How to entertain a 4 year old

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.

Stickers

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 Ways to Keep a Preschooler Busy Other Than Watching TV

Inspiration

by ParentCo. August 17, 2022

Most parents feel a bit of guilt about plopping their little ones in front of the TV, iPad, or phone. And yet...sometimes, we just need to get things done. We need to clean the house or cook food or just take a few minutes for ourselves. It’s hard to think of other things that could keep a kid distracted long enough to actually accomplish anything.

There are options, though. True, they take a bit more planning and thought than sitting your child in front of a screen, but encouraging your child to do something constructive just might be worth the extra effort. (And other times, a little bit of Sesame Street is perfectly fine, too! Screen time is not all bad.)

Create a game box

Fill a box full of things your child can play with alone – things like coloring books, playing cards, or easy puzzles. Clickable blocks like Connectables are also a great creative outlet. When you need to keep your kids busy, give them the box. They might resist at first, but the more you do it, the more they’ll accept “game box time” as part of their routine.

Have them make their own cartoon

Instead of watching cartoons, have your children make their own. Give them a piece of paper and some crayons, and ask them to draw you a hero and a bad guy. When they’re done, let them come back and tell you their hero’s story.

Let them help you

If you’re cooking or cleaning, let your kids help. Give them a job they can handle. For young kids, that might be stringing beans or setting the table. For older kids, that might be slicing vegetables, sweeping the house, or taking out the recycling.

Give them an important mission

Give your child a task, and make it a really big deal. Tell them they need to draw a picture for Dada, or that they need to make a block fort for Grandma. If they think it’s an important job, they won’t complain about working on it independently.

Generate an idea box

Brainstorm ideas with your children about what they can do to overcome boredom. Write down their suggestions, and put them in an empty box. Then, the next time they’re bored, have them pick out one of their own suggestions. Given that it was their idea, they’ll be more willing to actually do it.

Offer creative toys

Any toy that lets a child create is sure to keep them distracted for a long time. Invest in Legos, puzzles, and Play-Dough. Not only will your child be able to play with them for hours, but they’ll build up their spatial reasoning, too.

Design a treasure hunt

Hide something like a coin or a sticker somewhere in the house. Give your kids a clue, and let them run wild trying to find it. If you make it a bit tricky to find, you’ll build up their resilience – and their ability to find things without begging for your help.

Let them play outside

Don’t forget how your parents kept you busy. Give your child a ball and a stick, and let them run wild. If you’re worried about their safety, keep them in sight of the window.

Send them to a friend’s house

Work out a deal with another parent on your street. When you need some time, send your kid over to play with their kid. To be fair, you’ll have to let them send their kid over sometimes, too. When two kids play together, they keep themselves distracted.

Build a fort

Give your child a few pillows and a blanket, and challenge them to turn the couch into a fort. No child will turn down the chance to make a secret base – and they’ll be much more likely to play independently once they’re inside.

Make a sculpture

Give your child a few pipe cleaners and a piece of Styrofoam – or any other kid-friendly items you might have on hand – and ask them to make a sculpture. Anything will do, but favorite heroes are a winning suggestion.

Listen to an audiobook

If your child’s too young to read independently, pick up audio versions of their favorite books. Let them sit down and turn the pages while listening to a friendly voice read to them. Or, if you can’t find a recording, use your phone to make one yourself.

Play with locks and bolts

Hand your child a lock and a key or a nut and bolt and let them play with it. Young kids, especially, will be mesmerized by the act of unlocking something – and they’ll develop their motor skills while they’re at it. Give them a mixed bag, and see if they can figure out which lock goes with which key.

Have messy mixing time

Set up a big tarp on the floor, and give your child some bowls and things from the kitchen they can mix together. Let them go wild. Your child will be so excited that they get to be messy indoors that they’ll be willing to play without your constant attention.

Play verbal games

If you have the energy to multitask, you can keep your child entertained while still getting things done. Take turns naming an animal for each letter of the alphabet, or play 20 Questions. You can cook, clean, and get ready while quizzing your child.

Create a scavenger hunt

You don’t need to make a whole list – just say, “Find me something that starts with the letter B,” and let them run around the house searching. To keep your kids motivated, you might reward them by letting them choose a dish for dinner once they’ve found 10 things.

Let them grow a garden

Give your child a little plant to take care of. Maybe they can grow an herb garden or a few flowers on the windowsill. Have them water their plant each day and, when you need a few moments, ask them to check on it. They’ll be immersed in their work.

Suggest a science experiment

Let your kids discover the world. Teach or show them something about an object or their surroundings and let them explore it. That might mean giving them a magnet and telling them to see what sticks, or giving them a bowl of water and prompting them to see what will float and what will sink.

Let them play with a camera

Give your child a digital camera, and let them take pictures. They’ll stay distracted making selfies and videos long enough for you to get something done. Afterward, you’ll get to see what the world looks like through your child’s eyes.

Give them a new tool

Especially for young children, just handing a child a new tool can keep them occupied for a pretty long time. Give your kids a flashlight, a combination lock, or a magnifying glass, and let them figure out how it works for themselves.

Make them do chores

This probably isn’t the one your child’s hoping you pick, but it’s good for them. If you’re going to clean the kitchen, make your children clean their rooms. Not only will you get time to actually do your job, but your kids will learn that they have a role in keeping the house clean, too.

Wait them out

If all else fails, just wait them out. If you can put up with 20 minutes of your kids whining about you turning off the TV, they’ll eventually find something else to do.

Getting kids to play independently won’t go smoothly every time. If your children are used to either having your attention or the entertainment of a screen at every moment, they’re going to put up a fuss.

Keep trying everything, though, and your children will get used to playing on their own. Promise!

ParentCo.

Author

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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. nine0003

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

Image: Gabrielle Kastner / YouTube

For this homemade entertainment, you will need toast bread, milk and food coloring. nine0003

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

Image: Miami Skye / YouTube

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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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

DIY slime. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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). nine0003

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. nine0003

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.

Four-box dollhouse construction. Illustration: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

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

Airplane made of straws and paper strips. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

12. Make a flute from cocktail straws

Pipe from plastic straws. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

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.

Soap clouds. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003 Foam blowing design. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

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

An alternative to ordinary slingshots. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

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

Shot: Toys “R” Us / YouTube

If you have a noodle but don't want to swim, make a toy out of it. nine0003

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. nine0003 Garage construction. Illustration: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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

21. Make bracelets out of popsicle sticks

Frame: NewMan DIY / YouTube

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. nine0003 Frame: NewMan DIY / YouTube

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

Balloon experiment. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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

Image: TheDadLab / YouTube

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. nine0003

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.

Colored cookies. Photo: Iya Zorina / Lifehacker

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. nine0003

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". nine0003

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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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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 stairs. We climb the stairs step by step. We come up with a name for each new step. From 5 years. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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). nine0133 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. nine0133 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. nine0133 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). nine0133 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). nine0133 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). nine0133 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). nine0133 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.