# data[].attributes.body
Color matching! This activity is great for parents and children to work on together. There are many different ways that you can complete this in your own, unique, speacial way. For this, you print two worksheets, now I challange you to challange your child in coloring the fruit with anything but colors! Once that is complete, match it to the other worksheet!

# data[].attributes.body
https://blog.brookespublishing.com/24-at-home-learning-activities-to-share-with-parents-of-young-children/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
*We originally published this post near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some things have changed since then, the activities in this post are still great skill-builders for young children!
As schools close due to COVID-19 concerns and new guidelines on social distancing take effect, many parents are home with their young children-and looking for new ways to keep them occupied while building on the skills they've been learning in the classroom. Keeping kids engaged and active (without overusing screens!) can be tough during an unexpected break like this, especially when new safety recommendations put a temporary hold on play dates, restaurant trips, and visits to crowded parks, zoos, and other places kids love.

If you're a parent of young children-or if you work with families-today's post is tailored especially for you. We're bringing you a collection of 24 at-home learning activities parents can use to boost their child's academic, motor, communication, and social-emotional skills while they're home from school. Adapted from some of our best books on early childhood development and education, these fun and inexpensive activities will keep kids learning and give you easy ways to connect with them during this unexpected break in routine.

Please share these ideas with any families who might benefit, and if you have a favorite at-home activity to share, add it in the comments below!

Give mealtime a math infusion. Do your kids like to help out in the kitchen? Meal prep is the perfect time to get children counting, measuring, estimating, comparing, and recognizing shapes. Ask your child to measure and count cups of ingredients, count how many plates and utensils are needed for the whole family, and figure out who has more or less mashed potatoes. Get creative with math during cleanup time, too: you can have your child name the shapes of the dishes and sponges, count the number of steps they took to complete the cleanup task, and predict how many dishes will fit in the dishwasher. (Want more ideas? Download this free tip sheet for 24 ways to have fun with math at home .)

Supercharge your storytimes. Your daily book reading sessions are golden opportunities to actively build early literacy skills. To boost vocabulary knowledge, watch for words you think your child may not know and briefly define and talk about them. When you reread a book, ask your child if they remember what the word means, and try to use the new words at other times of the day to reinforce knowledge. To build letter recognition skills, try pointing to letters as you say their names, singing a slowed-down ABC song while you point to each letter in the book. Turn to random pages in the book and see if children can name and point to the letters themselves. You can follow up by having your child make their own ABC book, finding or drawing pictures for each letter.

Reread all your child's comfort books. When you're home together and it seems like life is slowing down, sink into some comfort rereads of favorite picture books. Kids love hearing the same book many times, and the repetition is actually beneficial to their developing literacy skills, since it gives them multiple chances to absorb the language of the book. If you want to make the most of repeated readings, choose high-quality books with words that stretch your child's vocabulary and language knowledge.

Make a museum. Your child but can make a museum at home with a little imagination and a few simple materials. If your child has collected little treasures over the years (rocks, shells, toy dinosaurs, buttons, etc.), show them how to arrange their collections in themed displays using shoe boxes, small jars, or egg cartons. Help children label their treasures-a great way to practice letter writing and recognition-and build their language skills by encouraging them to give "tours" of their personal museum to visitors. (While you're teaching young children at home, a virtual museum tour might also be a fun way to spark conversations about art and history.)

Start a language-rich restaurant at home. If your kids love restaurants, why not start one at home, and use it to help teach language and literacy skills? Stock your play area with empty boxes, food containers, and restaurant props with writing on them, such as takeout menus, placemats, or a newspaper circular. Read the menu with them, or help them create their own menus from scratch. Help kids make a sign with their restaurant's name. As children play, point out words on the restaurant props and encourage them to spot familiar letters and words.

Measure their masterworks. Are your kids passing the time by making a long cardboard road for their cars, or building a tall tower with blocks? Dig out your ruler and incorporate a little measurement lesson into their play. Show them how to use the ruler to measure the length of their road or the height of their tower. They might have fun predicting how many inches long or feet high their creations are.

Have an adventure-without leaving your living room. Sit with your kids on a rug or couch and pretend you're leaving for a big adventure on a magic carpet, submarine, or school bus. Ask them to share their ideas on where they want to visit, and take turns concocting a story about your adventure. Describe the sights you see and ask kids questions that invite their creative participation: "Look, there's a circus! Can you see the elephants? What are they doing?" "Do you see that school of fish? What do you think fish learn about in school?" This is a great way to strengthen communication skills while having fun with kids who feel cooped up.

Put on a play. Encourage your kids to collaborate on a short play using a few puppets. They can adapt a familiar story or fairy tale, or create their own story together. After they put on the play, talk with them about the story and characters, and ask them questions about how they developed the play.

Set up a home office for kids. This is an indoor activity kids love-they'll enjoy the chance to be "just like you." Set up a pretend office in a corner of your home where kids can make calls, write letters and "send" them, and type important emails. Be sure to provide lots of varied materials for them to work with: an old keyboard to type with, file folders and paper, a calculator, an old phone (toy or real), pens and pencils, tape, envelopes, rubber stamps, and notepads. Then pretend with them-give them a "call" and ask when the mail will be arriving, or ask to have a face-to-face meeting in their office.

