How to play with a 4 year old
22 Best Activities For 4-Year-Olds At Home (2022)
Table of Contents
Updated on by Lyric Fergusson
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!
Our son, Kingsley, with his baby sister on their new climbing gym.22 Engaging Activities for 4-Year-Olds
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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.
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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.
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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 ➜
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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.View on Amazon.com ➜
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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.
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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 ➜
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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.View on Amazon.com ➜
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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.View on Amazon.com ➜
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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.View on Amazon.com ➜
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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.View on Amazon.com ➜
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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
Five tips for connecting with your 4-5 year old
Learning is a lifelong process. It begins the moment we’re born, and there’s no limit to how much information we can absorb in a lifetime. The brain, however, develops rapidly during early childhood. Engaging and finding fun ways to include your child in your life will help them build better brain connections, and will have a lifelong effect on their ability to learn language and communicate with others.
Begin to mentally challenge your child at this stage. Continue to involve them in everyday activities. Be creative in keeping them interested in learning.
Question – Ask questions throughout the day, and let your child form their own answers. Aim for 20 questions a day to help keep them engaged.
Challenge – Instead of simply doing things for them, challenge your child to find their own answers.
If they are dressing up, ask questions like, “Can you find the clothes you wear on your legs?” Questions will help them exercise their working memory. Presenting the same information in different forms helps brain development.
Play – Play games that involve brain exercise, like scavenger hunt. Ask your child questions like, “How many things in the room are blue?” and, “How many objects start with the letter T?” Teach them to be aware of the environment and to connect similar things. Change things up by using letters, colors and shapes.
Engage – Continue to make chores fun. When you’re doing laundry, ask them to sort clothes by color – then ask them to sort them by pattern and by size. Changing the rules helps them think flexibly and spark creativity. When you’re cooking, let them build an instrument using a plastic container with keys and spoons inside. Music activities with toddlers helps them learn. Create a rhythm and ask them to copy.
Ask them to create a beat and dance to their tunes!
Discover – Let your child taste a few grains of salt and sugar. Which one do they like? Talk to them about the difference. They are learning to explore their senses at this stage. So let them experiment!
By the age of 5, your child’s brain will have grown to 90 percent of its adult size. Keep up with their development by incorporating age appropriate activities that are not only fun, but also educational.
- Five tips for connecting with your 0–12 month old
- Four tips for connecting with your 1–2 year old
- Five tips for connecting with your 2–3 year old
- Four tips for connecting with your 3–4 year old
Promoting early brain development is part of HealthPartners Children’s Health Initiative, which is aimed at improving the health and well-being of children from pregnancy through age five. Brain, cognitive and behavioral development early in life are strongly linked to health outcomes later in life, including cardiovascular disease and stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, smoking, drug use and depression.
Learn more about HealthPartners Children’s Health Initiative.
42 ideas for a great pastime
In the era of prosperity of technology, endless cartoons and the same endless feeds in social networks, both children and parents began to forget about simple communication, looking into each other's eyes, and not at the screen of a TV, tablet or smartphone. Think about how long it has been since you played with your child? Oddly enough, even the ideas for the simplest and once popular games have long been lost in memory and have undeservedly lost their relevance.
Games for children are not only a great way to spend time with the family, but also an opportunity to develop thinking, memory, logic, reaction speed. We have collected the best children's games that will captivate the whole family and give a charge of vivacity and positive for a long time.
Contents:
- Children's play at home
- Entertainment games for children at home: types
- Active games
- Sports games
- Competitions
- Development games
- Speech games
- Construction of houses
- Math games
- Interesting games for two children
- Role-playing games
- Unusual home games
- Music games
- Water games
- Interesting games
- Advice to parents
Children's games at home
Entertaining games for children have many advantages: they bring together all family members who take part in the process, allow you to spend time rich and exciting, without gadgets and TV.
The game is a powerful tool for the development of your child. When planning to spend time together blowing dust off a box of checkers or a long-forgotten Monopoly, keep a few things in mind:
- Try not to prompt your child. Make an exception to the rule only if he does not yet know the rules. Let them learn to make mistakes and draw conclusions. Undoubtedly, you know more, but let the baby be independent.
