Home » Misc » Things for 5 year olds to do

Things for 5 year olds to do


Fun learning activities for 5-6-year-olds

 

Your child will probably have started synthetic phonic activities at school so finding time to enjoy playing with letters and sounds in games at home will really help them with that.

Other activities can help your little ones to develop key skills such as speaking, listening and numeracy. If you’re not sure what your child’s doing in school, you can find out more about it in our school section and click on their year group to disover more.

We’ve pulled together our top five ideas here and hope you’ll have fun testing them out!

 

1. Rhyming games

  • Listen to and join in with rhyming stories, like Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo.
  • Play rhyming games, or sing an action rhyme.
  • Make silly rhyming jokes. For example: What do you call a smelly elephant? A smellyphant! What do you call an elephant watching TV? A tellyphant!

2. Phonic games

  • Play snap or bingo with letters and sounds. Write letters on pieces of papers or cards, to create homemade flashcards. Make two for each letter. Use them to play snap. You could also create a bingo card with eight boxes – each one containing a letter. Put the flashcards into a pile, facing down and take it in turns to be the bingo caller.
  • Play phonics fishing! Use homemade letter flashcards, add a paperclip to each, tie a magnet to some string and a stick and ask your child to ‘fish’ for a particular sound.
  • Play ‘I spy’ games (for example, ‘I spy something beginning with a…’, using the letter sound) when you are out and about. For help with letter sounds, take a look at our sound chart.

Activity: Vowel sounds

Practise phonics by matching the pictures to the vowel sounds.

Activity: Phonics guidance

Learn how to say all the phonics sounds (phonemes) and letters.

3. Memory games

  • Play ‘Kim’s game’. Put a few items on a tray (for example, a crayon, an apple, a building brick, a toy car). Then look, cover, remember and check!
  • Talk about, photograph or write out some ‘events’ from something you have done together – can your child remember the correct order?
  • Go shopping – try to remember the list together!

4. Listening games

  • Play games such as ‘Simon says’ – party games are often good ways to practice speaking, listening, and memory skills, without them even noticing!
  • Listen to music and talk about the instruments being played – find pictures on the internet together.

5. Action games

  • Make a puppet theatre with cardboard boxes or a towel over a chair and encourage your child to make up or retell a story to you (or any willing family members!).
  • Have lots of fun dressing up with clothes and props at home so that your child can dress up as a character and act out favourite stories. You can find lots of cheap props and clothes for dressing up in charity shops.
  • Play games such as ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’, but write the times down for them to read instead of saying them.

6. Tactile games

  • Use magnetic letters to spell names and simple words on the fridge or radiator.
  • Use modelling clay to make your child’s name or simple words like mum.
  • Enjoy jigsaws together and chat about finding the right pieces!

7. Screen games

  • Watch TV programmes linked to books and then read the books afterwards. Little Princess, Katie Morag, and Charlie and Lola are good places to start. Talk about what they like or don’t like about the characters.
  • Find story-telling sites like Little Kingdom, story-telling TV programmes, or story apps for your phone.

8. Car journey games

  • Play ‘The cook’s cat is an amazing cat/beautiful cat/clever cat/daft cat…‘ and so on, and then make up your own versions (for example, ‘The doctor’s dog…‘).
  • Play this noisy version of the car game, ‘Who can spot…?’. It’s great fun – but check out with the driver first before you start this one! Decide on a noise, or a word to call, when you spot the things you’re looking out for. For example, ‘Bang!’ for a yellow car, ‘Buzzz!’ for a bus, and ‘Wow!’ for a bird.
  • Listen to an audiobook.

Video: Car journey games

Get ideas for fun and educational car games for kids! Educational author and parent Isabel Thomas shares her ideas to relieve the boredom of long car journeys.

9. Out and about activities

  • Ask your child to find the things you need to buy when out shopping by reading the labels on products together.
  • Check out your local library or community centre to find out what special activities or clubs are running.
  • Try to do a few visits or find some information together to link with the topic or project work at school.

