Preschooler Play & Learn

3 TO 3½ YEARS

Welcome to the Thoughtful Threes! Your child is becoming taller and leaner as he emerges from the toddler years. Along with the changes in his body come dramatic changes in his physical skills:

• Your child’s motor coordination is fine-tuning itself as he moves his arms, legs, hands, and fingers while performing specific tasks. Provide him with lots of opportunities to practice his gross and fine motor skills indoors and out.

• Your child is becoming more adept at physical tasks and gaining the confidence to try new things—and he thinks he can do just about anything! Give him plenty of opportunities to succeed and further enhance his self-esteem.

• Your child is experiencing a new freedom of locomotion. He’s learning to move his body through space in creative ways, not only by walking, but by running, hopping, jumping, rolling, dancing, climbing, and leaping. Make sure he has lots of open space in which to practice these skills.

• Your child’s developing fine motor skills are allowing him to do more challenging tasks such as drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, and pasting. Give him materials to use so he can fine-tune his manual dexterity.

ANIMAL PARTS

Have your child match the heads and tails of various animals. Or, let her have fun making crazy new animals!

Materials:

• Pictures of animals from magazines or inexpensive picture books

• Scissors

• Glue or paste

• Sheets of construction paper

• Floor or table

What to Do:

1. Cut out pictures of various animals.

2. Cut the pictures in half, separating the head area from the tail area.

3. Place the head halves on the floor or table in front of your child.

4. Pull out one of the tail halves and let her match it to the appropriate head.

5. Have her glue each completed animal onto a sheet of construction paper.

6. Repeat until all the animals are reconnected.

Variation: Have your child intentionally mismatch the heads and tails to create funny new animals!

Caution: Put away the scissors after you cut up the pictures, and make sure your child doesn’t put glue in her mouth.

ANIMAL WALK

Your child will have fun walking just like the animals! Help him use his imagination to move his arms, legs, head, and body.

Materials:

• Large room

• Picture books that include animals with distinct walks such as ducks, crabs, frogs, kangaroos, elephants, inchworms, chickens, rabbits, seals, snakes, caterpillars, and so on

What to Do:

1. Leaf through various picture books about animals.

2. As you read, encourage your child to try to walk like the animals in the books.

3. Help him by describing the movements and demonstrating if necessary. For example, show him how the duck waddles, the crab moves sideways, the kangaroo leaps, the elephant lumbers, the inchworm inches, the chicken lunges, the rabbit hops, the seal slides, the snake slithers, and the caterpillar…does a caterpillar walk!

Variation: Take turns imitating an animal walk and have the other person guess what animal you are!

Caution: Make sure the area is clear of obstacles.

BACK WORDS

Your child’s language skills are exploding, so encourage her to have fun with words by giving them a new twist. Say sentences and phrases backwards!

Materials:

• Mealtime setting

What to Do:

1. Play during mealtime, so your child can learn the game while using familiar sentences.

2. Start with simple sentences like “More milk please” and “Thank you.” Say them backwards: “Please milk more” and “You thank.”

3. Demonstrate a few times so she understands how to play.

4. Progress to longer sentences as your child gets better at playing the game.

Variation: Have a backwards hour when you do and say everything backwards. Or, try acting out a scene from a favorite book together backwards!

Caution: If your child becomes frustrated because she can’t understand the game, try using two-word sentences only, or stop and try again a few days later.

BOX CAR

A simple box can turn a child into a creative genius who can learn to do wonderful things with his mind and body!

Materials:

• Large box about half the size of your child

• Scissors or X-acto knife

• Duct tape

• Felt-tip pens, crayons, paint, stickers, decals, fringe, and other decorative materials

• Book about cars and trucks

What to Do:

1. Read a book about cars and trucks together and study the pictures.

2. Cut the top and bottom off a large box, leaving the sides intact.

3. Use duct tape to cover any rough edges and to reinforce corners, if needed.

4. Help your child decorate the outside of the box to look like a car or truck using felt-tip pens, paint, stickers, and so on.