- Do not give in, you must be equal. Therefore, it is worth choosing interesting games for children, where the process does not require encyclopedic knowledge or vast experience, and the rules are simple and understandable for everyone.
- You need to play only with pleasure, getting pleasant emotions. If you notice that the children don’t like the game or they get bored, it’s better to switch to another one: it’s definitely not worth forcing anyone to have fun.
Entertainment games for children at home: types
What kind of games are there in a confined space? When thinking of entertainment, consider the possibilities of an apartment or house and the age of the child.
Excessive noise should not be raised late in the evening, and too primitive games are unlikely to be appreciated by a senior student. Therefore, alternate, experiment, and you will definitely select exactly those family games that will captivate everyone, and just spend time with children without a computer.
Active games
1. Let's go!
Have your child pretend to be a car driving down a dark road. To do this, put a few chairs or other objects, give the child a steering wheel or its round substitute, and blindfold. You are a navigator, a kid is a car, turn on and go! Try switching places so that the child also tries himself as a helper.
Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.
2. Hold the balloon
This kids game will require a balloon and some skill. Task: move the ball from one end of the room / corridor to the other without touching it with your hands and without letting it fall. Let the children be smart: you can blow on the ball, push it with your nose, chin, knees.
If there are two children, arrange a competition: who will bring the ball to the finish line faster. For older participants, the task can be made more difficult by building a path or placing small obstacles to get around.
Suitable for age: 5-15 years old.
3. Cross the river
Ropes, ribbons or two pieces of rope, laid out at a distance of one and a half to two meters from each other, can play the role of the banks. From paper, cut out circles that will replace the pebbles.
Invite the child to "get over" from one bank to another, stepping over the stones without "wetting" the legs. The game is simple, but perfectly develops coordination of movements in children 3-5 years old.
Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.
4. "Brilliant" basketball
In the conditions of an apartment, entertaining games for children with a ball are not very convenient, but if you replace it with small foil balls, and build a basket from a children's bucket or a cut-off five-liter bottle, you get quite a decent basketball.
The competition can be made more difficult: throw in turn with the left and right hand, count who will have more hits per minute, vary the distance from the player to the basket.
Suitable for age: 5-13 years old.
5. Classics
The good old "jumping" is definitely worth remembering and arranging a game even within an apartment or house. With construction tape on the carpet, “draw” a classic, a round candy box can be used as a “bit”. The main thing is to remember the neighbors below and try not to disturb their peace in the evening.
Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.
6. The fastest turtle
Turning into a turtle is easy! Get on all fours, put a pillow on your back and go to the finish line, so that your "shell" is not lost along the way. You can arrange a competition "Who is faster?" or which of the "turtles" will show the best time.
Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.
7. Insidious ball
Throwing the ball within the apartment is not the safest activity, so you can think of other activities with it. Lie on your stomach opposite each other, put the ball between your heads. Try to stand up while holding the ball with two hands, without the help of hands.
Another option would be to compete, in which case two balls would be required. Get on all fours and, on command, start rolling the ball, touching it with your forehead or nose, without helping with your hands. Whoever crosses the finish line the fastest wins.
Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.
Sports games
It is possible to entertain children at home with games not only for the purpose of entertainment. Motor activity is necessary, especially for a fidget baby. Come up with stories, remember your favorite animals or fairy-tale characters, accompanying interesting stories with movements as the story progresses.
The child will be happy to imitate a bear, jump like a monkey or stretch his neck like a hissing goose. Mobile children's games will allow you to spend all the extra energy that the baby has accumulated, directing it in the right and useful direction.
8. Jumper
Hang balloons from the ceiling at such a distance that the child can reach them only by jumping. Pre-fill them with foam balls, large confetti or other light fillers.
The child's task is to jump up, hitting the ball with his hand, and reach it. You can diversify the game by taking multi-colored balls and placing them at different heights, and then, naming the color, ask them to jump to each of them.
Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.
9. Gulliver and the Lilliputians
This activity is suitable for a group of children. Ask them to stand in a circle and tell them that everyone can imagine themselves both very small and very large, the main thing is to be attentive.
