educational activities for 4 year olds at home

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44+ Fun and Easy Activities for 4 Year Olds

• Kindergartner
• Preschooler

Check out these fun and easy activities and play ideas for 4 year olds. Here you will find tons easy ideas that you can set up for your preschooler while you take a meeting or get some work done at home. There are also fun sensory bin ideas, cool crafts for them to make and amazing hand-on learning ideas that are playful and fun. Tons of easy ways to keep your 4 year old busy, engaged and entertained at home!

And check out my short form crafting series Curious Crafting on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube ! Watch all the episodes here . Look for Season 2 of Curious Crafting coming in the new year.

Ways to Keep 4 Year Olds Busy

This amazing list of ideas is organized into a few sections. Let me highlight them here for you so you can quickly find what you are looking for fast. Scroll down to find each section.

• Easy Activities That 4 Year Olds Can Do Alone While You Work. These are ideas that you can set up and let your 4 year old do while you work, tend to baby, fold laundry or simply sit down scroll through your phone (yup you’re allow to do that every once in a while)!
• Low Prep Activities for 4 Year Olds. Activities that require little to no prep to create for your preschooler.
• Fun Sensory Bins. Easy sensory bins to create for your 4 year old!
• Easy Crafts for 4 Year Olds . Fun arts and craft ideas that you can do with your 4 year old.
• Hands-on Learning Activities . Fun ways to learn everything from letters, to their name, to numbers, shapes, counting and more.
• Simple STEAM for 4 Year Olds. Engaging Science Experiments four year olds will love!
• Easy Process Art Activities. Process art ideas to help develop creativity and have fun!

5 Easy Activities That 4 Year Olds Can Do Alone While You Work

1. wash the toys..

Grab two large sensory bins or Tupperwares ware containers. Fill one container with water and dish soap. Mix it up to make it bubbly. You don’t need a lot of water to make this fun and engaging just an inch or two will do. Lay a towel underneath everything in order to reduce the mess and clean up afterwards. Fill the other tub with tons of farm animals or dinosaurs or cars. You can set up one thing to wash every week! Let them wash the animals in the soap water. Add towels for drying. You can also add fine motor tools like eye droppers or turkey basters for washing, sponges or scrub brushes. If you’re feeling ambitious you can also place the animals outside the tub and put clean water in the second tub allowing your child to wash and then rinse the animals off before drying them.

Fun Activity using Magnets

2. playing with magnets..

Fill a sensory bin with all the metal object you can find. Think toy trains, cars, coins, paper clips, fridge magnets, bells, magnetic letters, keys. Throw in some other nonmetal items too. Hand your child a magnetic wand and let them explore trying to pick up item. Add cardboard tubes to the sides of the sensory bin using painter’s tape and have them toss metal items down the tubes that will fit and then have them recover the items using the magnetic wand . Check out here how we did it.

Make Foil Presents

3. foil puzzle match ..

Tear off sheets of foil to fit the puzzle pieces and have them do the wrapping for you! Model how to wrap with foil, folding over the puzzle pieces rather than scrunching. Place all the pieces in the basket and let the unwrapping begin! Trust me they will want to do this more than once so tear off a bunch and hand them over as they need them.

Fun Activities using LEGO

4. lego animal trace.

One a large sheet of butcher paper draw the outline of a few animals like a turtle, lion or peacock and invite your child to fill in the rest of the animal with LEGO DUPLO.

5. LEGO Body Trace

Similar to LEGO animal trace but instead you trace their bodies and have them fill them in with LEGO DUPLO or magnetic tiles!

10 Low Prep Activities For 4 Year Olds

6. super steam activity book.

Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more. 

Find out more and grab your copy here .

7. Make a Bubble Snake

8. Super Easy Ice Sensory Bin

9. Ready Made Playdough Kits

10. Dot Sticker Match

11. Sponge Letter Wash Sensory Bin

12. Pom Pom Water Sensory Bin

13. Mega Blok Names

14. Paint the Toys

Paint plastic outdoor toys with washable paints. Then have your kids rinse off the toys with soap and water and sponges before it actually dries!

• Pom Pom Mega Blok Sort

Fun Sensory Bins and Sensory Play Ideas for 4 Year Olds

• Dinosaur Dig Sensory Bin for Kids

• Outer Space Sensory Bin

• Awesome Fizzy Ice Cream Shop Sensory Bin

• Easy Dandelion Water Table Activity

• LEGO Car Wash Sensory Bin

21. The BEST (Super Easy & Soft) Playdough Recipe

22. Mud Kitchen Set Up For Kids

• Bubble Foam Sensory Bin

• Rainbow Pouring Station Sensory Bin for Kids

• Frozen Pom Poms

• Moon Rock Letters

Crafts for 4 Year Olds

• Easy Glue Resist Rainbow Painting

• Easy Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft for Kids

• Easy Nature Butterfly Sticky Wall Craft

• Dandelion Snail Threading Board: Outdoor Spring Fine Motor Activity

• Melted Crayon Picture Frame: A Colorful STEAM Craft

• Easy Foil Printing

• Fizzy Painting

• Salad Spinner Lion Craft

• Puffy Paint Cupcake Craft

• Cardboard Laptop Craft

• Farm Animal Finger Puppets Craft

• Cotton Pad Turtle Craft

Easy Learning Activities for 4 Year Olds

• TP Name Sort Activity for Preschoolers

• Cupcake Liner Math Activity

• Caterpillar Pom Pom Counting: Easy Toddler Math

• Washi Tape Pattern Matching

• Dot Sticker Cupcake Math: Easy Toddler Activity

• Pom Pom Sweep

• Letter Sticky Wall Crafts

• Pom Pom Caterpillar Counting

• Caterpillar Number Match for Preschoolers

• Cactus Letter Matching & Fine Motor Activity

• Fingerprint Letters

50. Easy Paint the Shapes Activity for Preschoolers

51. Alphabet Matching

Easy STEAM Activities for 4 Year Olds

52. easy baking soda and vinegar experiment for kids.

53. Fizzy Lemon Volcanoes

54. Dot Sticker Coding: Easy STEAM Activity

55. How to Make Oobleck for Kids

56. Dancing Water Beads

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mandisa | Happy Toddler Playtime (@happytoddlerplaytime)

Process Art Activities for 4 year Olds

57. salt painting for toddlers & preschoolers.

58. How to Easily Do Blow Painting with Straws

59. Sock Hands Painting

60. Painting Ice: Super Easy Art Activity for Kids

61. Shower Curtain Painting

Age Suitability

This activity is good for kids 4 years and up. My kids are 4, 4, and 8 year old.

This is a mess level varies.

Difficulty to Create

Easy to Medium.

Skills Developed

Sensory play, letter recognition, gross motor skills, language development, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.

Check out My Books, TV Show & Play Kits!

Book: exciting sensory bins for curious kids.

Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information  Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids . Or grab your copy at  Amazon . 

Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.

Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids

Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids , of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles that show them how to think outside the box.

• 350 riddles for kids —Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
• Level up their skills —Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
• Double-check their work —Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.

Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!

Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.

TV Show: Curious Crafting

I’m so excited to finally share my new crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched July 1 at on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube !

This show is all about fun and easy crafts for toddlers and preschoolers. 

Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.

In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create. 

Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.

The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids

Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.

Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!

Shop our ready made play kits here .

Will you try any of these activities with your 4 year old pin it for later.

Filed Under:

• Fine Motor Skills
• Four Year Olds
• Gross Motor Skills
• Sensory Bins, Bottles and Bags

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20 Activities for 4 Year Olds to Do at Home

Posted on Published: March 16, 2020  - Last updated: May 3, 2024

As a mom of several little ones close in age, I can appreciate how helpful it can be to have activities for 4 year olds available for when you just need ideas to keep them entertained.