10. Reading books of all kinds together

  • Carry on reading books of all kinds to and with your child: picture, pop up, information, poetry, eBooks, print books… and the levelled books brought home from school. Video or record your child reading them for fun!
  • Why not choose a book from our free eBook library to share on-screen together?

101 awesome activities for kids ages 5 to 8

What can we help you find? ArrowLeftRed SearchRed SearchClose

Back

These activities for 5-year-olds and older are perfect for staving off boredom.

Do you struggle with thinking of fun activities to keep your child entertained on the weekends and after school? You’re not alone! It can certainly be difficult to come up with unique activities for kids. And although it might be easy to just pop in a movie or allow your little one to play games on the tablet, psychologist and play expert Dr. Jacqueline Chinappi, of South University in Savannah, Georgia, urges you to remember that too much screen time can contribute to behavioral problems, obesity and attention issues.

In today’s digital world, this is a growing concern. In fact, according to Dr. Anne Fishel, of the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, children around 8 years old at times have up to 11 hours of screen time per day.

Help your little one exercise their mind and body by trying out these 101 fun activities for 5- to 8-year-olds.

  1. Make a batch of homemade play dough.
  2. Go on a nature walk and collect leaves or rocks.
  3. Move the furniture around so your little gymnast can practice their tumbles.
  4. Play “Go Fish.”
  5. Make a fort out of blankets and pillows.
  6. Plant flowers in the garden.
  7. Camp out in the backyard.
  8. Read a classic children’s book out loud together.
  1. Learn to ride a bike.
  2. Go berry picking.
  3. Bake a pie using your freshly picked berries.
  4. Grab some binoculars and go birdwatching.
  5. Learn how to play the recorder.
  6. Make sock puppets.
  7. Press flowers and put them in a scrapbook.
  8. Build a model airplane.
  1. Learn how to knit.
  2. Visit your local zoo.
  3. Visit a farmers’ market.
  4. Play dress-up.
  5. Learn how to braid hair.
  6. Grab some chalk and decorate the sidewalk.
  7. Have an outdoor picnic.
  8. Observe insects through a magnifying glass.
  1. Is it raining? Have a picnic indoors instead!
  2. Visit animals at a pet store. (Just try not to bring them all home!)
  3. Make a map of your house or apartment.
  4. Learn how to jump rope.
  5. Make a guitar out of a box and rubber bands.
  6. Visit your neighbors.
  7. Bake brownies.
  8. Pop some popcorn, and snuggle up to watch some home movies.
  1. Plant a vegetable garden.
  2. Build a snowman.
  3. Have a snowball fight.
  4. Make a pizza with all your favorite toppings.
  5. Visit a pumpkin patch.
  6. Make friendship bracelets.
  7. Turn a pine cone into a bird feeder by adding some peanut butter and birdseed.
  8. Learn a magic trick.
  1. Cut out homemade paper dolls.
  2. Play freeze tag.
  3. Play “Simon Says.”
  4. Interview a grandparent.
  5. Get out a bag of hair ties and create some fun hairdos.
  6. Go to the library.
  7. Go on a hike.
  8. Build a sandcastle.
  1. Have a tea party with real tea and snacks.
  2. Cut out pictures from magazines to make a collage.
  3. Play “Red Light/Green Light.”
  4. Color!
  5. Write an original song.
  6. Take turns drawing each other’s portraits.
  7. Paint each other’s fingernails.
  8. Play “Hide-and-Seek.”
  1. Teach your dog or cat how to do some tricks.
  2. Make your own bubble solution.
  3. Lay out an ice cream sundae bar.
  4. Play “Follow the Leader.”
  5. Tie-dye T-shirts.
  6. Have a fashion show.
  7. Feed ducks at a local pond or lake.
  8. Make shadow puppets on the wall.
  1. Play a board game.
  2. Turn craft foam into bath floats.
  3. Make pinch pots out of air-dry clay.
  4. Slice apples and turn them into paint stamps.
  5. Turn your living room into a winter wonderland with toilet paper, cotton balls and pillows.
  6. Break out your makeup and let your child give you a new look.
  7. Put on a play.
  8. Do a word search.
  9. Visit a local farm.
  10. Run through a sprinkler.
  1. Make nature crafts.
  2. Learn how to hula hoop.
  3. Make muffin tin crayons.
  4. Cut snowflakes out of paper.
  5. Play mini golf.
  6. Make hot chocolate.
  7. Lie down in your backyard, and talk about the shapes you see in the clouds.
  8. Create a secret handshake.
  9. Go fishing.
  10. Put together a puzzle.
  1. Play musical chairs.
  2. Learn how to do a cartwheel.
  3. Make rainbow foam.
  4. Create a paper chain with colorful construction paper.
  5. Learn how to play checkers.
  6. Make a drum out of an oatmeal container.
  7. Visit a science museum.
  8. Learn a new language.
  9. Make leaf and tree rubbings with paper and crayons.
  10. Catch fireflies.
  1. Go for a drive with no destination.
  2. Make a sundial out of paper plates.
  3. Play “Duck, Duck, Goose.”
  4. Build a dream house out of Legos.
  5. Have your child write a letter to her favorite book character.
  6. Do a crossword puzzle.
  7. Find rocks outside and paint them.