At the command of "Lilliputs!" (as an option for children: dwarfs, kids) children should sit down, at the command “Gulliver!” (or "Giants") - stand up. The most attentive wins the game.
Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.
10. Take off the feathers
The following game will help you run and practice your agility. Divide the children into two teams. One attach several clothespins to clothes. The task is to get rid of the “feathers” by attaching them to the clothes of the second team members. The one who first removes all the "feathers" from himself will win.
Suitable for age: 6-7 years old.
11. Who is faster?
If you need to keep the children company at home, offer them something like a small relay race. From the options for passing the distance, use:
- squatting;
- walking around the room with a balloon without touching it with your hands;
- walking with a bag of beans (or a book) on the head;
- jogging over obstacles (for example, without stepping on spread out pillows or, conversely, jogging on sheets of paper), etc.
Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.
Competitions
Sedentary children's games will also help you out in a situation when children need something to keep them busy, especially since the place or time may not allow active movement. Such an activity requires, albeit minimal, but preparation. And it, as you know, is no less interesting than the process of the game itself.
12. Quiz
Invite the child to be the leader and prepare a competition, say, for a family dinner or tea party when the whole family gathers at the table.
Tell me what questions or riddles to choose, prepare prizes for correct answers, choose the winner, dilute the script with a musical break, turning on karaoke or dance music.
Such quizzes can eventually become thematic and turn into a good family tradition.
Suitable for age: 7-13 years old.
13. Answer within a minute
Prepare a list of simple questions and organize games for the children at home if you have two or more of them.
Offer to try to give as many correct answers to the questions as possible in a minute.
In this way you will train the speed of thinking and the speed of reaction. Select questions from the area of general knowledge or on topics that children know well, as well as in accordance with age.
Suitable for age: 7-15 years old.
Family games for development
Entertaining games can be organized with children at home, using the simplest objects. Thus, you will develop logic, thinking and help your child explore the world. Do not forget that during the game the child learns.
14. Magic Pencils
Colored pencils or felt-tip pens are needed to play. You will repeat the colors and work on the development of observation and imagination in the baby.
Explain that pencils sometimes come to life and can daydream, imagining themselves as other objects. The red one said that he was a strawberry, the green one - a maple leaf, the yellow one introduced himself as the sun.
Invite your child to "voice" different colors of crayons by naming the corresponding objects.
Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.
15. Touch!
Another way to repeat or study colors is this game. The child needs to touch the object of the color that you name.
You can play within the same room, or you can complicate the task and look for a suitable color throughout the apartment. As an option, to train your memory, at the end of the search, ask the child to name the items that he found.
Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.
16. Draw a story
Making up stories is a favorite pastime for many children. But it can be diversified by inviting the baby to draw everything that you are talking about.
A variant of this story: “There was a big house on a green meadow. It had blue walls, a red roof, and gray smoke coming from a black chimney. The yellow sun smiled at the blue sky and blue clouds.
Red flowers grew around the house and multi-colored butterflies fluttered.
You can continue the story, add characters and objects, giving them a description. If the child likes this activity, roles can be reversed. Try to draw on paper everything that your creative child will come up with!
Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.
17. Attention to the picture
Children's favorite books usually contain a large number of pictures. For this game, drawings are suitable, which depict many different objects. You say, “I see something red in this picture. It does not know how to speak (as an option - to walk, ride, no pens, etc.).” The task of the child is to guess the object. Roles can be reversed.
Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.
18. Memory
Game ideas surround you even within the same room, so that with children at home you can develop any thought process even with the help of ordinary toys.
Take a few objects (doll, soft toy, ball, cube, etc.) and arrange them randomly. Ask the child to remember what toys he saw and look away.
Swap them or take one and ask what has changed. Tasks can be complicated when the baby has a little practice.
Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.
19. Didactic games
Suitable for studying mathematical and geometric concepts, natural phenomena and the world around. With the help of pictures cut out from old magazines or printed on a printer, you can help baby animals find their mother (for example, make pairs of chicken-chicken, sheep-lamb, etc.).