I’m a BIG fan of outdoor play and LOTS of it, but there are times when the weather just doesn’t allow for that and other reasons to be shut in.

For those times, these activities listed below are what we turn to.

The beauty of this age is that play is the very best way for them to learn . There’s no need to have structured learning but these games and activities will certainly encourage learning in a really fun way.

Activities for 4 Year Olds to Keep Them Entertained

I’ve never been a “glitter mom” that has these incredibly fun and creative activities set up for her kids.

I like to keep things simple and affordable, so you won’t find anything time-consuming or expensive listed here.

These activities are all either free or cheap to put together.

#1 Coloring

Not all kids love to color in, but I’ve found that if you allow them to color however they want with no expectations, they do start to enjoy it.

You can grab some free alphabet coloring pages by signing up below.

Otherwise, coloring books and coloring supplies are very affordable and are well worth having on hand.

I always go for washable markers and crayons so I don’t have to stress about having to watch their every move.

#2 Playing Doctors

I love this because your child can either play this with you, with their siblings or just using a soft toy.

In fact, this was one of my go-to activities when I was pregnant because I could lie down and “rest” while my son played the game.

You don’t have to have a doctor kit , but they are cheap enough to find and your child will love using it.

I’m a nurse, so we often have great conversations about the human body when my kids play doctor.

#3 Read Books

You can never read to your child too much. Seriously.

It is SO good for them.

I’ve linked some of my favorite books below, but also don’t be afraid to read chapter books as well. My son is a big fan of the Little House on the Prarie series .

If you find that they just don’t want to sit still then letting them color or play with Duplo while you read is a great option.

Another thing to consider is looking into audiobooks. This is a great way to encourage some quiet time so everyone can have a break.

#4 Play Board Games

Connect Four , Roll and Play , Trouble , and Go Fish are all great games to play with a four-year-old.

We also enjoy Snakes and Ladders and Buckaroo .

#5 Play with Playdoh or Kinetic Sand

I personally find Playdoh a lot easier to tidy up, but both kinetic sand and playdoh are great options for open-ended play.

You can leave your child to play with these on their own, or you can get some playdoh mats and encourage letter recognition.

You’ll need to buy kinetic sand but you can easily make your own playdoh at home and just use kitchen items for moulding tools.

#6 Paint with Water

If you have any kind of outdoor space then this is a super easy activity to set up.

Give your child a bowl of water and a paintbrush and let them have fun “painting” anything they’d like.

Both my 4-year old and 2-year old love this activity and it keeps them entertained for a really long time.

#7 Dance Party

Being cooped up inside can lead to kids bouncing off the walls…which can drive you crazy (especially when you live in a smaller home).

One way that I’ve found to help get their wiggles out is by allowing a dance party.

I put on some fun kids music and let them dance to their heart’s content.

Sometimes I join in…other times I take the opportunity to get a minute’s peace a quiet.

#8 Play Dress Ups

If you have some costumes then this is a great time to bring them out and let your 4-year old play dress ups.

Otherwise, you could be creative and make costumes from what you already have at home.

A towel can be a superhero cape, and little girls will love dressing up in your clothes.

Things don’t have to be fancy in order to be fun and spark the imagination.

#9 Hide n’ Seek

My son is terrible at this game but it is so much fun.

And when I say terrible what I mean is that when he hides he can’t stop himself from giggling…so everyone always knows where he is.

Regardless, it’s such an easy game to play with your 4-year-old and you can extend the fun to siblings too.

#10 Water Play

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that bring the most joy.

There have been many evenings when I’ve been trying to get dinner put together and all three children have been whining at my feet.

On those days I grab a big towel and put a bunch of plastic containers on it with some water in each.

I give my kids spoons and they go to town transferring water from one container to the next.

So simple and yet it’s a great activity!

#11 Build a Fort

Who else has great memories of fort-building as a kid?

It doesn’t take much more than propping some sheets or blankets over furniture to make a great fort that your 4-year old will love to play in.

#12 Watch a Movie

Screen time isn’t something that many people recommend but sometimes it has its place.

Disney + is our favorite place to find fun family movies to enjoy together.

It’s even more fun when you watch it from a fort that you’ve built together in the living room.

Add some fun snacks and you’re set up for making some great family memories.

Most 4-year olds love to help in the kitchen. Baking is a great activity idea and you’ll be getting two benefits out of it.

First, your 4-year old will have a fun activity to do with you, and second, they’ll have a snack to have later on.

#14 Play with Duplo or Legos

Lego and Duplo are two things that we can personally never have enough of in our home.

The open-ended nature of them is ideal for preschoolers.

I love them for quiet time in the afternoon or for when I’m reading aloud to my children.

Magnatiles are also a great thing to stock up on. We use all three in our home.

#15 Wipe Clean Books

Not all 4-year olds will love to sit and work on a book but for those that do, wipe-clean books are a perfect idea.

Alternatively, if you have a laminator , you can print off coloring pages and laminate them so your child can use washable markers on them and you can just wipe them clean.

#16 Scavenger Hunt

We’ve done many kinds of scavenger hunts in our home but this is an activity that you can easily turn into an educational one if you’d like.

If you have flashcards of any kind, you can hide them around the place and have your child look for them.

This works great for letter, number, shape, and color recognition.

Otherwise, just using household items is a fun way to play as well.

#17 Puzzles

Another quiet activity that your 4-year old can either do individually or with someone else is working on a puzzle.

Wooden puzzles are my favorite as the pieces are less likely to be damaged.

While chores don’t sound like a fun activity idea , they are actually great for 4-year olds.

They’ll learn responsibility and diligence.

Plus, most 4-year olds are very eager to be just like mom or dad, so you’ll find that they’re excited to help.

Here’s a list of great chore ideas for 4-year olds .

#19 Tea Party

If you did some baking earlier in the day, why not host a tea party later on?

Otherwise, if your child has a tea set , give them some water to use in the cups and let them have some fun with their imagination.

#20 Simon Says

When my kids are needing a way to calm down (and stop driving me crazy) Simon Says is something that works to bring everyone together.

My 4-year old loves this game and I often use it as an opportunity to teach him more about his body and what the different names of things are.

This list of activities is meant to help you and not put any pressure on.

I’m a firm believer in that my job is not to entertain my children. Its good for them to feel bored sometimes because that’s what encourages the use of imagination.

With that said, there are times when I need to step in and direct them a bit which is when these activity ideas come in handy.

I hope that you find them helpful and have loads of fun with your 4-year old!

Hi! I’m Christine – a homeschooling mom of three. I see homeschooling simply as another facet of parenting. Just as you teach your child to tie their shoes, you can also teach them how to read and do arithmetic. As a second-generation homeschooler, I know the endless benefits that homeschooling offers. I went on to complete a Bachelor of Nursing and have now chosen to stay at home with my children (while also running an online business).

I have a heart for mothers that feel as though they are just existing from day to day and are longing for more. You can find out more about me and my family over on my ‘ About Me ‘ page.

As well as the abundance of posts you’ll find on my blog, you can also find me over at iHomeschool Network and Today Parenting .

Stuck at home? Check out these great resources! - Homeschool Freedom

Tuesday 17th of March 2020

[…] Christine shares 20 Activities for 4 year olds. […]

42 Fun STEM Activities for 4 Year Olds (and Preschoolers)

by Sarah | Activities , Learning , Science | 0 comments

STEM activities are perfect for young kids because it combines learning with fun! Do you have a preschooler in your home? Try out some of these easy STEM activities for 4 year olds for some good educational fun.

Preschoolers are at the perfect age for STEM activities because they are old enough to follow simple directions, understand and think deeper about the world around them, and have a longer attention span than toddlers. 