5. When the car is finished, let your child take a drive around the house or yard.

6. For added fun, set up roads by laying down rope as a guide, and set up stop signs along the route.

Variation: Make an airplane or boat instead of a car, and let your child fly away or set sail!

Caution: Use caution with the scissors or X-acto knife with your child close by.

CAN YOU GUESS?

If you provide enough clues, your child will guess what you’re thinking about in no time at all! Give her a chance to quiz you, too!

Materials:

• Room with interesting items

What to Do:

1. Select an interesting and easily visible item, such as a figurine, located in the room.

2. Tell your child you’re thinking about something in the room and give her a clue such as the color, size, or shape.

3. Have her try to guess the item.

4. If your child guesses incorrectly, give her another clue and let her guess again.

5. Continue until she guesses the item.

6. Let your child take a turn choosing something and providing clues for you!

Variation: This is a great game to play while driving or waiting in line.

Caution: Be sure the item remains visible at all times. Also, don’t choose any items that are potentially dangerous to your child.

CAR-WASH BATH

Even kids who hate baths love the Car-Wash Bath—and they learn something while getting clean!

Materials:

• Bathtub

• Bubble bath

• Eye goggles

• Sponges and washcloths

• Shampoo and soap

• Sprayers and squirters

• Towels

• Lotion

What to Do:

1. Fill the tub with warm water.

2. Add bubble bath as the tub fills.

3. Place your child in the tub and fit goggles over his eyes.

4. Sponge him all over with sponges and washcloths.

5. Shampoo his hair and lather him up with soap.

6. Spray him clean with squirters, just like in the car wash!

7. Towel him off.

8. Wax him with lotion. All clean!

Variation: Follow the same procedure in the shower. Your child can go through the car wash there, too!

Caution: Make sure to keep soap out of your child’s eyes. Also, make sure the water isn’t too hot and watch that he doesn’t slip in the tub. Never leave your child unattended in the bathtub.

COLOR MY HAND

Help your child learn the parts of the body by creating a coloring book of her own body parts! Begin with her hand, then work up her arm to her elbows and face, then down to the stomach, legs, knees, and feet.

Materials:

• Photocopy machine

• Felt-tip pens or crayons

What to Do:

1. Place your child’s hand on the glass surface of a photocopy machine.

2. Cover her hand with the copier flap.

3. Tell her to close her eyes while the machine makes a copy so the bright light doesn’t hurt her eyes.

4. Press the button to make a copy.

5. Take the copy home. If the copy quality is poor, outline the hand with a black felt-tip pen before having her color it with felt-tip pens or crayons.

6. Let her add whatever details she wants such as rings, fingernails, nail polish, bracelets, and so on.

Variation: Photocopy lots of body parts and have your child put them together when you get home. She can color the pictures and see what kind of funny person she turns out to be!

Caution: Make sure your child closes her eyes while the machine is copying. Protect yourself the same way.

FOLLOW THE STICKERS

Here’s a version of a treasure hunt that keeps your child searching for the trail. Where it leads is up to you!

Materials:

• Dozen or more colorful stickers

• Treat such as a cracker or small toy

• Large play area

What to Do:

1. Buy a pack of colorful stickers.

2. Design a trail for your child to follow through the house or backyard.

3. Position stickers in plain sight every few feet along the trail.

4. Place a treat or toy at the end.

5. Have your child enter the search area and explain that he has to look for a trail of stickers that will lead to a treat.

6. Congratulate him when he finally discovers his prize!

Variation: To make the hunt more challenging, position the stickers farther apart each time you play. Also, have your child design a sticker trail for you! He can plan the entire route and choose the treat.

Caution: Avoid having your child climb up high or go near dangerous objects.

GO TOGETHER?

Teach your child to match items that go together, then see if she can make up a matching game for you!