Like what you're reading?

Join Care for FREE

Email

Please enter a valid email address

Click 'Next' to start an account and get tips, tricks and trending stories.

Already Registered

The email address you entered is already registered. Would you like to log in?

Log in

Almost done!

Join Care for FREE

Create a free account to access our nation wide network of background checked caregivers.

First Name

Please enter first name

Last Name

Please enter last name

Zip Code

Please enter a valid zip code

By clicking "Join now," you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Welcome to Care!

You're on your way to finding someone your family will love.

Start now

What to do with a child at 5 years old at home. Simple games for development with a child of 5 years old

Holidays, weekends, colds and just evening leisure - you are so often alone with your child that it seems that all ideas for joint activities have been exhausted. Well, what else to do with a 5-year-old at home? To your attention - a selection of ideas that will help you have fun and usefully spend time together.

Idea 1

Create a daily schedule. In addition to working with a child at 5 years old, parents need to cope with other household chores. A huge benefit of being 5 years old is that now you can explain it. If your home vacation is going to be long, create a colorful schedule that includes hours for co-working, household chores, gadgets, and time for independent play. With the help of a felt-tip pen / stickers, the child will be able to control his day himself and he will not have to re-adapt to the regime after entering kindergarten.

When developing such a plan, consider age characteristics - it is difficult for your 5-year-old to concentrate on something for more than 30 minutes, especially if he is overactive.

Don't forget to stick to your own schedule! And you can buy ready-made bright templates in bookstores, stationery or toys.

Idea 2

Board games will allow you to relax, and your child will calm down after an active holiday or be distracted if he is sick and weak.

What board games can you use?

  • Walkers with dice and tokens.
  • Puzzles - for this age it is better to choose not very small pieces, within 30-60 pieces.
  • Quest games.
  • Table basketball, tennis, etc.

Idea 3

Water games. Children love these activities at 5 years old! You can realize an interesting plot not only while swimming, but also in an inflatable pool (if you live in a private house) or a small tank.

What can be done?

  • Make a car wash or a pool for toys - paint them, then wash them.
  • To catch fish with a line.
  • Play with cars that change color in hot and cold water.
  • Paint targets on the tiles in the bathroom, shoot them with a water gun.

Many children love water and will come up with lots of ideas for games. If you are doing water experiments at home, find a place where there is no laminate flooring.

Idea 4

Educational platforms. Whether we like it or not, kids love gadgets. The use of educational platforms for preschoolers makes this type of leisure at least useful.