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Using STEM Activities with Preschoolers

First, what does STEM mean? STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. You may also hear a similar acronym called STEAM. This one has an added A which stands for Art. 

The activities you’ll find below are a combination of STEM and STEAM activities. Art is important too!

Let’s look at each of the different aspects of STEM and what kinds of activities might be included in each one. 

Science includes many different subcategories such as biology, chemistry, physics, geology, environmental, botany, and more.

For preschoolers (which is 3-4 year olds), science is basically learning the basics of the world around them. 

They are learning how plants grow. About objects they see in the night sky. About all the different types of animals. How our actions affect the environment and simple science experiments.

This is the perfect time to take advantage of your child’s love of farm animals or dinosaurs! Use what they love as a jumping off point for learning. 

Don’t expect mastery at this point, but the beginning of understanding basic scientific concepts, exposure to vocabulary, and learning how to ask questions about what they see. 

Technology may seem like an abstract concept for some- and maybe when you think of technology you think of computers, video games, and screen time. 

While these are part of technology, there is a lot more to it. 

Technology for preschooler may look like beginning robotics, coding, and cause & effect. As well as learning the basics of using things like calculators, cameras, computers, etc. 

Engineering

Engineering may seem like something that is too advanced for preschoolers, but remember that everything is built on smaller ideas and concepts. 

Engineering for preschoolers is all about exploring how things are built, how things work, and problem solving.

Engineering for 4 year olds might look like building challenges with items such as legos, blocks, or random items from around the home or yard. It could be creating mazes or forts.

Basically giving them a potential problem and letting them figure out a way to solve it.

Math probably seems pretty self explanatory- we all know what math is, right?

But math in STEM activities is all about exploring numbers in a more hands-on way. There are no worksheets here!

They can explore concepts of addition and subtraction, measurement, patterns, and geometry. 

Even though art isn’t part of STEM, it is part of STEAM, so I thought I’d include it here as well. 

Art is an important part of building a creative mind. As you would expect, art includes things like painting, drawing, other creative mediums. 

How to Do STEM Activities With Your Child

First and foremost, STEM activities should be fun and engaging. Even if you explain nothing to your child about the activity they will still be able to critically look at what they are seeing and make connections. 

STEM activities should be hands-on. That means you may have to make some alterations to experiments to make them safe for little hands. 

You want to allow them as much control in the activities as possible. Let them measure, build, pour, mix, feel, etc. as much as possible. This means you might have to fight the urge to make things perfect- remember it’s more about the experience than anything else!

While doing the STEM activities with your preschooler, be sure to fight the urge to lecture, but do encourage discussions and observations. 

A big part of STEM for 4 year olds is learning how things work. This means encourage them to look closely at what is happening.

Ask open-ended questions like  what do you see? What is happening here? What do you smell?  As they get older they will eventually move on to writing their data down, but for now just get your preschooler used to observing.

Also encourage them to ask questions. You want them to be curious about WHY things are happening. WHY the experiment turned out the way it did.

There are no stupid questions, so encourage your child to ask whatever they want. And then encourage them to guess on the answer. This is the first step to learning to how to hypothesize and experiment using the scientific method.

Don’t know the answer to their questions? Do some research together!

And finally, kids love repetition. And, while it might annoy you to do things over and over again, it will help your preschooler solidify their understanding of STEM concepts. So do these STEM activities more than once- or as often as your preschooler wants!

42 STEM Activities for 4 Year Olds (and Preschoolers)

Now it’s time for the STEM activities! Below you will find all sorts of fun STEM (or STEAM) activities to do with your preschooler. 

Exploding Baking Soda and Vinegar Bags (a STEM Activity)

Make exploding baking soda and vinegar bags to teach chemistry to young kids!

Cicada Shell Sensory Activity for Nature-Loving Kids

Thrill your bug-loving preschooler with this cicada shell sensory activity to help them learn about cicadas!

How to Teach Kids About the Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Help kids learn about metamorphosis using real butterflies!

8 Fun Candy Corn Math Activities for Young Kids

Try these Candy Corn math activities for kids to make their Fall and Halloween math practice fun and exciting!

Oil and Water Sensory Bag for Science Exploration

Let your kids learn about oil and water with this oil and water sensory bag for mess free science fun!

How to Do a Nature Scavenger Hunt for Kids (of All Ages!)

Go on nature scavenger hunt for a fun nature-filled activity for kids, and parents, of all ages!

Simple Acids and Bases Science Experiment to Do With Kids

Try this acid and base experiment to test household solutions and decided if they are acidic or basic!

Fun Chemical Reaction Experiment for Kids That Gives Off Heat!

Try this chemical reaction experiment that shows how chemical reactions produce heat!

How to Make Dancing Popcorn

Have fun learning chemistry with this fun dancing popcorn activity!

How to Create a Fun Baking Soda and Vinegar Sensory Play Tub

Make a baking soda and vinegar sensory play tub that will keep them engaged for hours!

Marbled Planet Craft: A Fun Way to Learn the Planets

Make beautiful swirled planets to help teach your children about space and learn the planets by name.

Simple Color Mixing Activity for Kids

Try this simple, hands-on color mixing activity to teach about primary and secondary colors!

7 Math Centered Candy Heart Activities for Young Kids

Make math fun this Valentine’s day by bring some candy hearts into your lessons! 

How to Make Fizzing Baking Soda Paint (a STEAM Activity)

Try making baking soda paints to combine science and art into a fun activity for all ages!

How to Make Glow in the Dark Slime!

Make your own glow in the dark slime!

Fun Fizzing Baking Soda Dinosaur Eggs STEM Activity

Try making these fizzing baking soda dinosaur eggs- and hatch them out with vinegar!

How to Have a Math Scavenger Hunt + Free Printable

Host a math scavenger hunt for the kids and make learning fun!

Fire Slime- A Simple Slime Recipe for Science Fun!

A simple slime recipe that kids can make on their own and learn a little science along the way!

How to Make the Best Paper Airplane for Long Flights

Paper airplanes use thinking skills and attention to detail. Plus they're fun to fly!

8+ Water Bead Activities for Hours of Sensory Fun

Experiment and explore with water beads!

More Simple STEM Activities for 4 Year Olds

Here are a few more simple preschool STEM activities to try with your kids: These encourage critical thinking and natural curiosity, plus they are tons of fun!

Coloring Flowers:  Place white flowers (like daisies or carnations) in vases filled with colored water. Watch the white petals change color!

Make Your Own Fossils:  Use homemade playdough or clay and make fossil prints of your tiny dinosaurs, shells, or other toys animals.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Balloons:  Blow up a balloon using the reaction between baking soda and vinegar! You can get the full instructions here: 7 Baking Soda and Vinegar STEM Activities for Kids

Make Rain in a Cup:  Fill a cup with 2/3 with water. Fill the rest of the way with shaving cream (this is your rain cloud). Drip blue food coloring on top the cream and watch it slowly rain down into the cup!

Magnet Exploration Tray:  Set up a tray with various magnets and metal pieces- and maybe some non metal objects as well. Let your child explore how the magnets work!

Make Rock Candy:  Learn about super saturated solutions and crystal making- and get something yummy to eat! Here’s a simple recipe: Rock Candy

Grow Crystal Snowflakes or Ornaments:  Make borax solution and place pipe cleaners molded into shapes in the solution, Watch the crystals grow! Here’s how: Borax Snowflakes . *Watch your child carefully around borax.

Pencils in a Bag:  Fill a ziploc bag halfway with water and zip close. Carefully poke sharp pencils through the bag all the way to the other side. Does the water spill out? How many pencils can you add before it leaks or pops?

The Lego Challenge:  Challenge your child to build something specific out of legos. Like a chair for a small stuffed animal, a bridge, or any other structure.