Geometric shapes cut out of colored paper will help you repeat colors and practice counting, while circles cut into segments will introduce you to the parts of the whole.
The process of preparing such material will be no less interesting and creative than the lessons themselves.
Suitable for age: 4-8 years old.
Speech games
The development of speech is an important and necessary process. Talk to your child on the way home, in the car, look at the pictures together. Cognitive games can be organized at home with children and in a simple conversation, the main thing is to show a little imagination.
20. Write a story
Some children's games are aimed at the development of imagination, and they should not be neglected. And to begin with, try to come up with a story that will be based on just two words. At the same time, they do not have to be combined in meaning. For example, ask one word from your dad (mother), the second - from your sister (brother). Look what a funny story you can make!
Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.
21. Who and what
By asking simple questions, this game can be played both with a child and with a group of children. Tasks can be as follows:
- Who (what) is swimming?
- Who (what) walks?
- Who's talking?
- What can you eat?
- What can be cooked?
- Who (what) can fly? Etc.
There should be as many answers as possible. If there are many participants, there will be a competition.
Suitable for age: 5-7 years old.
Construction of houses
Needless to say, how children love to build things? Moreover, it does not matter at all whether it is an expensive designer, wooden blocks left after repair, shoe boxes or an umbrella and a blanket - the process is always captivating.
Although, as practice shows, unnecessary boxes or a covered chair usually win in terms of popularity.
- A selection of hotels for families
22. Constructors
In any home there are small Lego parts or a box with wooden towers, arches and blocks of different sizes.
Offer a bored child to build a home for his favorite toy: a little man, a doll, a bear, etc. you can go beyond walls and build simple furniture and celebrate the move.
Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.
23. Cardboard boxes
It happens that shoe boxes have accumulated or a large package of household appliances has appeared. Then the house can be built for dolls (for boys - a garage or parking lot) or for a baby.
Such structures can be pasted over, decorated, filled with furniture - in general, playing with them will captivate young architects and designers for more than one day.
Suitable for age: 6-10 years old.
24. Armchairs, blankets and umbrellas
The good old version of “housing”, inexplicably of interest to all generations of children without exception. A bedspread or a blanket can be put on the table, fixed with books, two chairs can be covered with it, or something similar can be built using an ordinary umbrella.
Fantasy begins to manifest itself instantly, and sofa cushions, blankets and other improvised means are used. True, after such a game you will have to spend some time cleaning.
Suitable for age: 4-8 years old.
Math games
Don't you think that mathematics is a boring science? Wrong opinion. Usually children like to count, add and subtract, play with geometric shapes. The main thing is to interest them and not turn the game into a long annoying task.
- Best resorts for families with children
25. Mathematics in the kitchen
Setting the table is a great way for your little one to practice counting. Ask him to put two forks on the table, bring three cups, take five apples from the basket, or put four cookies on the plate.
Get creative with addition and subtraction using teaspoons, large pasta, or other household tools.
Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.
26. Tasty Numbers
Bake number cookies together. Prepare the dough, let the child roll out the sausages, and you help to add them in the form of numbers.
You can play with them, build pyramids, stack them up and down, and even make simple examples. It's not scary if a couple of signs suddenly disappear imperceptibly - after all, this is a cookie.
Alternatively, math pastries can also be made inedible. Blind such numbers from salt dough, dry and decorate them, and then open them with varnish. Spreading examples from this counting material will be especially nice.
Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.
27. Math ball
The ball can be played even within the same room without damaging neighbors or surrounding furniture. Repeat verbal counting with your child.
When throwing the ball to him, name an example, and he, throwing the ball to you, must say the answer. Depending on age, you can take numbers from the first ten, second or three-digit. The main thing is to have time to count yourself in order to check the correctness of the answer.
The variant of the ball game can be like this.
When throwing the ball to a child, name the number, and in response he must name adjacent numbers (5 more, 10 less, half as much, etc., depending on age and knowledge).
Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.
Interesting games for two children
Children often only need to be prompted to play, and they will perfectly play with each other, mostly without paying attention to the difference in age.
Calm games at home can be very different, the main thing is that they are interesting for children.
