under a piece of paper and shade it with a pencil until the image of a coin appears. Carefully cut out the image (from the age of three).
88. We make seals. For the manufacture of seals, corks, potato quarters are suitable. Pour in a lot of paint (for finger painting), dampen the signet, and then press it against the paper or the surface of the box. Parents can cut a signet pattern with a knife on a potato or cork (from two and a half years old).
89. Making a collage. We cut out pictures from old catalogs and magazines and paste them on paper or cardboard (from two and a half years).
Older kids can cut pictures on their own (from the age of three),
90. We create landscapes. You can, for example, take cotton wool, pieces of white tracing paper, adhesive tape for sparkles, foam plastic, small twigs and pebbles as trees and rocks and create a winter landscape. Use hard cardboard for the backing. You can also depict the country of dinosaurs, a dense forest, a summer lawn (from three and a half years old).
91. We make stained-glass windows. Together with your child, paint window panes in the nursery with easily washable paints (from three and a half years old).
92. Making figurines from salt dough. Take two parts flour and water and one part salt. Mix flour with salt, add water and knead the dough (with your help). The dough dries quickly, so it needs to be kneaded in small portions. Now you can sculpt, for example, products for a store or a toy kitchen, or other figures. We put the figurines in the oven and dry them for three hours at a temperature of 100 degrees, and then paint them with poster paints (from the age of three).
93. Writing letters. A letter to grandparents, best friend or friend is simply drawn and sealed (from the age of four).
94. Building a city. This is a game with a sequel. Take an old plain tablecloth or sheet, spread it on the floor, attach the corners to the floor with duct tape or press down on them with some kind of weight. With a thick felt-tip pen, apply the main highways. Let the child finish the rest, later he will be able to arrange figures and cars on this canvas and play with them (from the age of four).
95. Embroider on cardboard. Cardboard cards can be bought ready-made, but you can also make your own. On pieces of cardboard, first apply a perforated pattern with an awl.

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