Start your own store. Open your own department store in your room or in the playroom. Encourage kids to play different roles-shopper, sales clerk, cashier-and communicate with each other in character (or you can play one or more roles). This is an ideal activity to try if you've been doing spring cleaning; children can browse the items you're getting rid of and "buy" a few items with pretend money.

Have some flashlight fun. This activity can help boost communication skills while easing your child into bedtime. Once your child is in bed, give them a flashlight and play with it together in the darkened room. Take turns shining the light on different things. Ask your child questions about the items in the room, and talk about what you see. Whisper and laugh together, and make up a silly story. Bedtime chats like these hone language skills while helping your child feel safe, secure, and calm.

Open your own "art school." Start by reading your child some favorite picture books and talking about the different techniques the artists used for the illustrations. Then have the child practice fine motor skills by making books or illustrations of their own, using materials such as watercolors, paste, paper, cloth scraps, ribbon, foil, string, stamps, greeting cards, and box tops. When they're done, your kids can hang their masterpieces in a special gallery area or "read" their illustrated books to you or each other.

Make egg carton caterpillars. If you use up lots of eggs, here's a fun fine-motor activity to do with those leftover cardboard egg cartons. Cut the egg section of the cartons into strips, one for each child in your house. Have each child choose a caterpillar body and decorate it with paint or markers or by gluing on different colors or textures of paper. Pipe cleaners make great antennae, and children may even want to add some pipe cleaner legs to their caterpillar. Remind them to draw or glue on a face!

Outline an animal. Does your child have a favorite animal? Draw a simple silhouette of the animal on a big piece of paper and give your child some glue and a bowl of Cheerios or uncooked pasta shapes. Then have the child outline the animal by gluing the cereal or pasta pieces to the page, following the lines you drew. (Always supervise carefully when children are working with small items that could be a choking hazard.)

Social-emotional skills

Have regular emotional check-ins. During challenging times, young children can easily pick up on the stress and worry of the adults in their lives. Disruptions to regular schedules, troubling news stories, and overheard adult conversations can leave a child confused and concerned about the future. Set aside time to check in and connect with your child every day. Talk about your day and what will happen tomorrow. Ask them simple questions: "What was the best part of today?" "Were there any hard parts?" "How did you feel?" "Do you have anything you'd like to talk about?" Listen carefully to what your child says so they know their thoughts and emotions are important to you. (For more social-emotional skill-boosters for children ages 2 months through 5 years, print these free ASQ:SE-2 activity sheets .)

Pound some dough together. Mushing, squeezing, and pounding dough is a great activity for helping kids process feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness (and housebound grownups might find this just as therapeutic). Mix up some cookie dough (like these "Get the Mad Out" cookies on the PBS website) and mash and knead it together. Or if baking isn't your thing, let the kids smush and pound play dough or clay. They'll let off steam in a safe way and hone their creativity at the same time.

Encourage nurturing play. When the world feels scary, nurturing dolls and stuffed animals is a good way for children to refocus their feelings and practice caring behavior. Set up toy cribs where children can put their "babies" to bed, water tables where kids can bathe their dolls, and places where the babies can be fed with old bottles, sippy cups, and spoons. Help children create caregiving scenarios and praise children for their TLC. (Be sure to include kids of all genders in this activity-every child can benefit from practicing their caring skills.)

Try some therapeutic art, too. Art activities are more than just fun-they can provide children with a powerful outlet for their emotions. Alice Honig describes one example in her book Little Kids, Big Worries : "Lonnie drew a bus and then scribbled all over it with a brown marker. The teacher was puzzled. She did not act disappointed by his scribbles. She did ask him gently to tell her about his picture. The child soberly explained, "That is the ambulance that took my dad to the hospital.' The brown scribbles over Lonnie's picture expressed his dark scared feelings about his father's illness." Teach children how art can be a healthy way to process difficult emotions, and provide them with lots of different materials they can use to express whatever they might be feeling: pages from magazines, photos, stickers, paint and markers in vivid colors, etc.

We hope this post gave you some new ideas to try with kids, and we wish you and your loved ones continued good health and safety. Please let us know how else we can support you in the weeks to come!

20 Stress-Busters for Young Children (designed for early childhood classrooms, but many of the activities can be adapted for home use)
Sample ASQ-3 Learning Activity Sheets Sample ASQ:SE-2 Learning Activity Sheets
The activities in this post were adapted from and inspired by the following books:

Activities 1 and 8: by Donna Kotsopoulos and Joanne Lee

Activities 2 and 3: Connecting Through Talk by David K. Dickinson & Ann B. Morse

Activities 2, 4, 9, 15, and 22: by Betty Bardige

Activities 5-7: Blended Practices for Teaching Young Children in Inclusive Settings, Second Edition, by Jennifer Grisham-Brown, Mary Louise Hemmeter, and Kristie Pretti-Frontczak

Activities 10, 11, 14, and 16: ASQ®-3 Learning Activities by Elizabeth Twombly and Ginger Fink

Activities 12, 17, and 18: Early Literacy in Action by Betty H. Bunce

Activities 13, 19, and 24: ASQ®:SE-2 Learning Activities by Elizabeth Twombly, Leslie Munson, and Lois Pribble

Activities 20,21, and 23: Little Kids, Big Worries by Alice Sterling Honig

.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
24 At-Home Learning Activities to Share with Parents of Young Children - Brookes Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We originally published this post near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some things have changed since then, the activities in this post are still great skill-builders for young children! As schools close due to COVID-19 concerns and new guidelines on social distancing take effect, many parents are home with their young children-and looking [...]