28. Wonder Beast
All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. The first player draws a head and folds the sheet so that only the neck is visible.
The second one completes the torso, then again the first one draws the legs (paws, flippers, etc.). Expanding the "picture", the children will see a rather funny creature that you can think of a name for.
Suitable for age: 6-10 years old.
29. Funny stories
A similar activity can be a variant of the game on paper, when children need to play with each other or with adults. The first participant must write two lines from a song, a poem or just two sentences related in meaning, and wrap a sheet of paper, leaving only the last phrase.
The next one writes two of his own lines, connecting them in meaning with the previous phrase, and again wraps the sheet. As a result, the bundle will hide a very curious and, most likely, funny story.
Suitable for age: 8-14 years old.
Role-playing games
Children's games, in which children pretend to be adults, are perhaps the most favorite.
From an early age, a child begins to imitate his parents: lovingly puts his favorite toys to bed, builds a garage, cooks food on a toy stove, or builds a semblance of a real store. Play along with the child or switch roles with him, allowing him to become a mom, dad, salesman or doctor.
30. Shop
There are several variants of this game. You can lay out items on the "counter", set "price tags" and make "money" from cut sheets of paper of different sizes, thereby repeating the count.
Or you can ask the child not to name the product he wants to buy, but only to give him a description. So the game will become a small lesson in the development of speech.
Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.
31. Beauty salon
A role-playing game that captivates absolutely all girls. You can become a model for your child to do hair, make-up, and manicures.
But a doll can also act as a “client” of the salon. At the same time, be sure to discuss the rules of conduct and the culture of communication in the salon.
Suitable for age: 5-7 years old.
32. Construction site
You can organize the activities of both the driver and the builder at the same time by showing your son that a big car can be loaded with blocks, help it get to the construction site, unload the “material” and start building a garage or house.
You can also include a crane, "worker" figures and build more than one object.
Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.
33. Playing Pirates
Build a ship from improvised means, and look for costume parts in the closet - the preparation process will be no less interesting.
Then, armed with binoculars, you can go in search of treasures to uncharted shores. Alternatively, a small toy man can become a pirate, and a ship can be built from a designer. Depends on what the child likes more.
Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.
Unusual home games
Family games at home can become a good tradition that will give your children a lot of warm memories in adult life. In the meantime, they are still small, a little imagination, effort and time will help organize fun games and occupy the leisure of the whole family. Get actively involved in the preparation, do not be lazy, think of what you can play, and you will not notice how you will get carried away yourself.
34. Fantastic patterns
Mix 5 tablespoons of gouache, one of shampoo (dishwashing liquid) and a teaspoon of water. Make a thick foam in the container by blowing into a plastic tube.
Now lightly touch the colored bubbles with a piece of paper. See how the prints turn out, and paint an abstract picture, following your imagination.
Suitable for age: 5-12 years old.
35. Cheerful quest
This activity can be prepared for a birthday or for a group of friends, or you can just please your child with an exciting activity. And if the treasure hunter is interested in the search process, then, believe me, the preparation process will be no less fascinated.
Hide a small gift or sweet prize (there may be more than one) at home and write step-by-step instructions on how to find it.
You can place notes with clues in the most unusual places, the main thing is that each previous one should be the key to finding the next one and eventually lead to the main “treasure”.
Suitable for age: 6-12 years old.
Music games
Every child has favorite songs, regardless of age. You can just dance, learn new moves or prepare a dance as a gift.
Joint games of children at home unite, and music will help recharge with positive and good mood.
36. Leg, leg!
Have you ever danced with your neck? What about a nose or a finger? Well, there is a great opportunity to try! Turn on your favorite tune and start with simple movements.
Ask the children to dance with only their hands or only their feet. Then move on to more difficult tasks: dance only with your elbow or finger. And don't forget: you, too, must be actively involved in the game.
37. Get rid of the balls
For this game you will need a low stretched volleyball net. But as an option, any dividing line in the house is also suitable. Inflate 6 - 10 balloons, depending on the number of players.
The task of two teams (they can have from 1 to 3-4 participants), having received the balls equally, transfer them to the opponent's side.
