Sensory bins are the best for keeping small hands busy. You can switch out all the “fillers” and create tons of different combinations! Sensory bins are so versatile and are perfect for all little learners.
Check Out your JEA Preschool Savannah Teachers Reading Some of Your Favorite Books
PJ Library has put together an AMAZING set of resources. Check them out!
Ms. Jodi shared some of her favorite activities for you to do at home with your children. They all require little to no materials and will keep your kids busy learning.
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Activities for Toddlers
Activities for Two Year Olds
Art Activities – have children gather materials from outside and create a nature collage or gather materials from around the home and create open-ended art on large paper (the children love using glue sticks in our class) Materials may include sticks and leaves from outside, scraps of materials, strings, cut up magazines, DIY confetti, the list goes on!
Art Activities – Use various size cardboard boxes and paint or color them. Use these “blocks” to stack and build large towers. Get creative!
Physical Activities – Use the carboard boxes or laundry basket to push and “ride” around the house in. You can also use these boxes to clean up toys or push stuffed animals or dolls in.
Physical Activities – Create an obstacle course in your home or outside. Use materials around the home like a hula hoop, boxes, blocks to jump over, or a table to crawl under. Let your child help set it up and then monitor them as they make their way through it. Try placing tape on the floor in zig zag lines to follow or “balance” on.
Fine Motor – Cloud Dough is fun for children to crumble and mold. Mix together 2 cups of corn starch and 1/3 – 1/2 cups of vegetable oil. Place this in a large, flat container and give the children cookie cutter shapes or play doh shapes and let them have fun squishing, rolling and forming shapes with their hands!
Music and Movement – Create a Family Garage Band! Use various objects from around the house (pots and pans, spoons, water bottles to crinkle up or shake, etc.) and use them to create different sounds! Take it a step further and let your child choose a topic and create a short, silly song together. Make a music video of the family singing and playing instruments together.
Dramatic Play – DIY Puppets. Use paper bags, wooden spoons, popsicle sticks, socks, etc. to make a puppet. Provide your child with various materials and create a simple puppet together. Remember, a puppet can look like anything. Then use it later when reading them a story. Don’t forget to name your puppet!
Math – Tape City. On the floor, use painters tape to create roads and areas to park cars. Have your child help and tell you where to place roads and parking lots using the tape. Use blocks to create landmarks (get creative). Label each road with a number (1-10) in different colors. Label each building or landmark with a letter in different colors. Using cars, have your child drive cars around Tape City. Have them identify the numbers and letters, count how many buildings or homes there are, match the color of the car to the corresponding color of number or letter, count or line up a certain number of cars in the parking lots, etc. Ask questions while playing and exploring their own Tape City. For example, “Can you park three cars in the parking lot?” or “You have a yellow car. Can you find the matching yellow number?”. A math concept includes matching, counting, sorting, grouping, stacking, etc.
Language and Literacy – Reading Books and Putting on Plays. Choose one book a day to read. After reading, have your child choose their favorite part and allow them to interpret and explain it to you in their own way. It is important to listen to how your child has retained information after reading a book to them. Now, have fun and act it out or role play a character from the book! Use props you already have or make a simple DIY one. Remember to be silly and have fun.
Activities for Three Year Olds
Add turkey basters to a tub of water or bathtub
Transfer water from a bucket to an ice cube tray with eye dropper or spoon
Use dot markers on a white board
Cut straws and string to make a necklace
Thread beads onto a pipe cleaner
Pick up plastic caps with tongs or tweezers
Paint with Q tips
Squeeze playdough through holes of a citrus or garlic press
Trace outline of hands and feet on card stock. Cut out and tape to the floor. Have children position their own hands and feet on top.Like a sensory path.
Pom Pom Cup Toss- Line cups against the wall. Toss pom poms into the cup.
Action Letters- Write 4 different letters on 4 separate pieces of paper. Place the letters in corners of a room. Say a letter and an action to move to the letter. EX. Dance to the letter A.
Scoop and Transfer- Fill a basket with balls of different colors and place an empty basket on the other side of the room - Use cups, or spoons to pick up a ball; walk, skip, hop, or run to the empty basket and put the ball in it.
Pillow Walk-Collect pillow and cushions. Lay them out on the floor in a line. Attempt to walk or crawl across them without falling.
Hot potato game
Musical chairs
Activities for PreK
Have their child trace different letters with salt.
Play store or restaurant and have someone be the cashier and the other person be the customer to practice simple money concepts.
Go on a scavenger hunt for different items that start with a particular letter (ex: finding 4 things around the house that start with the letter H)
Have some items in front of you then have your child close their eyes and they have to guess which item you took away. Then switch and let your child hide ab item while you guess.
Have your child make a pattern with a small item around the house. (Ex: making a pattern with beads)
You and your child can make a collage with magazine cutouts of things you like to do with your child. You make a collage of things you like and your child makes a collage of things they like.
Bake something together that starts with your child's favorite letter.
Have your child pick out their favorite book in the house and they can pretend to "read" it to you.
Go outside with your child and lie on your backs and look up at the clouds and say what the clouds look like.