Fun Activities For 3 Year Olds To 5 Year Olds

The kindergarten and preschool years are characterized as the age of pretend play… In the mind of a 3, 4 or 5 year old child, they can be anyone or anything they want to be. Whether it is an astronaut walking on the moon or a princess waiting to be rescued by a big, bad dragon, your child’s creativity is at its finest in these years!

So if you have been asking yourself, “What do I teach my 3 year old at home?”, use these learning activities as a guide for fun lesson plans for your little one through play.

The following simple learning activities for 3 to 5 years old are specifically targeted for your “little Einstein”, broken down into the appropriate domains of early childhood development. Be sure to also check out our thematic units page for activities broken down by theme (dinosaurs, transportation, apples, etc).

Wanting to prepare your child for Kindergarten? Find out what to teach a 3 year old in this post>>> 71 Things Your Child Needs to Know Before Kindergarten!

 

Please note:  These activities are simply suggestions for what the author believes is appropriate for this age. Please use your best judgement and consult your pediatrician when you have questions or concerns.

Activities for 3 Year Olds To 5 Year Olds

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Stocking Stuffers for Preschoolers
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Dinosaur Fossils Craft with Coffee Grounds
Sticky Wall Segmenting and Blending Activity for Beginning Readers
Sticky Wall Segmenting and Blending Activity for Beginning Readers
Roll and Mark Pumpkin Dot Art Activity
Roll and Mark Pumpkin Dot Art Activity
2-liter bottle Rocket Launcher
DIY Rocket Launcher
Alphabet Water Gun Target Practice
Alphabet Target Practice with Water Guns
Fine Motor Bird Feeder
Fine Motor Bird Feeder
How to Make Giant Bubbles
How to Make Giant Bubbles
Bicycle Spin Art- Such a fun outdoor process art activity for kids
Bicycle Spin Art
Treasure Map Capital and Lowercase Letter Matching Activity
Treasure Map Capital and Lowercase Letter Matching Activity
DIY Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder
Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder
Outdoor Tree Bark Rubbings
Outdoor Tree Bark Rubbings
Rainy Day Art with Chalk and Oil
Rainy Day Art with Chalk and Oil
Spring Suncatcher
Spring Suncatchers
Butterfly Watercolor Art
Butterfly Art with Watercolors and Hot Glue
Alphabet Easter Egg Hunt & Match
Toddler Leaf Lacing
Laced Leaf Suncatcher
Laced Leaf Suncatchers
Brown Bear Button Snake Retelling
Brown Bear Button Snake Retelling
Fly Swatter Fun for the Swimming Pool
Olympic Rings Cap Sorting
Olympic Rings Cap Sorting
Pinkalicious Roll and Count Playdough Cupcakes
Pinkalicious Roll & Count Playdough Cupcakes
Fizzy Olympic Rings
Sight Words in the Sand
Sight Words in the Sand
Birdseed Mystery Number Dig
Birdseed Mystery Number Dig
Corduroy Math
Corduroy Math: Learning with Buttons
Peter Rabbit Paper Plate Pop Up Garden
Peter Rabbit Paper Plate Pop Up Garden
LEGO Printables for Colors and Patterns
LEGO Printables for Colors and Patterns
Reading Sensory Bin
Heart Sensory Matching
Heart Sensory Matching
Color Words Printable Book
Color Words Printable Book for Valentine's Day
Get Moving Gross-Motor Dice
Gross-Motor Action Dice
Jingle Bell Painted Thank You Notes
Jingle Bell Painted Thank You Notes
Christmas Tree Stencil Art
Printable Christmas Lights Bingo Game
Christmas Sticker Creation Station
Perler Bead Christmas Soap: Easy Gift for Kids to Make
Leaf Walk Watercolor Art
Leaf Lei
Pumpkin Oobleck
Outdoor Chalkboard Plus 5 Easy Learning Activities
16 Scarecrow Crafts for Kids
16 Fun Scarecrow Crafts for Kids
Llama Llama Red Pajama Quilt Color Matching
Toilet Paper Pumpkins
Wipeable and Reusable Learning Mat
Counting Stamp Match
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Language Development Activities for 3-5 Year Olds

Start with this…

How to Teach Your Child to Read

how to teach kids to read

Alphabet Christmas Lights

Alphabet Crafts (by letter)

Alphabet Hop and Pop!

Alphabet Matching on Balloons

Alphabet Parking Lot:

Alphabet Pumpkin

Alphabet Sort & Match

Alphabet Squish

Alphabet Train Game

Alphabet Turkeys

b, d, p, q spinner

Beginning Sound Letter Hunt

Build-a-Word Magnetic Tray

Clothespin Matching Activity

Dr. Seuss ABC Letters in Shaving Cream

Flashlight Spot-and-Tell

Floor Tape Letters

Hide-and-Seek Alphabet Puzzle

Invisible Letters

Letter Boxes

Letter Pounding

Letter Recognition using Cheez-Its

activities for 3 year olds

Letter Scavenger Hunt at the Park

Magnetic Capital and Lowercase Letter Matching

Making Letters in Cranberry Sauce

Olympic Ski Matching

“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” Fishbowl Craft

Outdoor Alphabet Track

Outdoor Fairy Tale Game

Playdough and Alphabet Stamps

Pound-a-Sound

Printable Journal for Kids

Reading Comprehension Beach Ball

Sight Word Activities for Kids

Sight Word Bingo

Sound It Out Parking Lot

Venn Diagram with Letters

Watching TV to Improve Your Child’s Reading Ability?

