Enjoyable and Educational Activities for 3-year-olds

I've found that I need to create more activities for 3-year-olds than for toddlers because their thirst for knowledge is greater than before. I've also noticed that preschoolers now gain skills more quickly than they used to. Preschoolers often still choose the activities they're accustomed to and tend to add a more challenging aspect to them. 

"Use what you have" is the motto of the Practical Playthings site. Most of these activities for 3-year-olds use items that many homes with young children already possess. Many of these activities to do with kids are very flexible in what can be used. I purposely do this to be more practical and also to encourage you to follow the interests of your child. That is the best way children learn.

Pre-Writing Activities for 3-Year-Olds 

Children are being taught to read and write earlier; however, many preschoolers are not ready yet. It's very beneficial to offer pre-writing activities for 3-year-olds that strengthen their hands in preparation for writing later. These activities also help develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, enabling them to use their hands effectively. Click through to find these simple and fun Pre-Writing Activities. 

Math Activities for 3-Year-Olds 

Children need plenty of hands-on math activities to understand the correlation between numbers and their quantities. Young children truly benefit from kinetic or hands-on learning. It literally builds pathways in their brains. 

Maria Montessori observed that between 3 and a half and 5 years old is the sensitive period for mathematics, during which children can grasp concepts more easily. Explore these fun Math Activities by clicking the link.

Play Dough Activities for 3-Year-Olds

Here are the most popular play dough ideas from my 20 years of caring for young children. Play dough creates perfect learning activities for 3-year-olds. It provides clean, open-ended sensory play with a variety of learning opportunities. Numerous play dough activities build on various skills, which are beneficial for 3-year-olds to develop further.

Click the link to explore these Play Dough Ideas. 

Sensory Play Activities for 3-Year-Olds 

I've been experimenting with which sensory activities are popular with young children. I've observed that 3-year-olds focus the longest on sensory play if they can transfer the material. By simply pouring and scooping with measuring cups, spoons, small containers, or reused scoops, young children can be introduced to mathematical concepts such as mass, volume, and area.

They can learn so much from the texture, weight, smell, sight, flow, and sound of the materials interacting with each other, including how they respond to movement and other objects.

Check out which Sensory Play is the most popular by clicking through. 

Learning Activities for 3-year-olds

Hands-on activities are extremely beneficial for young children to build pathways in their brains. Using multiple senses while they move their bodies helps them to truly understand the concepts they are exploring. 3-year-old development takes a leap and needs more stimulation. 

Discover how to challenge them with these 3-year-old learning activities.

Practical Life Activities for 3-Year-Olds

Get your preschooler involved with your chores to engage them and get things done all in one go with these practical life activities. There are many opportunities to build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination just by doing simple housekeeping that we'll be doing anyway.

Discover which Practical Life Activities that 3-year-olds can do via this link. 

Cooking Activities for 3-Year-Olds

Be inspired by these cooking with toddlers ideas. 3-year-olds love to get involved with fun looking tasks like cooking. They can learn foundation skills too. 

Explore these which Cooking Skills 3-year-olds are capable of.

Safety Activities for 3-Year-Old 

Most child predators carefully pick and test their victims. Even though children are not responsible for any abuse, they might prevent it by how they act or what they say. Safety games are effective ways of keeping children safe by training them in a fun way. You my think it's too early, but I play these safety games with all the 3-year-olds in my care and they love them.

Check out these easy Safety Games for child abuse prevention and help with road safety.

Things for Kids to Do in Most Communities

During my 15 years as a nanny in many places, I found things for kids to do in most communities that you might not have considered yet. They have been enjoyed by the 3-year-olds I have care for.

Discover which Things for Kids to Do in Most Communities.

Travel Activities for 3-Year-Olds 

There are lots of 3-year-old plane activities that are compact and light or require almost nothing at all. Even if you're not planning a trip, you can do these activities with your 3-year-old wherever you both are. It's handy to have these kinds of 3-year-old activities for waiting rooms, medical appointments, restaurants, public transport, and road trips (especially if you bring a tray).

Click the link for 3-year-old Plane Activities.

Find even more Learning Activities for Kids Here.