Preschool at Home: 101 Ideas (Part 1)

1. Fingerpaint.
2. Catch butterflies with a net, observe, and release.
3. Make edible bracelets by stringing Fruit Loops cereal onto plastic cord.
4. Do simple yoga poses with your kid, like Dog, Tree, or Boat Pose. Here’s Amelie doing Boat and Dog. (Pictures courtesy of Grandma & Grandpa.)


5. Make your own playdough: Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 4 tsp cream of tartar into a cooking pot. In a bowl, add 4 tsp of cooking oil and 4 drops of food coloring to 2 cups of water. Pour the liquid into the pot. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until it looks like mashed potatoes. Cool the dough and knead until smooth.
6. Bake your favorite low-sugar muffins.
7. Sing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” with hand movements.
8. Spread some glue on paper and drizzle with sand to make sand art.
9. Plant seedlings.
10. Fill plastic eggs with rice (halfway full) and tape shut to make shakers.
11. Make mini pizzas with premade dough, sauce, and cheese.
12. Make sun tea.
13. Make handprints in paint.
14. Create a scavenger hunt for things in nature like pinecones, feathers, and leaves.
15. Make a fort out of sofa cushions and sheets.
16. Paint rocks with washable paint.
17. Give washable toys a “bath” outside with a small bucket, water, sponge, and lots of bubbles.
18. Make masks (and decorate them) with paper plates and string.
19. Make sunprints! Place a fern, flower, or other object on sunprint paper and set in the sun briefly. Rinse with water and viola - a beautiful image appears. You'll need a sunprint kit; find one here.
20. Have a letter of the day and find things/words that begin with that letter.
21. Put up a birdfeeder.
22. Read books about the alphabet.
23. Trace your child’s body on a huge sheet of paper, and have your kid color it in with clothes, a face, or anything.
24. Go to the library and browse for picture books.
25. Make fun-shaped mini sandwiches with cookie cutters.
26. Sing “Ring Around the Rosy,” circling and falling together.
27. Read books about numbers.
28. Put on a 70’s dance song and rock out together.
29. Go into a dark place like a fort or closet and read books with a flashlight. (Amelie loves a good, dark closet these days.)
30. Play in the sand.
31. Make up a song about the sun.
32. Pick wildflowers.
33. Press and dry your flowers in a heavy book. Use them for art projects later.