Marshmallows and Toothpicks:  Give your child a tray of mini-marshmallows and toothpicks and encourage them to build and explore. What shapes can they make?

Sink and Float Tub:  Give your child a tub of water (or just use the sink or bathtub) and collect various objects from around the house. Have them guess and test which will float and sink.

A Measuring Station: Give your child a variety of measuring devices- yard stick, ruler, measuring tape, etc. And explore measuring things- don’t forget to estimate the lengths and use things like your own hands or feet to measure too!

Non-Newtonian Fluid:  All you need is cornstarch and water and you have this fun goop to explore with. Is it solid? Is it liquid?

Plant a Garden (or Some Seeds):  Gardening is the best way to learn about the lifecycle of plants. Even if you can’t grow a big garden, plant some bean seeds, watch an avocado pit grow, or sprout some potatoes! Don’t forget to point out the different parts of plants!

Make Seed Bombs: Mix flower seeds in with clay and allow to dry. Throw them out in the yard and watch them grow!

Build a Volcano:  This old school activity is always a fun science experiment for kids! They just love building the volcano out of mud, dirt, or clay. And watching the baking soda and vinegar eruption!

Make Your Own Ice Cream in a Bag:  Get some cream, sugar, vanilla, rock salt, ice and some plastic bags and you can make ice cream! Here’s how: ice cream in a bag .

Walking Water Experiment:  Watch water “walk” from one place to another and learn about capillary action! All you need if food coloring, water, and paper towels. Here’s how to do it: Walking Water Experiment

Mentos and Coke Explosion: Similar to a volcano you can make a big chemical reaction by dropping mentos candy into a bottle of coke! Maybe you could experiment with other sodas as well!

Make a Balloon Rocket: Place a straw on a length of string. Stretch the string across the room and secure so that it is taut. Blow up a balloon- but don’t tie it. Tape the straw to the top of the balloon and let it go- how far will it travel across the string?

The Building Challenge:  Challenge your child to build something with uncommon building materials- such as plastic cups, rocks, paper, recyclables, etc. Let them explore and see how big or how high they can build. This is a simple STEM activity that builds problem solving skills. 

And finally don’t forget the biggest STEM activity of all: Play. Playtime is how preschoolers learn. So surround them with learning opportunities and open-ended toys. Here are some of my favorite:

• Magnetic Tiles for building
• REAL tools in kids sizes- give them some scrap wood, a hammer, nails, screws, screwdrivers, etc. 
• Doughs like playdough, kinetic sand, moon sand, etc. 
• Exploratory tools like magnifying glasses, microscopes, bug boxes, butterfly nets, etc. 
• Realistic animals

You want to give your child toys that can be used in many different ways to create and explore with!

Who Can Do These STEM Activities?

Even though the list of STEM activities is aimed for 4 year olds, really kids of all ages can have fun with these simple STEM projects. In general though, these activities will be good for kids preschool age to elementary school age. 

Just remember to tailor them to  your own child’s abilities. Kids don’t magically gain abilities when they pass their 3rd or 4th birthday- so some toddlers may be able to do these fun activities and some 4 year olds might not be ready for them.  But with a little alterations even 1 year olds and toddlers can enjoy many of these fun activities- so go ahead and involve the whole family!

Older kids may also want to participate. They will be able to understand deeper concepts than preschoolers and may be able to help explain things to younger siblings!

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31 LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR 4 YEAR OLDS THAT YOU CAN EASILY DO

Looking for fun activities to keep your 4 year olds busy and entertained at home! Find a list of 31 easy to do activities that your 4 year olds will love.

Activities, aren't they the best way to keep kids occupied for a long time while you can get the time you need to get your work done? They can help a child escape boredom, learn some new skills, keep them engaged, get you the much-needed quiet time for yourself, and finally, it can help you bond with your kids and also help escape sibling rivalry.

I love doing activities with my daughter all the time. It keeps her happy and entertained. Below is a list of printable learning activities for 4-year-olds and five-year-olds who are much more capable of doing an activity independently.

All these educational activities for toddlers at home have a few things in common.

• Requires minimal setup
• Can be easily done with stuff lying around at home
• Teach your kids important life skills
• Keep them engaged at least for a couple of hours

Important skills that your kids will learn through these activities!

• Sensory skills
• Fine motor skill development
• Physical strength
• Analytical thinking

Before we get into the list, if you have no idea how to set up toddler learning activities for children up to three years old, then there's no need to fret. Check out  this blog here on how to set up an activity  for your child that they will get instantly get attracted to and will love to do it again and again.

For toddler moms, being a toddler mom myself, I have been able to customize many of these 4 year olds activities to suit my toddler interests. So this list can be really helpful to you as well.

Some basic things you will need for these activities!

It is always best to get a few basic art and craft stuff that you will need again and again in any activity which can save you multiple trips to Target!

• Colors ( crayons , pencil colors , washable paints )
• Paint brushes , painter pallete
• Assorted set of craft supplies (pom poms, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, etc)
• Construction paper (assorted colors)
• Popsicle sticks
• Masking tape , craft scissor
• Playdough and playdough tools
• Glitter glue , stickers , sequins
• Q-tips , rubber bands
• Paper plates

Pin this post to keep it handy all the time!

31 Fun activities to do with 4 year olds

1. playing with gloop via learning4kids.

Gloop is such a fun activity for kids of any age. I love making it for my daughter as well. It is slimy, sticky and a lot of mess but it is a great sensory activity as well as can teach your kids some basic science skills like the difference between the solid and liquid. Janice from learning4kids in her blog here will walk you through steps on how to make gloop as well as what you can talk to your kids about while doing this activity.

2. Backyard water fun

You can never go wrong with some backyard water fun especially in the summer months. They are a great way to keep kids active as well as engaged for really long. Add some sprinklers to the water fun or a big bucket with soapy water to let your kids wash his toys and sit back and relax and watch them have fun.

Related: 30 Best summer toys for kids

3. size sorting rainbow necklace via handsonaswegrow.

Such a great activity to teach your kids about colors and shapes. Jamie from handonaswegrow.com teaches a simple activity that is perfect for toddlers and up to 5 years old where they learn how to thread and make a pretty rainbow necklace based on the size.

4. Memory matching game for kids via handsonaswegrow

Another great memory activity game to teach kids concentration and focus. All you need are some small objects like pom poms , beads and empty egg cartons.

5. Read books

Developing a good reading habit is a great activity to keep kids busy for long and also help build their vocabulary and teach them new life lessons. Incorporating a good 15-20 minutes of reading habit in your little one can go a long way for them.

6. Coloring

Another great activity to get kids to think creatively and outside the box. I love to use coloring books for my daughter. Give them some washable paints or crayons and let them create something creative for you. Make sure to use an apron as paints can get really messy.

7. Play with board games

Board games can make for a fun family night and it can teach your kids some basic important skills like communication, taking turns, sharing, winning and losing, and some basic math and analytical skills. They are great for kids of any age group. My favorite for my toddler are hiss and yeti in my spaghetti. And below are a few amazing board games for 3 years +.

8. Play with play dough or kinetic sand to roll, count and decorate via handsonaswegrow

This great activity via Jamie will teach your kids to be creative (designing monsters), learn to count and decorate the monsters. Also you can talk to your kids about colors, shapes etc.

9. Hide n' seek

This is the activity that keeps us busy most of the evenings. If your kid has siblings then even better as they can play with each other. Just hide behind trees or indoors under the tables and let your child count till 10 and find you. Great activity for your kids to get some physical activity and outside fresh air.

10. Play with Legos

Kids can spend hours engaging in building lego kits. It can help them think outside the box and use their imagination to build their own toys. We love lego kits for our toddlers like this one and this and this toy can easily grow with your kids as well. Some great lego kits for 3+ age are as below.

11. Easy paper tunnels for little car lovers via mamapapabubba.com

Vow I love this idea. Thy are definitely the easiest paper tunnels for little car lovers. Jen from mamapapabubba in her post has put an effortless and easy to do activity for car loving kids and that can really keep them engaged and entertained for long.

12. Farm animals washing station via coffeecupsandcrayons

I am sure most of you must have tried a washing toy station for your kids at home. My daughter is enjoying washing her toys in backyard as I write this blog post now. I love this idea via Megan that she has shared in her beautiful blog coffeecupsandcrayons.com. She has very well laid down everything that you will need to set up a fun and engrossing washing station for your kids at home.

13. Animal tape rescue via busytoddler

Susie’s blog busytoddler always has the best ideas and I keep going back to her blog to find fun and easy thing to do with my daughter at home. Another fun fine motor skill activity is this animal tape rescue activity. Although this is for young toddlers, even older kids can have some pretend play fun taping their farm animals. Add a few more toys to this and have fun watching them create fun stories.

14. Cereal threading via handsonaswegrow

Threading is a great activity that can keep toddlers as well as older kids engaged. Jamie in this activity has shared an easy setup which requires a few basic things like cereals, pasta, threads etc. This easy to do activity can teach kids about numbers, colors, patterns etc.

15. Blow Painting with Straws via artfulparent.com

Such a fun and creative activity via Jean. It can get your kids creative juices flowing and is so easy to set up.

16. Nature prints via nurturestore

Isn’t summer all about spending as much time as possible outdoors. What about adding a little bit of colors to the time you spend outside. This easy to do flower printing garden art is so easy to do and all it needs are fallen leaves and flowers and paints.

17. Sticker lines via busytoddler.com

Sticker lines are super easy to create. A great motor skill activity and all you need are some sticker dots and a sharpie.

18. Pom pom wall via toddlerapproved.com

I love doing this with my daughter. This activity can grow with your kids. For my toddler, I just tape empty paper rolls to the wall and give her some pom poms to pass through. And Kristina here via her blog todllersapproved.com has shared a fun and slightly contraption style pom pom wall setup for grown up kids. Great for fine motor skill development!

19. Do chores via moneysavingmom.com

Involving kids in household chores helps set them up for success in their life. It teaches them about responsibilities and being independent. Checkout this list of 15 easy chore ideas for 4 year olds via Crystal Paine through her famous blog moneysavingmom.com.

20. Sprinkle sensory bag via activelittles.com

Tammi here has shared an interesting activity for early learners. It is a great sensory activity for kids who can practice writing letters and numbers on a sensory sprinklers bag.

21. Rainbow salt writing tray via activelittles.com

Another great activity via Tammi for early learners. Create a rainbow tray and sprinkle salt on it and let your kids have fun writing letters and numbers on the rainbow tray.

22. Pretend play

Kids love pretend play games. Be it being a doctor or a chef who is cooking for their favorite toys watching these little ones get into character is very entreating. I have a complete blog post of 15 best pretend play toys that you can buy for your little one. Also adding a few of my favorites here.

23. Brain quest

I was introduced to brain quest through a friend a couple of months back and I have to say that I am hooked. Brain quest has the best selection of activity cards and workbook that can get your little one engaged and excited for a long time. Check them out below.

24. Fridge magnets in an alphabetic order

I got these fridge magnets for Mishika when she turned a year old. They were a great hit then and are still a great hit. It is a great learning activity for kids. Ask your four year olds to arrange these fridge magnets in alphabetical order or numerical order. Great way to keep kids busy while you can load your dishwasher or prep your meals.

25. Paper cutting via funwithmama.com

Teaching your kids to learn scissor skills is a great motor skill activity. Kids love to cut and Nadia through her blog funwithmama.com has shared free printables that you can download for your kids. It’s a good activity to keep kids occupied on a long flight.

26. Rainbow rice via honeyandbetts.com

Hannah in her blog has put an easy sensory bin activity using rainbow rice for young kids. Rainbow rice sensory kits can be great for kids to draw letters and numbers in or give them a few toys and let them have fun creating a pretend play game.

27. Create an indoor herb garden via honeyandbetts.com

I found this activity very interesting and I plan to try it with my daughter soon. Gardening is a great skill to cultivate in your little ones and Hannah through her activity shows how to create an indoor herb garden while involving your little ones.

28. Glue canvas via learnwithplayathome

Speaking from experience my little girl loves to mess around with the glue all the time and this activity was exactly what I needed for my daughter. Debs through her blog leranwithplayathome.com has shared an amazing activity of making a glue canvas with your kids. This activity can get them to think outside the box and become more creative.

29. Wattle art stamping via thecrafttrain.com

Such a great activity by Kate from thecrafttrain.com! In this art & craft activity Kate shows an easy art painting using q-tips and washable paints where she teaches you how to draw a wattle – Australia’s national flower. Great way to paint!

30. Fluffy pet rocks via thecrafttrain.com

Such a cute activity where Kate teaches you how to convert your rocks into fluffy pets. Your kids will love it.

31. Puzzles

Puzzles are one of the best toys that you can get for your kids that can get their brains working. I love working on puzzles with my daughter and have watched her grow with them. Checkout a few great puzzles for your kids below (3+ years of age)

I hope this list of activity for 4 year olds was helpful and you found something interesting to do with your kids. So which activity are you going to try with your little one?

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One comment.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful ideas. Me and my daughter read books together especially when it’s a personalised one! She react more and more positively to a customized book than to a non-customized one. This might seem overly simple, but if you engage with a book, you’re enjoying it. And you’re more likely to reread a book if you enjoyed it previously, right? Repetition is key to mastering anything. In case you’re wondering, we bought the personalised books from personalisedchildrensbooks.com ❤️

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• Biblical Parenting , Homeschooling Encouragement

15 Homeschool Activities for 4 Year Olds

• November 23, 2023

Are you looking for exciting and enlightening homeschool activities tailored specifically for 4-year-olds?  Well, you’re in luck! I’ve gathered an amazing assortment of preschool activities just for you. These activities are not only designed to captivate your little ones’ curiosity but also guarantee a fun-filled learning experience. Incorporating these homeschool activities into your routine is a great way to create an environment that nurtures their early educational journey. Get ready for a fun way to embark on a delightful and educational adventure!

Should I homeschool my 4 year old?

One of the biggest questions I get is  “What age should we start homeschooling our children?”  While I always lead with, “It’s totally up to you!” I must also include that young children are learning all of the time. And when it comes to children as young as 4 years old, this is most certainly the case. Whether your young kids are engaged in hands-on activities, a picture book, time at the local library, play-based learning, a field trip to the grocery store, or a nature walk, they are continuously learning. Another thing to keep in mind is your state’s homeschooling laws. Most states do not require compulsory education until 6 years of age, so there is plenty of time to plan for educational activities and the legal aspects of becoming a homeschooling family.

How to Homeschool a 4 Year Old

Once you’ve decided to homeschool your toddler, it’s a great idea to also do the following:

Create a loose daily schedule that includes structured learning time(s).

Gather resources to use that accommodate your child’s learning style (which can change over time).

Write down (or find pre-made) homeschool curriculum with lesson plans to stay organized with what your child is learning.

In addition to the aforementioned, you can also write down specific things you want your child to learn. One quick Google search will give you lists upon lists of concepts that are age appropriate for 4 year olds. I’ve included some below.

Age-Appropriate Concepts for 4 Year Olds to Learn

Below is a quick to-do list of concepts most 4 years olds can begin learning:

Recognizing, tracing, and independently writing letters

Learning consonant and vowel sounds

Sight words and beginner CVC words

Basic shapes

Counting (basic adding and subtracting)

Telling time

Tracing, cutting, and pasting

Patterns and sequences

Gross and fine motor skills

Biblical concepts (character, virtues, etc)

With the concepts above in mind, here’s a list of homeschool activities you can do with your toddler that will help introduce concepts as well as reinforce what they are learning.

Activities for Learning Letters and Letter Sounds

Use alphabet flashcards. Be sure to teach both upper and lowercase letters and their sounds.

Upper and lowercase alphabet matching with magnetic letters.

Write letters in sand, sugar, or flour.

Sing ABC songs.

Activities for Learning Numbers and Number Concepts

Use number flashcards to introduce numbers.

Count and sort objects using math manipulatives such as mini teddy bears, foam balls, rocks, and the like.

Play number games.

Activities for Large & Small Motor Skills

Practice cutting out shapes and pasting them to create pictures. 

Create art projects. Color pictures and try to stay in the lines.

Learn how to tie shoes.

Include physical movements such as dancing to songs or workouts to help improve hand-eye coordination.

Stack blocks and use them to create things and encourage imaginative play.

Activities to Teach Biblical Concepts

Use sequence cards to teach biblical events.

Kids journals can be used for writing down Scriptures.

Scripture copywork books can help with learning about the Bible and help with handwriting practice.

Resources to Use for Homeschool Activities for 4 Year Olds

Now that we’ve talked about concepts to teach and activities you can do with your 4 year old, let’s take a quick look at resources that can be used to help with your teaching (and their learning).

The most commonly used resources for young learners include practical life skills, books, board games, flashcards, free printables, crayons, blocks, and a variety of manipulatives. You can’t go wrong by using things that keep your toddler engaged and encourage a love of learning in them. You’ll want to be on the lookout for when they lose interest or seem frustrated.

While you can find workbooks and activity books for younger kids this age, do not feel obligated to use them. The early years are a perfect time to grow their character through daily lessons. My character curriculum has different activities that you can use to easily teach character from a biblical perspective. You may also enjoy my  free ABC Bible Memory Verse Cards .

Final Thoughts On  Homeschool Activities for 4 Year Olds

Teaching your 4 year old can be lots of fun and should never be stressful. Use my best tips, suggestions, and great resources to take the guesswork out of how to do it and get started with grace and ease. I’d love to hear from you. Are you homeschooling little learners? Let me know in the comments below.

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Parent Resources for Learning > Core Skills > 7 Engaging Learning Activities for 4-Year-Olds

7 Engaging Learning Activities for 4-Year-Olds

by Dr. Jody Sherman LeVos | May 17, 2023 | Core Skills

What are the best activities for 4-year-olds? There’s so much going in kids’ lives at this age that it can be tough to tell. Should you focus on letters and numbers? Playing pretend? Arts and crafts? Getting outdoors?

At Begin, we focus on the 5 C’s that help kids thrive in school and life: Creativity , Critical Thinking , Curiosity , Character , and Core Skills .

Kids who develop in these areas early enjoy more success in school and work and better relationships with friends and teachers. They make better decisions. And ultimately they’re more likely to love learning throughout their lives. 

The Short Cut

• Activities for 4-year-olds can develop the 5 C’s that help them thrive in school and life: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Curiosity, Character, and Core Skills
• Four-year-olds are developing rapidly, gaining new skills like counting and letter recognition, playing organized games with others, and storytelling
• Parents can help by encouraging activities that encourage creativity and cooperation, introduce letters and numbers, and involve simple rules or pretend play

Luckily, all 5 C’s are easy to support through play activities, especially for 4-year-olds!

In this article, we’ll share some of our learning experts’ favorite creative ways to help keep your 4-year-old learning and entertained at home.

Skills Your 4-Year-Old Is Developing

Your child is reaching many exciting milestones during this time, from starting to write their name and following two- and three-step instructions to taking things apart to see how they work and comforting someone who’s sad. Knowing more about their growth areas can help you choose which activities can best guide them.

Creativity, Character, and Curiosity

Your 4-year-old’s imagination is growing by leaps and bounds. Four-year-olds often develop imaginary friends and love to play dress-up (Creativity and Curiosity at work!). They can also get their friends, siblings, or even mom and dad involved as their ability to play with others develops (part of building Character).

When choosing activities for 4-year-olds, we suggest picking games that encourage creativity, introduce new things, and involve cooperative play to help your child continue developing these important skills.

Core Skills

At the four-year mark, you’ve likely already seen your child’s growing cognitive abilities. Many kids this age begin to:

• Memorize the names of shapes and colors
• Understand the idea of counting
• Write or read a few written numbers
• Recall parts of a story
• Write their first name

In addition, children at this stage are getting better at problem-solving and understanding the world around them. And there’s so much more exciting cognitive development to come!

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

At age 4, your child is developing a few new gross motor skills. These may include jumping on one leg, skipping, throwing and catching a ball, kicking a ball, climbing, and hopping while running.

Some fine motor skills are also improving. At this stage, your child may be able to complete puzzles, use child-safe scissors, and hold pens, markers, and pencils correctly.

Your child’s growing gross and fine motor skills help them explore new activities related to many of the 5 C’s. At age 4, they may become able to draw some figures and write a few letters and numbers (Core Skills and Creativity). And their gross motor skills will help them play organized games like sports, which develop Critical Thinking by introducing sets of rules to follow.

Since many children love being active and welcoming new challenges, working their developing motor skills into new activities for 4-year-olds can be a lot of fun!

Sensory Skills

At Begin, we encourage lots of sensory play (activities that involve kids using their five senses) because children explore and learn about the world around them by touching, smelling, seeing, hearing, and tasting.

Sensory play has an important role in many aspects of a child’s development, including:

• Cognitive development
• Social skills
• Fine motor skills
• Gross motor skills
• Language development
• Problem-solving skills

Incorporating sensory play when you choose activities for 4-year-olds can help them continue developing these skills.

Physical Strength

We’ve already covered some of the gross motor skills your 4-year-old is learning. As they continue to be active every day, their physical strength will naturally increase.

Four-year-olds should ideally get about three hours of physical play per day . This can include light, moderate, and vigorous activities.

Organized sports and other physical games can help kids develop their strength and Critical Thinking at the same time. But at this stage, it can be challenging for children to wrap their heads around the rules of a game. Four-year-olds may run or kick a ball in the wrong direction. And that’s OK! It’s part of their development.

If you choose to enroll your child in sports to help with their physical development, we suggest you opt for early childhood sports programs that focus on healthy fun and engagement, rather than being competitive.

7 Creative Learning Activities for 4-Year-Olds

1. indoor obstacle course.

What You’ll Need:

It’s easy to create an indoor obstacle course using everyday items around your home. To get started, you’ll need to come up with a list of challenges and then build the course around that.

Look around the house and see what movable items can bring your obstacle course to life. Chairs, cushions, books, and blankets can all add to the fun!

What to Do:

It’s always fun to get the kids involved in the building of your obstacle course. As a parent, your main role can be maintaining safety.

If you’re stuck thinking of challenges to create, here are some ideas:

Tunnel — An indoor tunnel is easy to create by lining up a row of chairs that your child can crawl through.

Balance Beam — Got some painter’s tape? Place a long strip on the floor and encourage your child to walk it in a straight line.

Maze — Children can create an indoor maze by lining up some books and using them as a low wall.

Obstacle courses are great to encourage physical activity, Critical Thinking, and Creativity while having lots of fun!

2. Hopscotch

• A small rock or pebble
• A paved area outside

Hopscotch is a classic activity for 4-year-olds! (Check out detailed instructions for hopscotch and other number-related games here. )

You might want to make the game a bit easier than the usual version to begin with. You can do that by:

• Making the squares with numbers closer together
• Letting your child jump to one number at a time
• Creating a board that goes from one to six (this can increase as your child gets more adept at the game)
• Letting your child place their stone on the number rather than toss it

As your child gets better at the game, they can move closer to the original rules.

Besides getting some exercise in, your child will also be practicing math , one of the Core Skills. You can help by counting their hops out loud and then celebrate the total hops once they reach the other side.

3. Outdoor Letter and Number Hunt

• 10 index cards

Start by writing the numbers 1 to 5 on five individual index cards (one number per card). Then write 5 letters—maybe your child’s name or one of their favorite things—on the remaining cards.

Finally, hide the cards in your yard or around a nearby park (behind a tree, in a bush, under a rock, etc.). Tip: Be sure to place the cards underneath or attached to something in case the wind blows!

The aim of the game is simple—encourage your child to find a number card (“Let’s see if we can find a number!”). If they find a number, celebrate this moment (“You found a number!”). If not, turn the card over and encourage them to try again. You can then do the same with letters.

You can find more details here . To make it a bit more challenging, ask your child to find a specific number or letter. Recognizing letters and numbers is an important Core Skill for 4-year-olds, so this game helps them learn while having fun!

4. Dance Festival

• Wooden spoons
• Fun costumes

Attending a concert or music festival can be a fantastic experience for kids, giving them a chance to cultivate Curiosity by checking out new sights and sounds (not to mention the Creativity that comes with dancing). So why not bring that fun to your household?

You can turn pots over to create drums, hit wooden spoons together (they can also be a pretend microphone), and dress in fun costumes to really get into the mood.

This is a great activity to get the whole family involved. The kids may want you to play their favorite songs over and over, and that’s fine—but see if you can work some new ones into the mix too!

5. Craft Box

• Pipe cleaners
• Cotton balls
• Colored paper
• Any other craft supplies you have around the house

This activity is straightforward. All you need to do is fill the box with the craft supplies and encourage your child to create anything they want.

Will they draw a house? Create a rocket ship? Who knows what their imaginative minds will come up with?

This is a great opportunity for your child to continue developing their Creativity. And once the box is finished, they can store art supplies in it for future creative projects too!

6. Color Mixing Sensory Bag

• Icing or shaving cream
• Food coloring
• Two small bowls
• Toothpick or spatula
• Large zip-top bag

You can follow these detailed instructions for creating a color mixing sensory bag for your 4-year-old. In a nutshell, your child will need to use their fingers and hands to squish and mix the different colors inside the bag.

This activity is a great way for your child to practice experimenting and exploring cause and effect while having fun and learning about colors, an important Core Skill. They’ll also enjoy squishing and squashing the soft icing or shaving cream!

7. Shared Story Map

• Our story map
• Crayons or pencils
• Toys (preferably stuffed animals)

Encourage your child to tell you a story, using the story map as a guide. They can fill the map out with their creative drawings, or you can help them write the story out.

Sometimes it can be challenging for a child to think of a whole story by themselves. This is where you come in! You can start the story, and then your child can add on (other family members can join in, too).

Once you’re confident the story is complete, it’s time to act it out together using the toys!

This activity helps with language development (a Core Skill), storytelling and imagination (Creativity), and collaborating with others (Character)—all at the same time!

Activities for 4-Year-Olds with Begin

Children are constantly learning and growing. By focusing on activities for 4-year-olds that develop the 5 C’s, you can have a great time as a family while setting kids up to thrive in life.

Begin can help.

Our age- and stage-matched learning membership pairs kids with learning activities that will help them reach the milestones that matter for their age. At age 4, they might be working on early reading and math skills with our award-winning HOMER app, exploring the world through a hands-on Little Passports kit, or putting together an animal puzzle.

Take our online quiz to find out which membership stage is right for your family today!

Jody has a Ph.D. in Developmental Science and more than a decade of experience in the children’s media and early learning space.

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Dr. Jody Sherman LeVos

Chief Learning Officer at Begin

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25 Best Cognitive Activities For Four Year Olds at Home

By: Author Janessa

Posted on Last updated: June 22, 2022

As most of you know, I’m a mom of 6 children. I am also a homeschool teacher for my kids. Before that, I taught preschool in a daycare setting.

Yes, I stay very busy! I love my life though! I love watching my children grow and learn. My 5th child just recently turned four years old. He wants to be just like his older siblings and asks to do school time with them every week.

There’s so much more to cognitive development than just workbooks though. Don’t get me wrong, we DO use workbooks at times, but there are also many other great cognitive activities for 4-year-olds to do.

Especially at this age, I have found that it’s so important to give my preschooler plenty of time to learn through play and life experiences and not just by sitting at a desk. Young children need lots of variety to exercise all of their cognitive abilities!

What Does Cognitive Mean?

25 cognitive activities for 4 year olds, 1. go on a scavenger hunt., 2. read or listen to books together., 3. play with a kitchen set., 4. encourage movement., 5. make a craft, 6. have them help with chores, 7. get in the kitchen and bake together, 8. go fishing together, 9. play a board game together, 10. coloring, 11. memorize a poem together, 12. teach your 4-year-old the calendar, 13. play with slime or play dough, 14. plant a garden, 15. puzzle time, 16. building blocks, 17. riddles and jokes, 18. teach them songs with motions, 19. memory games – get creative, 20. use your senses game, 21. ride bikes and/or scooters, 22. get them involved in sports, 23. have them help care for a pet, 24. make an obstacle course, 25. play outdoor games, related posts.

First, let’s establish the definition of cognitive. According to Merrian-Webster, the definition of cognitive is: of, relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity (such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering) .

Today I’m rounding up a list of 25 of the best cognitive activities for 4-year-olds to help promote learning in fun and engaging ways.

At the end of this post, I’ll share some links to our favorite items that are perfect for cognitive activities with your four-year-old.

Scavenger hunts are an excellent way for 4-year-olds to exercise both their bodies and minds! You can talk about color recognition, identifying items, and even challenge their math skills by asking them to find a specific number of items for each item.

Here is an easy, free printable scavenger hunt , and here is a more challenging printable backyard scavenger hunt once your preschooler completes the first one or if you have older children who want to participate.

My four year olds have always loved reading books together. Reading aloud to your child(ren) is wonderful for their cognitive development! Check out my list of our favorite children’s books .

You don’t have to be the one to do the reading either. We love audiobooks at our home. We listen to them in the car, sometimes during lunch or dinner, and lots of other times throughout the day. We recently discovered the Yoto Mini player and have loved it! I highly recommend it! It’s a simple way to make sure you fit in some time for reading every day, even if your day is super busy.

Another great option for busy parents is Cali’s Books . These books come pre-recorded and ready to read to your children at the push of a button OR you can record yourself reading the book (or Grandma, Grandpa, etc.). They have a lot of the great classics available and my children have really enjoyed those as well.

Role play playing is so important for child development. Free play is equally as important. Many people think kitchen sets are a girls-only toy, but that’s simply not true! My boys have all enjoyed playing with a kitchen set too! It’s a great way for them to use their imaginations while they act out real-life situations and work on their problem-solving skills.

Melissa and Doug make some great kitchen sets for pretend play. My kids have this kitchen set and have had a lot of fun with it! Don’t forget some pots and pans to go with it for great imaginative playtime!

Kids at this age have a lot of energy… a LOT of energy! It’s great to look for activities that get them moving. It’s often hard for them to sit still for long periods of time so when you do ask them to sit at length, provide them with a fidget opportunity, whether it’s something handheld, or something where they can get their whole body moving, like a Joggling Board or exercise ball.

How does this look in real life? Well, here are some examples:

• Let your child color a picture that relates to a daily lesson while you are teaching the lesson. Are you teaching him about frogs today? Give him a coloring sheet that shows their life cycle to work on while you read about them.
• If your child has a desk, use a Joggling Board for a chair instead of a traditional desk chair.
• Practice counting while doing jumping jacks together. That’s good exercise for both of you!

