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50 Simple At Home Activities for Preschoolers

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Preschoolers are busy people. Their minds are always racing and their bodies never seem to stay still. If you are home for extended periods of time with young children, it can feel like you run out of ideas to keep them entertained. Your regular toys might not be as exciting anymore. However, there are still so many exciting activities to do in and around the house. All of these use very basic materials that you either already have or can easily obtain. This list is sure to inspire even more ideas to keep your little one happy, healthy, and active. Here are 50 at-home activities for Preschoolers broken down into 30 simple indoor activities and 20 around the house ideas.

30 Indoor Activities for Preschoolers

  1. Paint on construction paper with water.
  2. Build a fort out of pillows and blankets.
  3. Have a living room picnic.
  4. Practice fine motor skills.
  5. Plant a seed and watch it grow.
  6. Build a bird house. (or a hummingbird feeder)
  7. Make homemade playdough.
  8. Learn to sing a new song.
  9. Have a dance party.
  10. Keep a weather journal.
  11. Make a drum out of an oatmeal container.
  12. Have a tea party.
  13. Experiment with colors.
  14. Play musical chairs.
  15. Fill up measuring cups with water and transfer to a bowl.
  16. Bake a cake and decorate it.
  17. Build a castle out of blocks.
  18. Make a hopscotch on the floor out with painter’s tape.
  19. Create an indoor obstacle course.
  20. Play follow the leader.
  21. Have a slow race—who can get there the slowest?
  22. Learn American Sign Language (ASL) and practice together.
  23. Make an empty box into a car and host a “drive in movie.”
  24. Set up a bowling alley in the hall. Use plastic cups for the pins and a soft ball.
  25. Make homemade butter with heavy cream and salt in a mason jar.
  26. Build pictures with pattern blocks.
  27. Make puppets out of lunch bags and have a puppet show.
  28. Learn how to play Sudoko.
  29. Play balloon volleyball.
  30. Create a stuffed animal zoo and pretend to tend the animals.

20 Around the House Preschool Activities

  1. Draw an obstacle course on your driveway.
  2. Have a backyard camp out.
  3. Hang up a bird feeder and keep track of which birds visit.
  4. Lay down a jump rope and practice walking a “tight rope”
  5. Pick flowers to press inside a book.
  6. Have a nature scavenger hunt.
  7. Play tag and hide & seek.
  8. Set up a family car wash (bikes welcome).
  9. Find shapes in the clouds.
  10. Play hot potato with a very wet sponge.
  11. Plant a butterfly garden.
  12. Learn to identify the trees or plants around your home.
  13. Watch the sunset.
  14. Try to count the stars.
  15. Fly a kite.
  16. Roast marshmallows over a campfire or grill.
  17. Paint rocks to decorate the garden.
  18. Keep a science journal of the animals, birds, and insects you see.
  19. Plant a sunflower and watch it follow the sun.
  20. Make a map of your yard/home.

Monster Teeth Math Mat

Counting Math Mats

Are you planning out a Monster Preschool Theme for your classroom? Then this is an activity you’ll want to add to your line-up! Not only does it have a silly toothless monster, but it gives students an opportunity to put some of that Halloween candy to an educational use!

Addition Math Mats

Candy corn makes the perfect math manipulative for these silly monster mats! Each candy corn represents a single tooth for the monster’s mouth, and the roll of the dice determines how many “teeth” children add to the mat. This game can be played with a single die for students working on counting skills, or two dice for students working on addition skills.

Subtraction Math Mats

You could even adapt this mat to work on subtraction skills if you have students start out filling the monster’s mouth with ten teeth. Then rolling the dice and subtracting the rolled amount. Just be sure to let your students “sample” some of those monster teeth

Monster Dice Mat

Print this free monster dice mat to play with your students today! Laminate or store in a page protector for reuse.

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Spring Activities for Preschool

During the preschool year it is important to expose children to different activities to build visual discrimination skills. Visual discrimination skills include the ability to visually determine the similarities and differences between two or more objects. One way to build these skills is through various matching games and activities.

Traditional matching games include the exact same item to match to another. (Think of memory or concentration in which students must match the exact picture). If that is what you are looking for, check out our free Spring Worksheets here. However, there is much more to visual discrimination then exact matches. For example, matching different shapes or pictures by pattern! That is the idea behind today’s free preschool learning game:

Spring Pattern Matching Game

This game is super low-prep and tons of fun! Your students will enjoy the new challenge of matching by pattern and not just by picture. The game includes two game board mats which you can laminate or mount to a file folder for durability.

There is a single sheet of game cards you’ll cut out that students will use for playing pieces. For each picture, the rainbow for example, there are two matching pattern cards; a bird with a rainbow on it and an egg with a rainbow on it. It is up to the students to match the correct cards to the picture by looking closely at the patterns.

Some patterns are simlar! Notice the lady bug and the watermelon? The paint tray and the cookie? Your preschool students will have to pay close attention as they are matching! Encourage them to go slow and look carefully at each picture pattern as they play!

    Spring Pattern Matching Game: Mat 1

    Print this free spring matching game mat on cardstock for best results. Features a flower, rainbow, bee, cookie, watermelon, and jelly beans.

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      Spring Pattern Matching Game: Mat 2

      Print this free spring matching game mat on cardstock for best results. Features a pencil, lady bug, paint tray, pizza, umbrella, and rain cloud.

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        Spring Pattern Matching Game Cards

        Print these free Spring matching game cards on cardstock and laminate for best results. These can be used with the game mats or separately as a memory or concentration game.

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