The game starts when the music is turned on and stops when the music is turned off. Whichever side has fewer balls at that moment wins.
Water games
Children love to splash in the water, bathe and pour water from container to container.
If you decide to use water as a play area, be prepared for the environment to be wet and your baby's clothes and shoes to become wet. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that at the end of the game you will need to completely change your clothes.
- Best Family Fun
38. Catch, fish!
Prepare a bowl or bowl of water, take a few small items and put them directly into the water. These can be balls, small figures, chestnuts, etc.
Invite the child to catch the “fish” with his hands, a spoon, a small net (a small kitchen sieve can act as this), and then carefully place them in a nearby container.
Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.
39. SpongeBob
Tell your child that a sponge can absorb water and show how it works.
Prepare two containers, fill one of them with water. Try transferring water from one container to another with a sponge, filling it up and then squeezing it out.
Suitable for age: 3-4 years.
40. Catch the ball!
When your baby goes for a bath, drop about ten lightly inflated balloons into the bath with him.
They will funny jump out from under the water, float like boats if you blow on them, and will be a wonderful field for experiments of a little researcher.
Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.
Interesting games
What other games are there for children at home? Choose according to the mood and preference of the child.
They can be active or calm, with a lot of additional materials or in the form of a conversation, but in any case they should be interesting to the child.
As practice shows, games without a phone can also captivate and interest a child.
41. Guess what it is
We explore the world around us with the help of the senses, and touch plays an important role in this. Therefore, it will be useful for a child to mentally create images of things without seeing them, but only by touching them.
Place several objects in a basket or container out of sight, then give one to each child's hands while blindfolded (or simply cover them).
Let the baby try to guess what he is holding in his hands, examining the object only with his fingers. Tell me if the child is not coping.
Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.
42. Unusual book
Games and activities with children at home can be remembered not only as an interesting pastime with parents, but also as an interesting craft that has been preserved for many years. You can make a book with your child about himself.
Collect photographs, magazine clippings, interesting small items.
They can be glued onto thick sheets of paper and write a story together.
Have your child write the first letter in this book, make the first drawing, circle their pen, or paste a picture they like. After many years, such a craft will evoke very fond memories.
Alternatively, you can make a fairy tale book by inventing a story and decorating it with applications and drawings. The process will take more than one evening and, most likely, will interest the child for a long time.
Suitable for age: 4-10 years old.
Advice to parents
When spending time with your child, do not be afraid to show your imagination, use any household items for play, talk about the world around you, let the baby try on different roles, dance, jump, get his hands dirty in paint or wet clothes with water. So he learns the world, develops and grows.
Remember that your participation in the gameplay is important, but only as a partner, less so as a mentor.
Take a break from everyday activities, spend more time making cookies or cleaning, but do it together with your child while playing.
- Things to do with kids at home: 35 fun ideas for fun
A wise Polish proverb says: "You have a whole life to work, and children will be small only once." Use this time as much as possible, and the useful habit of seeing a friend in a parent will remain forever.
We hope that our advice will be useful to you in organizing your leisure time, and you will always find something to captivate your child at home.
Educational games for 3-4 year olds with parents at home
For a 3-4 year old child, play is the main way to interact with the world. In the game process, the child develops logic and thinking, trains memory, expands communication skills, and strengthens physically. We have collected games that will appeal to both the baby and his parents, because they will be not only fun and interesting, but also useful.
Article content:
- Outdoor games
- Educational games
- Educational games
- Tips for parents
- Terminals
Outdoor games
Active games are aimed primarily at physical development. The kid improves coordination, attention, endurance. Regular activity strengthens the immune system and is the best prevention of diseases. Find out what you can play with your child at home or on the street.
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Keeping balance. The parent lays out a rope or a long rope (such as a linen rope) on the floor. The child should walk along it, spreading his arms to the sides. The game can be made more difficult. For example, a child can carry a glass of water in his hands (of course, plastic) or hold a small book on his head.
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Collecting flowers. For this game, you will need several squares of colored paper, as well as a path, which can also be made from paper or, for example, a long scarf.