Wet, Dry, Now You Try

Word Family LEGO Buildings

Wordless Picture Books:  Their Hidden Value

 

Cognitive Development Activities for 3-5 Year Olds

Abacus (Make Your Own)

Apps for Preschoolers

Animal Cracker Counting and One-to-One Correspondence Practice

Apple Graphing

Apple Patterning

“April Showers” One-to-One Correspondence Activity

Bathtub Shapes

Biggest to Smallest with Dinosaurs

Best Board Games for 3 to 5 Year Olds

Bottle Cap Sorting

Caterpillar Counting

Chicken Beak Counting & Guessing Game

Christmas Box Counting & Number Matching

Christmas Memory Game

Christmas Pom-Pom Sorting

Christmas Present Patterning

Color Sorting Hunt

Conversation Heart Graphing

Counting Kisses Game

Counting Robots

Counting Sun Spots Busy Bag

Counting Up to Big Numbers with an Abacus

Do-A-Dot Number Activity

Domino Addition with Dot Markers

Early Graphing Activity

Flower Patterning

Giant Shape Sort

“Heart Breaker” Number Game

Icy “I Spy”

Interactive Counting

Invent Your Own Indoor Kite

Invent Your Own Bubble Wands from Kitchen Tools

“I Spy” Activity Bottle

“I Spy” Mats

Jelly Bean Guessing Game

Learning Based on the Interests of Your Child

Learning Walk

License Plate Rubbings

Making Shapes

Measuring with Dinosaur Feet

Mixing Colors

Mixing Colors {in a most unique way}

Mixing Colors with Water Balloons

Monster Finger Puppet

Number Detectives

Number Pound

Number Snake

Overhead Projector Learning

Paint Sample Rainbow Fan

Pattern Train

People, Places, Things Farm Sort

Plastic Baggie “My Shapes” Book

Pop ‘n Learn

Pumpkin Seed Puzzles

Pushpin Numbers

Sand Numbers

Science Kit for Kids

Seek and Find Color Hunt

Shape Chick

Shape Fire Engine

Shape Investigation

Shape Ornaments

Silver Bells Memory Game

Snowy Shape Hunt

Sorting a Snack with Dinosaur Teeth

Sticker Graphing

Sticky Learning

Story Sequencing {The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything}

Stretchy Band Shapes

Summer Math Fun for Preschoolers and Kindergartners

Supermarket Scavenger Hunt

Tape Shapes

Ten Apples Up on Top

What Puts Out a Fire?

“Why are there craters on the moon?” Experiment

“Why do I need to wear sunscreen?” Experiment

“Will It Slide?” Science Experiment

 

 

Fine Motor Development Activities

Apple Star Stamping

Bathtub Painting

Car Painting

Cloud Dough

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” Sensory Play

Christmas Sticker Letter Tracing

Dinosaur Fossils

Edible Playdough

Fine Motor Practice (Before Dinner)

Hot Air Balloon

I Love You To Pieces Craft

Lick-and-Stick Stickers (DIY)

“Little Cloud” Activity

Painting at the Pool

Peach Pit Painting

Pedicure Stegosaurus

Pounding Golf Tees into a Pumpkin

SandDough

Sensory Tub with Shredded Paper

Spaghetti Designs

Tangled Pumpkin

Vertical Writing with Window Markers

X-Ray Playdough

 

Gross Motor Development Activities

Apple Toss

Balance Beam with Fiery Leaves

Hula Hoop Jumping

Indoor “Ice” Skating

Sponge Relay

Stoplight Beanbag Toss

Sword Fighting

Throw a “Snowball”

Turkey Toss of Thankfulness

 

Social and Emotional Development Activities for 3-5 Year Olds

Diffusing Temper Tantrums

“Feelings” Matching and Memory Game

Spiritual and Moral Development Activities

 

Apple Garland (The Fruit of the Spirit)

Apple Theme Sensory Tub

Apple Turkey

Autumn Tree

Balloon Terrarium

Beach Scene

Butterfly Tie-Dye Craft

Candy Wrapper Snowflake

Christmas Countdown to Santa

Counting Kisses Game

Ice “Fishing”

Indian Attire

Leaf Bracelet

Leaf Rubbing (Personalized)

Making Rain

Penguin Puppets

Race-Car Snack

Rain in a Jar

Red Hot Applesauce

Santa Says

Save, Spend Give Coin Bank

Snowflakes (Puffy)

“Spooly” Pumpkin

Submarine Art

Tangled Pumpkin

W is for Window

 

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