Tag Archives: preschool activities

Gardening With Your Preschooler: Supplies

Are you planning to garden with your preschooler this summer? Gardening can seem like an activity that requires a lot of supplies. What supplies are actually necessary to have a fun time in the garden with your preschooler? Very few, actually. We like to bring a small trowel into the garden. Preschoolers like to dig, and you can set your child to work digging up a garden bed, moving small rocks, and looking for worms. The worms, woodbugs and soil are the main attraction here. Watering cans are also very popular. Choose a child-sized one with very small holes or … Continue reading →

A Craft for the Birds

If you’re feeling trapped indoors without any spring in sight, creating spring crafts will help you see the coming light and green that is just around the corner. Soon, the birds will be singing their spring songs and building their nests. Building a bird house is a big project, but lots of fun. There are online birdhouse kits available at stores like The Bird House Depot if you and your preschooler would like to try hammering some nails. If you’re looking for a shorter project to keep you and your preschooler thinking about spring, try creating a bag of nest … Continue reading →

A Preschool Travel Trunk

Got luggage? This is the sort of baggage that you will want to carry around, or at least your preschooler will. I’m talking about the travel trunk. It’s a miniature suitcase that we use as a travel trunk. If we’re going on a long trip or I need to go to a meeting with my daughter, I bring it along. It’s not magic – there are still complaints if things get too boring. But it’s a useful addition to the parenting arsenal. Our mini suitcase is about a foot wide by half a foot tall. Inside, here’s what we have. … Continue reading →

I Collect Rocks

Today we went “treasure hunting” at my parents’ house. They are decluttering and I am trying to help, although it appears that helping also involves me taking home a lot of stuff. I’m an alternate lover of used goodies and impetuous pitcher of said goodies. For an entire hour, we catalogued and put away my little brother’s rock collection. He hasn’t lived there for seven years, and the rocks were beautiful but very dusty. He was determined to become a geologist and had a rock and fossil collection that was amazing in its breadth. As a child and a young … Continue reading →

Harnessing the Hamster: Preschoolers and Sports

Small children are amazing in their energy output. Often, I am tempted to put my daughter into an oversized hamster ball and use her to power my kitchen. Perhaps I could automate the snack-making process. Hmm, now there’s an idea! Over the last four years, we’ve registered for everything from baby swimming lessons to a class that featured an assortment of indoor sports. We’ve done ballet, and my daughter has gone running with me as I trained for a marathon. As I look at my friends and relatives, I realize that the sports that we learn to love in childhood … Continue reading →

More Inexpensive Ways to Keep Your Preschooler Busy

Did somebody say cheap? The following activities are designed to keep preschoolers busy long enough for you to make dinner, fold the pile of clean laundry sitting on your bed, or take a shower without having a 4-year-old clinging to your legs. What’s more, they can all be done without having to spend a dime: Indoor “Snowball” Fight: Get a large stack of old newspapers or magazines and divide it up between two kids. Have them wad up the sheets of paper and start throwing. When they get bored of playing “snowball” fight, place two garbage bins in the middle … Continue reading →

Inexpensive Ways to Keep Your Preschooler Busy

You just dropped a bundle on back-to-school supplies for your older kids and now you’re scrounging around for money to purchase another box of diapers for your infant. Where does that leave your preschooler? You can show him how much you love him without spending a dime. Simply set up the following activities and have fun playing together: Beads: String some plastic beads onto a straw in an easy pattern of alternating colors. Glue the first and last beads to the straw so they won’t slip off. Give your child another straw and have him string beads to match your … Continue reading →

How to Encourage Creative Thinking in Your Preschooler

Thinking outside of the box is a useful skill for anyone to have. It goes hand in hand with creative problem solving, an ability that is highly valued by both schools and employees. Creative problem solving can lead to all sorts of successes in life, from basic survival to an abundant life. Encouraging creative thinking should start early. Even toddlers can come up with a bit of creative thinking. By the time a child is of preschool age, you should foster an environment that offers plenty of opportunity for creative thinking and problem solving. So how can you create this … Continue reading →

Child of Wonder – Ginger Carlson

If you are looking for activities to not only occupy your children, but to enchant them, to encourage their creative growth and brain development, you should look into Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children by Ginger Carlson. Normally I can scan through books and find a few things I want to copy. With this book I got out my highlighter and sticky note tags. Carlson makes a case for including creative moments in all our lives. And what’s really great is that she makes it easy. None of these ideas take huge chunks of time or money. … Continue reading →