Whether you're preparing a year or a week of activities for your 3 year old preschoolers, it can be challenging. Not only does one have to focus on the right curriculum but also on finding engaging activities for students of all levels and learning abilities.
Planning 3-4 activities lasting around 15 minutes each is the perfect way to incorporate the different education activities into the school day. A lot is happening throughout the preschool years, and being flexible should be #1 on the list! This list provides activities that can be used in a lesson plan and activities that can be used quickly during extra time or transition periods.
1. Rainy Names
Name learning is vital for kiddos throughout their preschool years. This simple activity is the perfect way to enhance students' name recognition, pre-writing skills, and much more! Did you know that learning and understanding names build both confidence and community in the classroom?
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2. Baby Tubby Time
Unlike some educational activities, working with dolls focuses on building social skills. Hands-on activities like this will help children to gain a better understanding of how to treat others. An awesome activity for sensory skills and building empathy.
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3. Letter Fishing
Finding engaging activities for preschool children that enhance their letter recognition can be challenging. Something like this will engage even the most difficult kiddos. Use the basket or fill a tub with water and let your little fishermen get to work.
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4. Counting Caterpillars
Simple enough for any 3-year-old child, your students will love building their caterpillars. This activity can simply be created with a few pieces of paper and markers. Incorporating math and motor skills together is essential in the preschool classroom.
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5. Magentiles Building Requests
An activity for kids that fosters their motor skills and will enhance their creativity. Use Magnatiles (or blocks) and have your students copy the creations you've made or have them copy each other's creations. This is a great hands on activity for circle time or transitions.
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6. Kids Busy Boxes
Creating busy boxes has changed the way I run my preschool classroom. Having a quick activity for students is essential in an ever-changing classroom. These plastic bins are great, but using a shoe box or anything really will work just as well. Provide students with enough hands on activity options and watch their creativity grow.
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7. Mini Pies
3-5 year olds love outdoor play! Outdoor play gives students the space to build their own observational skills. Providing them different opportunities to test their skills and learn where their place is. Having students create their own mini pies will provide a sensory activity that enhances community and creativity.
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8. Color Sorting
By preschool age, kids are usually pretty good at recognizing different colors. But that doesn't mean this activity for toddlers shouldn't be practiced throughout the preschool years. It's an activity for kids that supports early critical thinking and observational skills. It can be used primarily with lesson plans focused on categorization and memorization skills.
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9. Obstacle Courses
There's no doubt that building students' motor skills is extremely important throughout the younger ranges. Activities for preschool children like obstacle courses will help to build so many different things: Muscle Strength, Balance, Problem Solving Abilities, Sensory Processing, Coordination skills. These are just a few of the objectives that these motor activities can foster.
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10. Name or Letter Recognition
This quick activity requires little prep and can be used for multiple things. Whether students are working on building names or letter recognition, some colorful stickers and letters will enhance their skills. It's the perfect exposure to letters and a great way to work with beginning sight words.
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11. Boo Boo Counting
Boo Boo counting is a great way to enhance oral language development, math literacy and empathy. If you'd like to use this activity over and over, try using velcro stickers. It may also be beneficial to laminate or use strong cardboard for this activity for kids.
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12. Logical Sorting
Add this to your week of activities focused on learning the relationships between objects. Educational activities like this are simple enough for any classroom but challenging enough for students. Specifically, this will help students to gain a better understanding of different patterns and their relationships.
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13. Caterpiller --> Butterfly
Super cute hands-on learning activities that follow along with a book are great for preschoolers. They will get the early literacy skills necessary for preschool years and enhance their motor skills. With this activity, though, students will work with different arrows to create patterns from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
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14. Elephant Ring Toss
Any animal activity is sure to spark even the most energetic students' attention. Preschool learning games like this can quickly and easily be created out of a recycled cardboard box! Students will love to help work with paint brushes to create the elephant and paint the rings!
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15. Swing Painting
This was one of those activities that couldn't be left out of this list! It's great because swinging has the power of calming children, and so does painting. Intertwining the two of these will surely engage your students. Especially those having a tough time throughout the day.
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16. Splitting Hairs
Using a piece of paper, engage your students in a serious hair-splitting experience. Students will love working their scissors skills into something engaging like this. It's so cute and fun for all students.
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17. Dot Puzzles
A color matching activity using puzzle pieces is challenging. This can simply be made using a piece of paper but may require some teamwork to solve. Encourage students to finish it independently or with a partner. But don't discourage them from asking for help.
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18. Bubble Wrap Popping
Educational activities and bubble wrap?
It sounds like an extremely good time! This can be played with almost any size of bubble wrap. But it is more fun with bigger bubbles, as with most things. Hands-on learning activities like this will promote students' mathematical skills to a new level.
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19. All About Me Process Art
@art.is.smart All About Me process art with 3 year olds! #preschoolteacher #artissmart #teachersoftiktok ♬ Colors of the Wind - Instrumental - Vesislava
Process art is an art activity that focuses on student engagement and artistic experience. This type of art focuses on the process more than on the finished product. Making it great for students to really explore and discover different techniques, materials, and tools.