Choose a platform for children aged 5, register and complete developmental tasks together. You can find paid, free and shareware (limited access to free content) resources. It will be fun and educational for both of you!

Idea 5

Learning songs, poems, preparing gifts. Remember what family holidays are waiting for you ahead? Or maybe it's time to start giving them just like that?

Staying at home is a great opportunity to take care of preparing nice presents for loved ones. You can make stained-glass windows, crafts, blanks for which are easy to find in stores, learn songs, poems, record it on video and send it to those who are far away now. Relatives - it's nice, and the child - the development of communication skills!

Idea 6

Household games. Do you need to cook, wash, clean the house, and at this time the child toils and does not know what to do with himself?

The situation is solvable, and here are some ideas you can offer.

  • Cooking together. Children are happy to cook from everything that is in the kitchen - “cook” porridge from raw oatmeal, soups with what is in the refrigerator. You can give the child flour, water, and under your guidance, he will make a small piece of dough. And you can give the task to color the pasta, from which you can then make beads.
  • When doing laundry, you can also give your child a number of small tasks - put your clothes in the washing machine, rinse the T-shirt.
  • When cleaning, tasks for a child may include dusting, cleaning toys. You can wash mirrors together, wipe the table.

If the baby asks you to play with him, you can find a compromise - voice the characters of his game, while doing your own thing.

Such games not only allow you to spend more time together, but also discipline the child.

What if you need to work remotely if the child is at home? Yes, here, the situation is more complicated, because it is impossible to take a child at the age of 5 for the whole day ...

Contact us, a professional agency for the selection of domestic staff Helper Agent. We will find a reliable nanny who professionally organizes children's leisure. We work in Moscow, Khimki and Kurkino. More than 3000 profiles of professional specialists with positive reviews and recommendations in the database. We can be trusted with the most valuable things. Just leave a request!

Share advice with friends

18 ideas on what to do with a child under 6

33640

0

Nazarok Yana

27 March

As many already know, the quarantine in Ukraine has been extended. But we do not lose heart, because this is a great time to pay attention to yourself and loved ones. It is important to remember about simple methods of preventing coronavirus.

The current death rate from the virus worldwide is:

Coronavirus death rate by age
0-9 months 0%
10-39 years old 0. 2%
40-49 years old 0.4%
50-59 years old 1.3%
60-69 years old 3.6%
70-79 years old 8.0%
over 80 14.8%

Data source : Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. These findings are based on 72,314 cases.

Previously, we have already told about boring activities for children in quarantine and interesting activities for schoolchildren. In continuation of the theme, we decided to add 26 games and activities for the child. As before, we do not include boring options. Some of the entertainment will suit even the most inveterate fidgets.

Let's immediately pay attention that the games are suitable both for one child and for families with several children.

1. Sumo. This game will be very popular with sports and active kids. Take a large t-shirt or sweater. Surely there will be clothes that you no longer plan to wear. Fill it with cotton wool, synthetic winterizer or other soft material. You can use soft toys or pillows. The more voluminous the fighters are, the safer the duel will be.

2. Drawing. Ideas for creative kids who have already managed to paint everything and everywhere. Surprise them, invite them to draw on the products. For example: a painted rainbow sandwich. All you need is bread, condensed milk and food coloring. The second option: colored rice. For it you will need: rice, vinegar, food coloring and clean bags. Put a handful of rice in a bag, add food coloring to it, tie it tightly. It will be interesting for the child to watch the process of dyeing rice, and mixing colors. At the end, you can dry the rice, and use it for school crafts in the future.

3. DIY slime. Recently, children are very fond of playing with masses for modeling and slimes. It can be made at home, and the child will play with it for a very long time. For the manufacture of mass for modeling: PVA glue (240 ml), sodium borate 1 teaspoon (borax), water and food coloring. It is necessary to mix water and glue in the toe and add a couple of drops of dye. The drill must be dissolved in half a glass of warm water, and add the resulting solution to your multi-colored glue. At this point, you need to mix the mass well. Wait until it thickens and starts to stretch. Knead it like dough, and after a couple of minutes you have a modeling solution in your hands.

