Posted by We often see children engaged in different play and fun activities at preschool and day care centres. The main purpose of these activities is to engage them and prevent them from getting sad or bored. Yet, through these activities, the children learn their first lessons of socialising, becoming a team player, and communicating with others. Their motor skills are enhanced due to these activities.
The best play schools introduce these activities to develop the interpersonal skills of the preschoolers. In this article, we will talk about the various preschool activities that can develop different types of skills in the children.
Top toddler-friendly preschool activities
Here are some great preschool activities that can be useful in the development process of your child:
1. Alphabet Collage
Collage art has been among the most popular and fun activities at the preschool stage. The children learn to fill different shapes, letters, and alphabets by using bits of paper, straw pieces, and more. It not only enhances the creative skills of your child but also gives it the basic knowledge of alphabets.
2. Musical Chair
Musical chair is another game where the children have to run around a set of chairs and sit on one when the music stops. The preschooler children can find this game interesting and fun.
It can increase their concentration and coordination skills. Instead of songs, you can play nursery rhymes for this game. Such games also increase the physical activities of children. It is much necessary to build their bone and muscle strength in their early developmental stages.
3. Making Ice Cream
Children often see their parents cooking in the kitchen. Therefore, the activities that are related to cooking excite them the most. As a preschool teacher, you can ask your child to mimic ice cream making by using balloons, card boxes, and other accessories.
You can draw the shape of the ice cream on the blackboard to help them out. This activity will spark their imagination. They will be thrilled to make something that they have always loved. It will also enhance their coordination and colour recognition skills.
4. Circle Formation
You can use fun and interesting ways to form a human circle. For instance, you can ask the children to sing one line of the rhyme each. Upon successful completion, they can join the circle one-by-one. Similarly, you can ask them to recognize shapes, colours, numbers, and alphabets.
The children who identify the right shapes, colours, and numbers/alphabets can join the circle. Such types of games generate a competitive spirit among the children. They learn to compete and it also emphasises the importance of learning for them.
5. Lunch Sharing
Lunch sharing can be a great way to increase coordination skills among the children. You can ask the children to sit in a circle and share some of their food with the child sitting adjacent to them. By doing this, you can build their social skills. This activity can be held during every lunch session. Or else, if there is no lunch time in your preschool, you can ask the parents to give them the tiffin on some special days.
You can also give some gifts to the children and ask them to exchange them with their friends. The children learn the importance of giving through such activities.
6. Story Building Activity
Story building activity is another fun activity that helps build the imagination skills of your child. The teacher can start the story by saying one line and the children can continue the story by saying anything they would like.
For example, if the teacher says there was a dog, one child may say that the dog is hungry. Another child may say that the dog found a bone. The story can go on till it reaches a specific conclusion. This activity can be fun. However, the teachers must teach the students how to recite a story by including some reading sessions before this game.
7. Pot Painting
You can give plain clay pots to the children and ask them to paint them in any colour they like. You can also encourage them to draw flowers, leaves, and other things on the pot. The children won’t turn them into a masterpiece but it will develop their creative skills. They can learn different shades of colours.
Help the kids in squeezing out the colours from their respective tubes. Also, teach them how to mix colours so that they can create a new and unique shade. Such play activities are useful in sharpening their imagination and motor skills.
8. Stamp Painting
One type of painting that has become popular in play school centres and nursery schools is stamp painting. You simply pour some colour on the mixing palette and cut some vegetables like ladies finger, garlic, etc.
Now, the children have to press the veggies on their favourite colours and stamp them on a white sheet of paper. The children can learn to create beautiful art forms through this activity. They can create flowers, leaves, and other beautiful patterns. Even though their artwork may not reflect a clean work, it enhances their creative and drawing skills.
9. Playdough Session
Another way of conducting fun activities in the preschool is by introducing the concept of playdough. You can bring a playdough of different colours and give some to each child.
Now, ask the children to make cups, ice creams, or any other object they like. The motive should be to inspire them to think about something and mould the clay into the desired shape. You can also give them other accessories like candy sticks, straws, play scissors, etc. to make this activity even more fun.
10.Smelling Activity
This activity will develop the sensory abilities of the children. Wrap some cloth around their eyes and ask them to identify the object by its smell. It could be a flower, fruit, or soaps. Give gifts to children who identify the objects correctly. You can also form teams and maintain the scores to decide which team wins at the end. It would also develop their team coordination skills.
11.Pasta Sorting
You can place different types of pasta like macaroni, penne, lasagna, etc. and ask the children to sort them. You can use bowls of different colours to place each kind of pasta. You may also use different colour pastas and ask them to sort the pasta on the basis of their colours.
Such games enhance the sorting skills of the students. It can help them identify different shapes and colours. At the same time, it enhances their coordination skills. You can also ask them to sort the pasta in groups to enhance their team coordination skills.
Conclusion
These were some games and activities through which you can imbibe various skills in preschool toddlers. As a parent, you can seek admission in preschools that introduce different games to enhance various skills of preschoolers. Let them get engrossed in different activities as they learn to read and write. It will develop their overall personality and increase their IQs from a young age!