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20. Playdough Shapes
Everybody loves play dough, but using it for educational activities enhances its value by about 100%. There are benefits to playdough free play, but students will love creating these shapes. Simply print this engaging template on a piece of paper and watch your students get creative.
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21. Artsy Preschoolers
@karrrishhhma Preschool teacher thangs. 3 year olds are amazing! Artist study 👩🎨 #pietmondrieaanstyle #preschool #preschoolteacher #preschoolactivities #earlychildhoodeducation ♬ Kyoto Flow - Official Sound Studio
Do you have an old art history book lying around? If not, you might want to look into purchasing one. Start your student's love for art early. Art appreciation will enhance so many aspects of student imagination. Simply find an artist and have students create their form of art from their own perspective.
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22. Spaghetti Play
Honestly, even as an adult, I love spaghetti play! Feeling the slimy noodles does something for the brain. Add colorful spaghetti to your activity table and watch as students use the different tools to play. This is a great way to enhance their critical thinking, motor, and especially sensory skills.
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23. Dancing Corn
@sandboxacademy This is the number one preschool science idea on my blog for 5 years now #stemforkids #preschoolstem #prekstem #prekactivitiesathome #toddleractivitiesathome #activitiesfortoddlers #keepingkidsbusy #scienceismagic #scienceforpreschool #fallactivitiesforkids ♬ original sound - Emily | Preschool Activities
It's never too early to start playing around with different science projects. This dancing corn experiment will be super fun for all students in your preschool classroom. Give your student an early love and interest in science with educational activities like this.
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24. Painting Ice
Ice cubes, ice cubes, ice cubes. Just the word itself is inviting. Just picture them clinking around in your drink on a hot summer day. Okay, feels good, doesn't it?
Now picture hours of endless paintings that your students can create with paint brushes! This is the perfect activity for a summer day. Then watch the water change colors as the ice melts.
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25. Race and Paint
@daynursery Racing the cars while making marks! #makingmarks #preschoolactivities #activityideas #fyp #viral #trending #earlyyears ♬ Roary The Racing Car Main Theme (From "Roary The Racing Car") - Geek Music
Using a piece of paper, some paint, and a car, is a great way to get your students racing and creating different art pieces! Whether you have them race each other or just drive the cars all over! This activity will surely get you some cute decorations for your classroom and some smiling faces.
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26. Alphabet Practice
Surprise alphabet letters! This activity may surprise you as your students will quickly be able to recognize the next letter in the alphabet pattern. Incorporating different alphabet activities into your classroom will help students to gain better literacy skills for later in life.
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27. Patterning
Creating caterpillar patterns is always fun for students. Starting the pattern and watching as they work to:
Know and understand what comes next
Make logical connections between past pattern and the next pattern
Enhance their reasoning skills and quickly learn what makes the most sense
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28. Dressing Dolls
@mrs_burland Dress the dolls activity, encouraging children to strengthen their hand muscles and develop their fine motor skills. Also, encouraging independence. #earlyyearsactivities #finemotoractivity #earlyyearspractitioner #preschoolactivities #eyfsactivities #handandeyecoordination #finemotorskills ♬ Low Down - venbee & Dan Fable
Again, playing with dolls helps students understand themselves and others better. Small dolls are slightly different, considering they're much more challenging on little hands. Making it the perfect practice for their experiences.
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29. Listen & Do
Playing games like this daily or a few times a week will not only give students a break but also command their attention. Using cognitive skills to connect their hearing with what they should be doing will enhance their overall active listening skills.
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30. Shake Your Sillies Out
Brain breaks are vital to preschool. Preschoolers have ALOT of emotions. They need time to get them out and take in some positivity. Shake Your Sillies Out is the perfect song to make that happen.
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31. A Hole In the Bottom of the Sea
Teaching about the food chain?
This song is absolutely adorable, and the animation of the video will provide visual learners with a better understanding while they sing and learn! This is a great way to teach about the food chain and fosters the development of memorization skills from repetition.
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32. Sight Word Surprise
Building exposure to letters and sight words is essential throughout the preschool years. Preschool learning games online are great because they can be used in the classroom and for distance learning.
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33. Beginning Sounds
Oral language development starts with an understanding of different sounds. This video is a great way to initially introduce the different sounds of letters. Use magnetic letters on the whiteboard projection to help students gain a better visual of the letters being taught.
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34. Guess the Fruit
By preschool, students probably have a pretty good understanding of the different fruits out there. Use this video to assess what students already know while also working on their communication skills. Even shy students will love to show their knowledge about the different fruits.
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35. Where Will It Land?
Making predictions in the early years is a great way to prepare your students for their future in STEM. STEM builds trajectory in students starting from a very early age and should definitely be incorporated into your preschool curriculum.
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20 Spider Activities for those in the Magical World of Special Education!