Materials:

• Items that go together such as a shoe and sock, pencil and paper, fork and plate, soap and washcloth, toothpaste and toothbrush, comb and ribbon, ketchup and mustard, and so on

• Floor or table

What to Do:

1. Gather several pairs of items that go together but that are not identical.

2. Separate the pairs of items into two piles.

3. Place the first pile on the floor or table in front of your child.

4. Bring out one of the matching items from the other pile and show it to your child.

5. Have her select the matching item.

6. Set the matched pair off to the side and select another item.

7. Continue until all the items are paired.

8. Discuss how the items go together and how they are different.

9. Give your child a turn collecting matching items for you to pair!

Variation: Place all the items on the floor or table and let your child choose which ones go together.

Caution: Be sure the items are safe to handle.

GUESS THE END

Teach your child how to anticipate the ending of a story. He’ll be able to apply this skill to all kinds of cognitive tasks, especially problem solving.

Materials:

• Picture book with an exciting ending

What to Do:

1. Find a cozy place to read the book.

2. Read part of the story to your child, stopping before you get to the end.

3. Ask him what he thinks will happen.

4. Encourage him to think of several possible endings.

5. Read the rest of the book to find out how the story ends.

6. Discuss with him how the actual ending compares to the ones he imagined.

7. Repeat with other books.

Variation: Watch the first part of a movie. Repeat the procedure above, stopping in the middle to discuss possible endings.

Caution: It’s a good idea to select books that have happy endings, where problems are solved and the solutions are satisfying. Your child might become frustrated otherwise.

HANDY DANDY

Have your child use her imagination to see what she can create out of a tracing of her own hand!

Materials:

• Sheets of paper

• Felt-tip pens

What to Do:

1. Trace outlines of your child’s hand on several sheets of paper.

2. Have her color the hands, turning them into anything she likes such as a turkey, rooster, flower garden, face with big hair, sunrise, funny monster, porcupine, and so on.

3. See how many different things she can make from her hand outline!

Variation: Make foot drawings, too, and see what your child can make from them.

Caution: Use nontoxic, child-safe pens.

DIFFERENT SOUNDS

Teach your child how to discriminate between different sounds, especially ones that sound alike. He’ll end up being a good listener if he plays this game!

Materials:

• Several pairs of different-sounding items from various categories:

–2 appliances: can opener and blender

–2 bells: doorbell and telephone

–2 musical instruments: piano and guitar

–2 animals: dog and cat

–2 toys: bouncing ball and stacking block

• Cassette recorder and tape

• Table

What to Do:

1. Find several pairs of related items and tape-record their sounds.

2. Place the smaller items on a table.

3. Have your child listen to the tape and point to the item that is making the sound. He may have to move around the house to find larger items such as the piano or the animals. Stop the tape if he needs more time and repeat sounds if necessary.

4. After your child identifies all the sounds, separate the items into pairs and talk about how they sound similar and how they sound different.

Variation: Don’t display any of the items on a table, and have your child guess each one as it plays on the tape. Or, play only one of the sounds, let him point to the item, then have him choose another item that makes a similar sound.

Caution: Make sure the tape recorder volume isn’t too loud and avoid scary sounds.

MAKE A BOOK

Encourage your child to tell a story and make her own book, just like the real books at the library!

Materials:

• Children’s magazines or inexpensive picture books

• Paper, glue, tape, scissors, and stapler

• Felt-tip pens

What to Do:

1. Cut out eight to ten pictures from children’s magazines or picture books.

2. Lay out all the pictures on the floor so you can see them.

3. Glue the pictures (one per page) to plain sheets of paper, leaving enough room at the bottom to write a few lines of a story.

4. Have your child choose one picture, then another, and so on until all the pictures have been collected into a stack.

5. Place a plain sheet of paper on top of the stack and staple the pages together.

6. Have your child look at the first picture and begin telling a story that somehow relates to the picture’s contents.

7. Write down what she says under the picture.

8. Turn the page and have her look at the second picture and continue telling the story while you write down what she says under the picture.

9. Continue until you reach the end of the book.

10. Have her create a title and write it on the top sheet.

11. Read the story together!

Variation: