Things to do with a 3yr old
75 Everyday Activities For 3 Year Olds
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What are your favorite activities for 3 year olds? These simple activities aren’t just for 3 year olds, they are great activities and preschool learning games for older kids too! Don’t miss my new book Everyday Preschool, it’s the best book for parents who want to make sure their child is learning every day.
Finding the right activities for 3 year olds should be easy… but it isn’t. This summer my daughter and I have had a lot of time to play. Extra time in fact because she decided when she turned 3 to give up naps. With her brother home from school for the summer, my attempts at forcing the issue have been met with refusal. I am going to try again in a month when her brother returns to school but in the meantime, she has quiet time, earlier bedtimes and lots of simple activities like these peppered throughout the day. For more specific games for 3 year olds check out our post here with our favorites!
If you have a younger child check out our similar list of 75 TV Free Activities For Toddlers. These 3 year old activities have been the bulk of what we’ve done this summer. Big projects are fun but day in and day out this is what we do.
This post contains affiliate links.
Fun Activities for 3 year olds
- Playdough sculptures with dry spaghetti.
- Fill a table with books and read, read, read.
- Doodle with smelly markers on cardboard from your recycle bin.
- Play doctor with dolls.
- Take a walk and hunt for colors.
- Play with puzzles.
- Look at family photos together.
- Create with peel and stick jewels.
- Read through catalogs.
- Build a fort.
- Play eye spy with a favorite book.
- Eat lunch outside.
- Play in a box.
- Paint with watercolors.
- Play with stickers.
- Play sports in the yard.
- Play-Doh and sequins.
- Play The Cupcake Game.
- Play Simon Says.
- Make a balance beam out of painter’s tape and walk it!
- Play in a kiddie pool.
- Color with Color Wonder markers and coloring sheets.
- Water some plants
- Play with Magic Nuudles.
- Play with Play-Doh and Duplo together.
What are some easy things to do with a 3 year old? Keep reading!
- Play with a light table ( easy DIY here ).
- Play with cold cooked spaghetti.
- Cook together.
- Play with water, rice, beans, gravel, etc… in your water table .
- Play with the hose.
- Dress up some dolls.
- Take silly pictures together.
- Play hide and seek.
- Cuddle.
- Play with stamps.
- Make some window clings .
- Paint your toenails with kid-safe nail polish.
- Run Through the sprinkler.
- Write in a journal with markers, stamps, and crayons.
- Go to the beach.
- Learn about emotions with Mr. Potato Head.
- Go to the library.
- Read with a sibling.
- Call Grandma ( or Aunty, Uncle… you get the picture.
) - Help clean.
- Play dentist with dolls.
- Finger paint.
- Draw with chalk on black construction paper.
- Go to a local elementary school and play at the playground.
What are the best activities for 3 year old ?
- Play dress-up.
- Take markers and paint onto the porch for art outside.
- Duplo
- Play School
- Mix sidewalk chalk and other toys for pretend play outside.
- Bubbles.
- Scrap paper collages. All you need is some paper and glue!
- Hunt for magnets with a magnetic wand in a bowl of uncooked oatmeal or rice.
- Jump in puddles. I don’t know of a better activity for a 3 year old than this one!
- Build a tower out of recycling.
- Wash the car.
- Backyard nature hunt. Tape painter’s tape sticky side out on a window or wall and have your child stick what they find on it.
- Take some pictures.
- Have a tea party.
- Practice cutting with playdough!
- Make a ramp with cardboard and drive matchbox cars down it.
- Read books outside.
- Play-Doh with pipe cleaners.
- Wash push cars, scooters, and bikes.
- Go for a hike.
- Play with Play-doh and egg molds.
- Play airplane or train with your kitchen chairs.
- Wash windows with water and vinegar.
- Turn snack bars into shapes and practice using a knife at the same time.
- Play alone. Yes, it’s more than OK, it’s awesome to let kids play alone. Let your 3 year old think up their own activities. We don’t need to entertain them 24/7 !
What is your family’s favorite everyday activity? Not listed? Add it in the comments and tell us why your kids love it!
Need more activities to do with 3 year olds?
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Filed Under: 75 activities for 3 year olds, Age Preschool, Age: Toddlers, Preschool Activities | 75 Comments
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50+ Easy Things To Do At Home with Your 3 Year Old
What To Do at Home with Your 3 Year Old
Being at home with a 3 year old can be hard when you are not prepared.
Most pediatric guidelines recommend less than 1 hour of screen time a day. So what on earth do you do the 4-5 hours you may have at home with them?!?
To help you get through your day I have come up with a list of 50+ fun and easy things you can do throughout the day with them.
Most of these items do not require any preparation and use items you already most likely have in your home. The clean up for most of these activities is nothing or very minimal.
How To Use This List
Obviously you aren’t going to do everything on this list. So go through the list, choose about 10-15 things you think your preschooler would like to do.
Chances are there will be a few they will like more than others. So it’s a good idea to go armed with several activities in case one falls through.
Ready? Let’s get started!
50+ Things To Do at Home with your 3 year old
1. Finger painting with water on cardboard.
2. Cut junk mail with scissors.
3. Foil Puzzle Presents.
4. Melt ice with warm water and eye dropper or turkey baster.
5. See how much water a diaper or pull-up can hold.
6. Use eye dropper to decorate a diaper or pull up with coloured water.
7. Tear a sheet into small squares. Draw on them. And then glue them together onto another sheet.
8. Play restaurant.
9. Place plastic wrap around a bowl using an elastic band and let them poke holes in it with their fingers.
10. Place a cardboard tube on their arm and use it to hit a balloon like a bat.
11. Fill sink with water and give them some large beads to put in the water.
12. Fill sink with water and add pom poms.
13. Fill sink with water and bubbles and add a few non-bath toys.
14. Have a dance party to their favourite Disney soundtrack.
15. Have a dance party to your favourite dance songs.
16. Build a pillow and blanket fort.
17. Take a bath with plastic balls.
18. Build a Book Rainbow.
19. Play dress up with your shoes.
20. Read a book lying down on the floor.
21. Play dress up with daddy’s old ties.
22. Teach them how to play rock, paper, scissors.
23. Stick some paper to the stairs and have them draw on the stairs.
24. Stick paper under a chair and have them colour a picture there.
25. Play in bath tub in swimsuit with toys.
26. Look at your child’s baby book.
27. Paint a colouring book with watercolours.
28. Have a toga party with swaddling blankets or towels.
29. Bake muffins together.
30. Make fruit kebabs and eat them.
31. Snuggle on the floor looking up at the ceiling pretending you see clouds shaped like different animals.
32. Play hide and go seek.
33. Have tickle fight.
34. Have a pretend wedding.
35. Cover rocks with shaving cream and have them clean them off.
36. Paint with a potato masher or spatula or other kitchen utensils.
37. Paint Lego or Megabloks.
38. Wash paint off Lego or Megabloks with soap and water.
39. Take a magnifying glass (pretend, real or handmade) and go looking for bugs.
40. Play with balloons.
41. Make faces on plate with their snack. (For instance cut up some fruit and have them make faces on their plate with the pieces of fruit.)
42. Play pretend telephone with 2 cups over your ears.
43. Make car ramps using books or cardboard on a couch or stairs.
44. Eat lunch on the floor picnic style.
45. Make funny faces in the mirror or smartphone.
46. Put several puzzles in a bin and then have your 3 year old search for pieces and put them all together.
47.
Play pretend firefighters.
48. Build a tower using toilet paper and tissue boxes.
49. Take mattress off their crib and use it as a tumbling mat. For added protection, arrange pillows all around and set safety ground rules.
50. Have them ‘read’ their favourite books to you.
51. Blow bubbles outside, no matter the weather.
52. Use a measuring tape to measure your body parts such as arms and legs.
53. Dress up for lunch.
WILL YOU TRY ANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR 3 YEAR OLD? Pin it for later!
What to do with a child at home at 3 years old
03/25/2022 5676
Contents of the article
- Useful games for children aged 3
- Useful activities for children 3 years old
- What can a 3-year-old child play alone
At the age of three, a child develops independence.
If parents continue to patronize the baby, most likely, he will grow up weak and insecure. But if you properly organize the child’s home activities, then you can simply direct him in the right direction, periodically looking at him.
Useful games for children aged 3
Role play
Children at the age of 3 are happy to play doctor, cook, astronaut, superhero. Choose the right props, knowing the interests of the child. Such games develop skills that will be useful to children in the future.
Movement games
Any activities where the child can move are useful. For example, a children's disco or gymnastics to music. Turn on a rhythmic melody and dance with your baby. You can use special children's microphones, where songs are already recorded. This develops the memory and creativity of the crumbs.
Useful exercises to the music: claps, jumps, squats and bends. Learn to walk back and forth and in a circle, raise and lower arms and legs.
So the baby will learn to feel the rhythm and develop physical activity.
And the kids love the songs. They develop memory and coordination. Do them together:
Fun exercise "Bunny":
Lived - there was a bunny,
Long ears (put your hands to your head)
Frostbitten bunny
Nose on the edge (cover the nose with your hand)
Frostbitten nose,
Chilled cheeks (cover cheeks)
And I went to warm up (we hug ourselves)
Visit the kids.
Home theater
Dolls can be purchased at the store or sew on your own. Finger characters or just toys that are at home are also great. To make the performance look real, make a curtain, prepare puppets and a plot. Children enjoy watching home theater and interacting with the characters. For them, it's all real.
Afterward, invite your child to put on a show for siblings or mom and dad.
fashion show
Prepare a variety of outfits: skirts, caps and hats, t-shirts, scarves and tulle.
A little fashionista will be happy to choose what she likes, dress up and look at herself in the mirror.
Useful activities for children 3 years old
Reading
Reading aloud is a very rewarding activity. Unlike cartoons, where everything is already drawn and invented, the book gives the child the opportunity to fantasize and think. Children who are read to regularly become more reasonable, their speech is clearer, and their vocabulary is richer.
Attention games
Take a book with large bright pictures and look at it with your child. Name all the objects and characters on the pages. Pay attention to small details: hats and clothes, flower petals, house windows, etc.
And now open the same book and ask the baby to show you everything that is there, down to the smallest items. Look together. Praise. Help if help is needed. After 2-3 lessons, you will notice that the baby has become more attentive and finds objects faster and faster.
Home help training
During cleaning, give the baby a rag and show what needs to be wiped. While the baby carries a rag near the cabinet, mom will wash the whole room.
Load the laundry together: carry the clothes and run the washing machine. When baking, give a piece of dough to the baby - let him blind the figure at his discretion. Bake it with the main dish.
This is important!
During homework, constantly praise the crumbs, this will gradually accustom him to household chores. So the baby will not perceive homework as hard work.
Creative drawing
Drawing develops logic, imagination and thinking. To make it interesting for the baby, offer him different options for how to draw: paints, pencils, felt-tip pens or crayons. Next, try the following:
- Take a few sheets of the largest paper you can find in the store. Fasten with tape and lay on the floor. You will have a huge field for drawing.
Draw roads, houses and buildings together. Get a whole city. Let toy cars drive along it and character toys go. The drawing can be reused many times, adding new elements all the time; - Purchase an easel for painting. Let the baby come up and draw himself when he gets inspiration;
- Create drawings and invite your child to participate in them. Download on the Internet or draw templates that need to be supplemented. For example, draw grains for a chicken; smoke for the stove; bridge for the river.
- Give the baby coloring books. For now, these should be simple large images, for example, a ball, a doll or a house. It is important to show the child how to decorate, to teach him this activity.
Educational cards
Purchase at the store or make your own educational cards. It can be vegetables and fruits, technology, characters, geometric shapes or plants. Give them to the baby, naming the subject, ask them to choose the right card from the total mass.
Sort by category and color. Play "edible-not-edible"
Modeling
Modeling develops creative and spatial thinking, imagination and fine motor skills. The kid likes to create images - a bunny, a car, a little man. Blind with him a small city with houses, residents, cars, a river and a bridge. Play together - it will be just a pleasure to watch how the child fantasizes.
You can also make homemade snow. Mix 2 cups cornstarch and 1/2 cup sunflower oil in a bowl. Grind the mass in your hands until it begins to sculpt. Make snowballs, a snowman or a whole snow castle.
Making crafts
Crafts are useful for developing imagination, logic and knowledge about the properties of objects. You can make them from any material at hand: plasticine and cones, cardboard and colored paper, herbarium leaves and toothpicks.
Felt crafts are very good. The material is comfortable and easy to use: you can cut anything, does not require edge processing and sticks to itself perfectly.
Cut out, for example, a house, windows and inhabitants in it. Ask the kid to resettle the tenants.
This is important!
If you regularly captivate the child with such games, he will begin to succeed and form an interest in developmental activities. Subsequently, he will play with pleasure and for a long time. All this develops concentration and perseverance.
Constructor, cubes, puzzles and mosaics
At the age of three, a child is very interested in construction and creation. While doing should be large and easy to assemble. So the baby will be able to perform most of the actions himself with pleasure.
Lotto
Lay out the cards with the drawn objects, then take out the pictures one by one and cover them with the images on the cards. In parallel, you can learn the names, colors and properties of objects drawn on the cards. Such classes train attention and logic.
What can a 3-year-old child play alone
Scooter
You can ride a scooter not only on the street.
For this age, a stable model with three wheels and a height-adjustable handle is suitable. Children are happy to ride at home for a long time, especially if it is not the season.
Dry ball pool
Take a baby inflatable pool and fill it with 4-5 cm plastic balls. The movement of the balls produces a gentle acupressure of the baby's whole body, so most children are happy to roll and roll among them.
Show your child how to hide in balloons, sort them by color, put them in a basket and have fun pouring them out. In such a pool, the baby trains muscles and endurance, without being overloaded.
Drawing in a box
Take a cardboard box without a lid. Size 1x1 meter or more. Put a child in it and give pencils or crayons. Let him draw without restriction on the walls or on the bottom of the box.
Story games
House for dolls, parking or railroad. Engage your little one with play. Show how to seat dolls, park cars, or connect railroad elements.
Add characters and suggest options.
This is important!
At this age, you can create entire game worlds: build a house from cubes, put a parking lot nearby, a house for animals and a railway. And also build a tent from a bedspread and chairs. Do not be afraid to experiment and get carried away with the game with your baby! The game is a whole world where a child can express himself, dream up, create something of his own.
Games with magnet
Give the child a magnet, show how it is attached to the refrigerator. Let the baby walk around the house and check which things are attracted and which are not.
Bowling game
Teach your child to set up skittles and knock them down with a ball. An alternative to skittles can be cubes or empty plastic bottles.
Washing dishes and laundry
Pour water into the basin, put unbreakable children's dishes and a sponge in it. Have your child wash the dishes.
Another option is to wash handkerchiefs, doll clothes or small rags in the basin.
Let's summarize:
- At the age of three, the baby shows the first signs of independence. He is often ready to play and act himself. It is important to show him various activities so that he does not get bored and can find useful activities for himself.
- Themes for children's activities can be role-playing and outdoor games, home theater and fashion shows.
- Teach your baby to useful and developing activities: reading together, attention games, housework with an adult. Teach your little one to draw, sculpt and make crafts. Play loto and developing cards. Offer a constructor, cubes and puzzles.
- For the development of independence, do not be afraid to leave the child to himself. Suggest games that he can play himself: riding a scooter around the house, a dry ball pool, drawing in a box, and story games. Magnets, bowling, as well as washing handkerchiefs or washing toy dishes in a basin will also captivate the baby.
Independent children are more successful in the future, they know more and are not afraid of difficulties.
It is not at all difficult to captivate a three-year-old child with home games. It is only important to understand what he is interested in and choose the appropriate entertainment.