The track is placed on the floor, pieces of multi-colored paper are scattered around it. We imagine that we are walking along a path, on both sides of which flowers grow. The facilitator (parent) periodically says how many and what flowers need to be collected. For example, 3 yellow or 5 red. The child stops and collects the right flowers. This game not only teaches coordination, but also distinguishes colors and recognizes numbers. -
Sly fox. A mobile game that children love very much. It is more interesting to play it when there are many participants, but you can also play it together. The participants stand in a line, and the leader moves a few meters away and turns his back. The task of the player is to reach the leader. But you can only go when he is not looking! And when the leader turned, the participant must freeze, or they will have to go to the start.
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Traffic light. For this game, you need to prepare red, yellow and green circles that can be made from colored paper.
Each color represents a specific action. For example, the host shows a green circle - the child is running, yellow - jumping on 1 leg, red - crouching, etc. The game can be started with three signals, but when the baby remembers them, complicate and add new ones.
Educational games
All games are educational for a child. But adults by developing games usually mean those that are aimed at studying any objects, phenomena. Such games develop intelligence, broaden horizons, improve memory, attention and speech.
On the development of motor skills
The development of fine motor skills directly affects the formation of speech, self-service skills, thinking, memory. At home, you can use various household items for games: buttons, clothespins, colored pasta, pencils, etc. On the street you can take cones, chestnuts, sticks. Consider several options for games for the development of motor skills.
- Piggy bank.
Let's take 2 cans. Pour beans into one of them, and leave the other empty. A cover with a small slot is put on the second. The task of the child is to shift the beans from one jar to another. Alternatively, you can use the steam container from the multicooker (with small round holes). You can put pasta in them. - Drawing with groats. PVA glue is applied to a sheet of paper, cereals are poured on top in a certain order. You can use semolina, wheat groats, buckwheat to create multi-colored patterns.
- Beads. The child is given a fishing line on which objects must be strung. It can be beads, buttons and even drying. Objects should not be too small, otherwise it will be difficult for the child to cope with them.
- Flower. Cut out a circle from paper - this will be the base of the flower. We will give the child colorful clothespins. He should attach them in a circle as if they were flower petals. In parallel, you can memorize colors and lay them out in a certain sequence.
For the development of logic
Logical connections are a very important part in the development of a child's thinking. To understand why and why, simple and exciting tasks will help.
- Find the extra. For this educational game, you will need special cards or sheets that can be found on the Internet and printed. The task for this age usually contains four simple subjects, one of which does not fit into the group for a certain reason. These can be color, shape, skills (for example, flies - does not fly), the purpose of the object (clothes, dishes, etc.) and other signs. It is important to allow the child to think independently.
- Divide into groups. A similar task, but here you need to select from the abundance of objects those that belong to a certain group. For example, vegetables, fruits, pets, toys, etc.
- Say the opposite. A child at 4 years old already understands what antonyms are, that is, words with the opposite meaning.
The parent says "hot" - the child answers "cold", etc. Use understandable words: quiet-loud, white-black, sad-cheerful, deep-shallow, wet-dry. - Who needs what. This game requires a ball. The facilitator says the profession, for example, "doctor", and throws the ball to the child. He must answer what the doctor may need (thermometer, syringe, white coat) and throw the ball back.
For the development of speech
It is important to develop speech from birth. Talking even with a baby who is still silent seems strange, but in fact it is an investment in his future. Often, already studying at school, children cannot connect several sentences into a logical text, retell what they read, or talk about some event. To prevent this from happening, at 3-4 years old you can offer such home games with children.
- Describe the item. For this game, you need to collect several toys and put them in a box. The child takes out a toy and describes it.
For example, the girl took out a doll. She can tell what size the doll is, what color her eyes and hair are, what clothes she is wearing, and come up with a name for the doll. - Tell me from the picture. For this game, you will need an illustration of some popular fairy tale (again, you can find it on the Internet and print it out, or just show it on the screen). The child must tell what he sees in the picture, what happened first and what happened later, how the story ended.