4. Board games with cookies. Is your child interested in board games? Make the game even more interesting by adding small rewards. It does not have to be cookies or sweets, they can be replaced with nuts for example.

5. Barbie house. If you have a girl who loves to play with dolls, help her build a little mansion. There are a lot of variations. The simplest option will be a house for dolls from boxes. If you want a more sophisticated option - papier-mâché. Put all the boxes and start wrapping them with newsprint. Wait until it dries well. Pull out of the newspaper, then a flight of fancy. Suitable for: wallpaper, scrapbooking paper or even watercolors.

6. Masking tape and plastic ball. Active games in the apartment, without pogrom - it is possible. Masking tape, which is easy to peel off and does not leave marks, will be an excellent material for marking an impromptu field. Or even just stick a field for the classics.

7. Straw products. The child loves the designer? Then he will definitely like a simple invention of three pieces of paper and one straw for cocktails. Cut out pieces of thick paper 2.5 × 12.5 cm. Connect the pieces of paper and the tube together with adhesive tape. From the small piece of paper that is left, you need to make a circle. Launch with the third ring forward.

Second variant: craft for creative children “reed pipes”. Take 6-8 plastic tubes, cut and glue with adhesive tape. A fun tool that will captivate the child for a long time.

8. Soap - air cloud. It is very easy to make this experience at home. Place the soap in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The result can be crushed into a blender for small crafts, or painted and laid out in molds.

9. Safety slingshot. For little fidgets, this will be a safe and very exciting toy. For her, you will need a plastic cup and a balloon. Cut the cup in half, do not inflate the balloon, but simply tie its end. As a "cartridge" you can use cotton balls.

10. Drawings - stickers. Everything ingenious is simple. Give your child self-adhesive paper. At the end, if you cut the drawings, you get small stickers.

11. Ropeway. Stretch the elastic between furniture, doors, furniture legs. Hang a hanger, put a soft toy on it. The impromptu cable car is ready.

12. Speed ​​games. Take Chinese sticks and sprinkle sweets, small marshmallows or nuts on the table. The task is to collect food with Chinese chopsticks as quickly as possible. Or who will build the highest tower out of coins or cups?

13. Bracelet made of wood and paper tape. This task is best done with parents. You will need: water, a wide mug, wooden ice cream sticks, multi-colored paper tape or colored paper, an awl, twine or thick thread. Put wooden sticks in water to soften them. Please note that this may take several days. When it becomes soft, roll into a circle and put in a cup. When the tree dries, start decorating the wooden bracelet.

14. "Fenki" or colorful bracelets made of thread. You need threads or laces, the more colors the better. If the child already knows how to weave pigtails, such a bracelet will definitely like it.

15. Drawing. Another option for a child who loves to draw. Take a zip bag, pour some shower gel into it and add dye there. And the child is happy, and cleanliness.

16. Balloon experiment. Pour a spoonful of soda into the bowl, and pour vinegar into an empty bottle. Put the ball on the neck of the bottle and secure. Gradually pour the baking soda out of the bowl. As a result, the balloon will gradually inflate.

17. Homemade ice cream. All children love ice cream. Try making banana ice cream with your child. Cut the banana into thin slices and place in the freezer. When the pieces are frozen, pull them out and put them in a blender. Beat until thick. You can then put it back in the freezer.

18. Dinosaur in a shell. Children love dinosaurs very much. Surprise the child and put the dinosaur into the balloon. Fill with colored water. Put the ball in the freezer. When the water freezes, call the kids to dig.

19. Paper crafts. Kids will love this paper craft idea. On the Internet you can find different crafts for different ages. In addition to being interesting for the child, it also develops fine motor skills.

The conclusion is very simple, use quarantine to spend more time with your child.

Learn more