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Top 15 ideas on how to entertain children aged 3-6 without leaving home
got sick and there is simply no one to walk with the baby on the street, then what kind of misfortune or natural anomaly. You never know what situations happen! But that's no reason to be sad! Our ideas on how to entertain children at home will help you.
rebenok.by
At home with a child of 3-6 years old, you can find a lot of ways to have a fun time, if there is no need to severely limit his activity:
- arrange a disco,
- jump into the classics, "drawn" with adhesive tape on the floor ,
- play hide-and-seek,
- arrange an impromptu fashion show, etc.
0025 - Build a hammock or a house under the table,
- Read a book, then stage it, etc.
Such ways to entertain a child at home do not cost a lot of money and will not take you much time. But such attention and love will not go unnoticed for the child. These are just those childhood impressions that become more and more valuable with age.
1. Fur seal rookery: hammocks for children
pp.userapi.com
lie in bed!) and get high a few centimeters above the ground, looking at books about the adventures of their favorite characters.
2. Cardboard activities for kids at home
www.bastisimo.com
If you want your little one to be quietly busy with his own business, give him felt-tip pens and a large cardboard box. For example, from the refrigerator. O! You can’t even imagine what imaginary city will appear before your eyes in just half an hour.
Rastishka's reference:
- Rastishka's workshop: imaginary city
- Top 10: cardboard toys
www.
passion.ru
Cardboard is a strong enough material that allows you to use crafts from it for a long time. Make a big house where a child will fit in full growth - you can’t imagine a better toy! To fasten the parts, use adhesive tape and Velcro - so the house can be folded and quickly removed so that it does not take up space. Decorate your new home with curtains, flower pots and other little things that will create coziness in the toy house. Let your child draw wallpapers, rugs and other decor to decorate the interior. For your beloved Bobik, you can build a booth near the house - a friend will always be there, and property - under a reliable "alarm".
www.passion.ru
Not only mom and dad dream of their own country house. Masha's doll has exactly the same dream, and you can make her (the doll) happy, and the child happy and busy with useful things for a long time. Glue a room with partitions out of cardboard, without a roof, but with a floor-stand.
Let the kid, along with his favorite doll, arrange and paint everything. Furniture can be made from designer parts, dishes can be fashioned from salt dough, rugs and curtains can be cut from unnecessary rags and shreds. Cultivate taste from childhood, you see, the young designer will show his abilities more than once.
3. Home cooking: entertainment for children
justcoolidea.ru
. Make delicious chocolate creamers for cottage cheese or ice cream with your children.
Inflate balloons, wash with soap. Melt the chocolate and dip the balls into the warm sweet mass. Wait for the chocolate to harden and carefully pop the balls.
all-thinks.ru
You can fill chocolate plates with your favorite treat! For example, yogurt or cottage cheese "Rastishka", or homemade ice cream with fresh berries and pieces of fruit.
Recommendations from Rastishka:
- Homemade ice cream for kids: recipes
- Salted ice cream.
So it was possible? - Cooking with Rastishka: Mint Chocolate Ice Cream
- 5 ice cream recipes you will never buy in the store
- Vitamin desserts from oranges and Rastishka products
- Popsicles - a treat on a stick
- Kitchen experiments for children: indicator products
- Cooking with "Rastishka": vitamin spring salad
- An omelette that 100% kids will love: three cool recipes
4. Snow fun
ourbestbites.com
Make snow with your child according to our recipes and play for fun!
Rastishka's recommendation:
- Top 15: artificial snow for crafts with kids
- Top 10 snow games at home
5. Playing with light
www.matato.net
Forced sitting at home can be spent with useful entertainment. Many children are afraid of the dark. Let's make friends with her! Run for the lights!!! From thick paper, cut a circle to fit the glass in the flashlight.
Any shape cut out of paper and superimposed on a light source will give a fancy shadow. Turn off the lights and experiment! There is nothing terrible in the dark, only miracles. To be afraid of ghosts drawn on paper - fi, we are not like that!