- Everything is messed up. For this game, you can take the plot of a fairy tale that the child knows well. In telling it, you need to make mistakes. For example, the animals did not let the fox into Teremok, or Little Red Riding Hood went not to her grandmother, but to her friend. The kid must understand what is wrong in the fairy tale. You can dream up and compose your own fairy tale, in which the end will be different.
Educational games
At the age of 3, you can already introduce your child to letters and numbers.
The number is average, sometimes more developed children show interest in letters even at 2 years old. But there is no need to rush and force the baby to study - this will only discourage the desire to learn new things.
For learning to read and write
A popular technique for learning letters is to hang cards in different places in the apartment/room. And you can do this without even waiting for the age of three. Cards with letters should be bright, arouse the interest of the child. If the baby does not ask what kind of letter it is, you should sometimes pronounce them on your own. You can hang a card with a letter on an object that begins with it. For example, hang the letter L on a chandelier, and the letter T on a TV. Periodically, cards need to be changed, outweighed in other places.
The following ideas are useful for learning about letters.
- Application. Cut out large letters from paper. For decoration, you can use cereals (motor development!), Cotton wool, fabric, beads, sparkles - whatever you like.
When decorating a letter, be sure to pronounce it many times so that the baby remembers what it is called. - Find the letter. Print the letter in several copies. Keep one for yourself, hide the rest in the children's room. Show the child a picture with a letter: "This is the letter O. Find 3 more such letters." At the same time, the letters should be hidden so that they are not difficult to find, you can give the baby hints.
- What's in common? Place items (or images of items) that begin with the same letter in a bag. The child must take them out and pronounce the names aloud, and then guess which letter was guessed.
When the child knows all the letters of the alphabet, you can move on to the study of syllables and words. To do this, write syllables or simple words of 3 letters on cardboard squares. These will be houses. Then take small toys, for example, from kinder surprises, and find a house for each toy. At the same time, pronounce: the horse lives in the “MA” house, the squirrel lives in the “CO” house, the bunny’s house is called “KY”, etc.
For teaching mathematics
Educational games with numbers are the basis for learning mathematics for a child of 3-4 years old. They teach not only to memorize numbers, but also to compare, solve simple problems.
- Construction site. This game is suitable for both boys and girls. Build a brick house with your child. In this case, you need to determine how many floors there will be in the house, and how many apartments (cubes) on each floor. For example, on the 1st floor - 4 cubes, on the second - 3. To complicate it, you can take cubes of different colors and give tasks not only with numbers, but also with color (2 yellow cubes for the third floor).
- Engine. Make cards with numbers from 1 to 10 and invite your child to make a train out of them. Only for this you need to arrange all the cards in order, from 1 to 10. If everything is done correctly, the train will go on a journey.
- Count the candies.
Take two dolls (bears) and put them at the table to drink tea with sweets. Give one doll 2 candies, and the other 3. You can ask: "who has more candies", "how many candies do two dolls have in total." Then more dolls can come to visit, while the hostess will have to share the sweets equally among everyone. This game teaches not only to count, but also to think logically. - One-many. Play a mindfulness game. You can ask the child: “What items are many in the room? And what subject is one? For example, in the kitchen there are many plates, but there is only one table.
Tips for parents
In conclusion of the article, we will give some important recommendations.
- For a kid, the game process itself, the action, and not the final result, is important. You should not be upset and even more so scold the child if the elephant you made looks more like a snowman.
- The rules of the game should be simple and clear.
At the same time, it is necessary to leave room for creative improvisation. It develops imagination and initiative. - Not all games may appeal to a child. You need to feel the mood of the crumbs and, if necessary, stop the game.
- Exercise regularly with your child. Try to set aside at least 15 minutes a day for joint activities.
Conclusions
Games at home with children are interesting and cool, but there is not always time and ideas for this. In order not to deprive the child of the opportunity to fully develop, you can take him to a specialized children's center or kindergarten "Baby Club", where the child will receive the necessary skills in a playful way and will develop all types of intelligence. Specially equipped and safe rooms for classes are suitable for children of different ages: from 8 months to 7 years. Professional educators support the natural curiosity of children, directing it in the right direction.