# data[].attributes.body
Physical activity is always recommended for children. It is important that children get a lot of physical time. Try riding bikes as a family or create a safe obstacle course.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2013/08/75-everyday-activites-for-3-year-olds.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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.

If you are a 3 year old teacher or a parent homeschooling preschool you must check out my fun and flexible preschool curriculum units here.

This post contains affiliate links.

1. Playdough with dry spaghetti.

2. Fill a table with books and read, read, read.

3. Doodle with smelly markers on cardboard from your recycle bin.

4. Play doctor with dolls.

5. Take a walk and hunt for colors.

6. Play with puzzles.

7. Look at family photos together.

8. Create with peel and stick jewels.

9. Read through catalogs.

10. Build a fort.

11. Play eye spy with favorite book .

12. Eat lunch outside.

13. Play in a box.

14. Paint with watercolors.

15. Play with stickers.

16. Play sports in the yard.

17. Play-Doh and sequins.

18. Play The Cupcake Game .

19. Play Simon Says.

20. Make a balance beam out of painter's tape and walk it!

21. Play in a kiddie pool.

22. Color with Color Wonder markers and coloring sheets.

23. Water some plants

24. Play with Magic Nuudles .

25. Play with Play-Doh and Duplo together.

26. Dance.

27. Play with a light table ( easy DIY here ).

28. Play with cold cooked spaghetti.

29. Cook together.

30. Play with water, rice, beans, gravel etc... in your water table .

31. Play with the hose.

32. Dress up some dolls.

33. Take silly pictures together.

34. Play hide and seek.

35. Cuddle.

36. Play with stamps.

37. Make some window clings .

38. Paint your toenails with kid-safe nail polish .

39. Run Through the sprinkler.

40. Write in a journal with markers, stamps, and crayons.

41. Go to the beach.

42. Learn about emotions with Mr. Potato Head.

43. Go to the library.

44. Read with a sibling.

45. Call Grandma ( or Aunty, Uncle... you get the picture.)

46. Help clean.

47. Play dentist with dolls.

48. Finger paint.

49. Draw with chalk on black construction paper.

50. Go to a local elementary school and play at the playground.

51. Play dress up.

52. Take markers and paint onto the porch for art outside.

53. Duplo

54. Play School

55. Mix sidewalk chalk and other toys for pretend play outside.

56. Bubbles.

57. Scrap paper collages.

58. Hunt for magnets with a magnetic wand in a bowl of uncooked oatmeal or rice.

59. Jump in puddles. I don't know of a better activity for a 3 year old than this one!

60. Build a tower out of recycling.

61. Wash the car.

62. Backyard nature hunt. Tape painters tape sticky side out on a window or wall and have your child stick what they find on it.

63. Take some pictures.

64. Have a tea party.

65. Practice cutting with playdough!

66. Make a ramp with cardboard and drive matchbox cars down it.

67. Read books outside.

68. Play-Doh with pipe cleaners.

69. Wash play cars, scooters, and bikes.

70. Go for a hike.

71. Play with Play-doh and egg molds .

72. Play airplane or train with your kitchen chairs.

73. Wash windows with water and vinegar.

74. Turn snack bars into shapes and practice using a knife at the same time.

75. 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 for 3 year olds?

Check out my updated and now-in paperback book Everyday Preschool!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.body
Nothing like painting. Although parents sometimes tend to stay away from messy activities, it is important that children can still express their creativness. Allowing them to paint can help them learn theri colors and also alow for them to create new colors by mixing them.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.mom365.com/preschool/development/10-fun-activities-to-do-with-your-preschooler

# data[].attributes.body
LEGO building! This activity is great to help children learn how to build strcutures with small pieces, this will allow them to concentrate, this can be played with friends so that they learn how to work together.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.jumpstart.com/parents/activities/activities-3-year-old

# data[].attributes.body
Sorting! Using goldfish, place them in a container and along with 10 small containers labeled by numbers, have the child use tweezers and carefully place them into the corresponding bowl. This will help children learn their numbers as well as learning how to count.

# data[].attributes.body
Gone fishing! This is a simple game and it comes with everything. I would want parents to encourage and motivate their children as they attempt to take the fishes out. This is a great activity as it helps children strength their motor skills and have great eye cordination.

# data[].attributes.body
Baking! This is such an easy activity that can be done as a family. This helps children learn how to measure properly, as well as cracking an egg! This can teach them how to create something so yummy!

# data[].attributes.body
Mood swing. Children often times express their feelings in various ways. Give thought to creating a mood board where your child can freely communicate their emotions.