Recommendations from Rastishka:
- No fear: getting to know the dark
- Say "Yes" to the fight against night terrors
pinimg.com
Take a piece of thick paper. Mark the pattern with a pencil, and then poke holes with a needle. You will get cute flashlights that you can play with in a dark room. ATTENTION! Do not give your child matches and candles. All experiments are carried out only in the presence of adults!
alicdn.com
If you have a figured hole punch, you can cut the image directly on paper bags. Insert a tall glass with a burning candle inside.
tnn-hobby.ru
Such lanterns are not only an object for light games with children, but also an interior decoration.
6. Paraffin Islands
viene.ru
This exciting game must be played strictly in the presence of adults. Let's fantasize? Pour water into a deep saucer and tint it blue or green. Why not the sea?
Light the candle and wait for the paraffin to melt. Carefully pour the paraffin into the water - it will begin to cool, turning into bizarre shapes. If you change the height of the candle at the level of the "sea", you can get fancy "islands".
7. Checkmate!
How to teach a child to play chess and checkers we told HERE. Even a three-year-old can master the basics, and then it all depends on your patience and imagination.
8. Card games, solitaire, tricks
Gambling is not as scary as it might seem at first glance, especially since there are quite harmless tricks, solitaire and children's decks with cartoon characters.
Recommendations from Rastishka:
- Fun breaks: learning how to do tricks
- Math magic tricks for children who can count
- Magical liquids: magic tricks for children
- How to bring a paper flower to life: a trick for children
- Magic at home, or How to tear a child away from the computer
9.
You and I are of the same blood - royal zhenskoe-mnenie.ru
It will be interesting for both a boy and a girl to make a crown. BUT! There is a risk that problems will arise: a crowned person of royal blood may refuse to take off her headdress even while sleeping and bathing.
10. Home fishing
www.wday.ru
Even a very busy dad will gladly join this innocent entertainment. With our ideas any fishing will be successful! Shall we look for fish spots in our apartment?
Recommendation from Rastishka:
- Fishing game for kids
11. Make a fun face painting
imperiya.by
Who said you can't play with your own hands, face and body? With the help of special paints, they can be turned into anyone! Minute business, and the child is busy for a long time.
If a bear stepped on your brush or your child doesn't want to get dirty, offer your child an alternative option - paint dolls' faces! Can you imagine how happy he will be to feel like a makeup artist?!
Recommendations from Rastishka:
- Animal face painting: transforming into animals
- How to Draw a Dragonfly: Face Painting and Other Art Techniques
- Rastishka's Workshop.
Fish on the palms
- Games from nothing: our hands are not for boredom
12. Play role-playing games
deti.mail.ru
If your child is sick, play doctor with him. Tell the basic principles of the functioning of the human body, teach how to carry out simple manipulations with toys. Many other interesting ideas in our article “ Play role-playing games with a child”.
13. Draw in unusual ways and objects
novostipmr.com
In fact, to get the buzz from drawing, it is not at all necessary to be able to draw. Fact! You can have fun and diversify your leisure time with your child:
Recommendations from Rastishka:
- You may not be an artist, but you must draw with children
- Say YES to fork painting
- Say "YES" to drawing fruits and vegetables
14. Make postcards
Together with your child, make postcards for those whom the child misses (friends, relatives), whom they have not seen for a long time.
15. Start modeling
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Children are very fond of sculpting, but mothers are not always ready to remove the results of creativity from the carpet and furniture, so the choice of materials for modeling should be taken into account seriously: choose products from trusted manufacturers or make homemade clay yourself.
Rastishka's recommendation:
- Sandbox at home all year round: kinetic sand for modeling
- How to Make Salt Dough for Different Colors: Experimenting Together
- How to make DIY salt dough
- Homemade plasticine: recipes for modeling mass
If you have already tried all these ideas, and home quarantine has not ended, take a look at the article Top 10+ ideas on what to do with a child of 3-6 years old at home.
Tell us in the comments what your child likes to do at home. What kind of joint entertainment do you come up with when you have to be locked up for various reasons (illness, bad weather, etc.
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