My four-year-olds often concentrate better when allowed to move at the same time.

Preschoolers love making crafts! There are thousands upon thousands of craft ideas on Pinterest – maybe even millions at this point! Just search for some things you are currently learning about or your little one is interested in. I’ve got a number of craft ideas on this site, like making a squirrel feeder or crafts using recycled cardboard .

Some children like to follow instructions and some like to do their own thing when crafting. I try to offer my four year old opportunities for both. It’s good for them to know that sometimes they must follow instructions for a project, but other times it’s great to tell them they make work at their own pace and complete their art projects in whatever way makes them most happy.

Now is a great time to start teaching your child some basic chores. As a bonus, most four year olds are eager to help out and do the chores you are doing. I gotta be honest though, there’s a good chance they will not do it to your standards, but that’s okay! Use this time to help them learn. I have a whole post dedicated to kids’ chores , but here are a few simple chores that four-year-olds can do pretty well:

• Folding small hand towels, dish towels, washcloths, and their underwear. They are also great at helping to match up socks.
• Preschoolers love helping to wash windows usually. You’ll almost definitely still have streaks, but they will be so proud!
• Push a chair over to the sink and let them wash dishes by hand. They can also help unload the dishwasher.

As he/she reaches more developmental milestones, you can increase the difficulty of the chores.

Kids are usually much more apt to try a recipe if they get to help fix it! Cooking a meal or dessert together is a good way for kids to practice hand-eye coordination. Baking in the kitchen is a great introduction to fractions too!

If you really want to make them feel important, get them their own apron and measuring cups/spoons set!

I’ve never met a preschooler who didn’t enjoy going fishing. Of course, this activity might not hold their attention for TOO long, but it’s still a great way to get them out in nature.

If you can’t get out to a river or creek, you can always purchase a “fishing” set for home! We have a wooden set from Melissa and Doug that’s been great for practicing matching, counting, color recognition, fine motor skills, and number recognition.

Preschoolers love to play board games and there are so many great ones available for them! I’ve got a great list of the best board games for preschoolers if you’re looking for some new games to try.

Of course, card games are a good option too. There’s a reason why Go Fish and Old Maid are still popular. They are simple and fun and you definitely want them in your game closet.

Coloring is a great way to recognize color recognition and practice hand-eye coordination. We always have a good assortment of coloring books on hand. It’s a fun activity for younger children.

I have always enjoyed nursery rhymes and my kids do too! We started doing a special thing on Fridays – Tea and Poetry time – and it’s been a big hit! As part of our tea and poetry time, my kids try to memorize a poem that week to recite for everyone to hear.

Rhyming and verse are important for language skills and early childhood is a great time to start working on this.

My personal favorite is a collection of poems in an old Childcraft book that was mine growing up. You can find lots of great poetry books for kids at the library.

Four years old is a great time to add the calendar to your daily routine. We got one from Melissa and Doug which allows us to go over not only the days of the week but also the month, the year, the weather, feelings, and special activities and holidays happening.

We like to go over the calendar after breakfast and discuss our plans for the day. It’s a great activity to get the day started.

Sensory play is always fun for little kids. It’s great for hand-eye coordination, pretend play, and developing artistic abilities. You don’t even have to give them any additional tools for playing with this. Soemtimes simple activities are the best activities.

Of course, if you have a container of designated slime and/or play dough toys, those are great to get out once your child begins to grow tired of just playing with his or her hands.

This is the first year we’ve planted a garden with children who are old enough to participate. It’s been a great experience so far for my older children but also the younger ones too. They love helping to plant the seeds and seedlings.

It’s a great opportunity to learn about plant life cycles, working with their hands, the long-term benefit of hard work, and healthy eating. Give your child choices and let them help to decide what to plant.

Puzzles are a great cognitive activity for your 4-year-old! I’d recommend a combination of easy puzzles your child can complete on their own, ones that are a little bit hard that they may need to ask for help to get a few pieces in, and then some really challenging ones that the two of you do together.

Sometimes I will get out a big stack of our simple puzzles and time my child to see how long it takes him to complete all of them. He loves the challenge!

Building blocks are great for hand-eye coordination and imaginative play. Don’t limit yourself to just wooden blocks when you think of building blocks though (although don’t get me wrong, wooden blocks are GREAT and we definitely have some of those). Other things to consider are LEGO DUPLO, magnetic building sets, etc.

Kids love learning jokes and riddles they can tell others! This is good practice in memorization and communication with others – plus as a bonus, it’s fun!

There are so many great songs with motions you can teach your 4 year old! Some of our favorites are:

• Hokey Pokey
• The Wheels on the Bus
• If You’re Happy and You Know It
• Father Abraham
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
• Itsy Bitsy Spider

What were your favorite songs growing up? (PS – Don’t forget how delightful it can be to a child if you change up your voice during a song! Different voices for different characters or movement can really add to the excitement and fun!

We’ve all probably played the classic Memory game at some point where you flip over two cards and try to make a match. That one is always fun for my preschoolers. However, it’s fun to get creative and do other types of memory games too.

For example, one we like to play is where I set out 15-20 objects on a table. My four year old studies what’s on the table and then doesn’t look while I remove one item. Then he has to see if he can figure out which one I took away.

For this game, your child practices uses one or more of his or her five senses (taste, smell, touch, hear, see). First, you’ll need to blindfold your child (except for the sight portion). You give them a clue where they will use a sense to try to guess what the item is. Here are some examples:

• For taste, have them try a variety of different foods and guess what the food is. You could even do this with pureed foods.
• For touch, you’ll want to hand them a variety of items and see if they can figure out what the item is just by touch. You could also set out a row of items, for example, shoes, and then have them tell you how many number of shoes there are by feeling them.
• For smell you’ll want to put a few items with strong smell under their nose and see if they can guess.
• For hear try playing different sound effects or animal sounds (you can find them on YouTube) and see if your child can tell what is making that sound.
• Finally, for sight, try to give your child a portion of the full picture, whether it’s a literal photo of an object and you cover a portion of it, or maybe an item from around the house that you cover most of it with a towel while leaving a good clue exposed.

My kids all love playing these 5 senses games throughout their preschool years and beyond! These are great brain games for your child’s cognitive development.

Learning to ride a bike and/or a scooter is a great way for kids to practice their balance. They also need to use their minds to determine which way to turn the steering wheel, when to speed up or slow down and of course, this is also great practice with hand-eye coordination.

Sports are a great way for your four year old to get social interaction and develop good social skills. It’s never too early to get your preschooler involved in sports, they are getting great physical activity too!

There are so many aspects of caring for a pet which are great for a child’s cognitive development. The preschool years are a great time to start having your child contribute to the care of a pet. They can help feed, water, bathe, possibly walk on a leash (depending on size), and play with a pet.

Completing an obstacle course is great physical activity for your child. You can set something up outside or even in your living room. In fact, one of the favorites at our house involves taking all of the cushions off of the couch and chairs and having kids jump from one to the other without touching the floor.

If they seem to grow bored with that, you can always modify it in specific ways, like telling them they must hop, go through it backwards, etc.

We have this set of plastic stumps and logs that my kids love using to create obstacle courses.

Remember playing Red Light, Green Light, Capture the Flag, and Simon Says? Those are classic games your child can play to practice following simple directions.

Must-Have Products to Facilitate Cognitive Activities for Four-Year-Olds

This is a list of my favorite, must-have items to help facilitate cognitive activities for four-year-olds.

Yoto Mini – Kids Audio & Music Player

I honestly can not say enough good things about the Yoto Mini player! I have to admit, I was a little hesitant at first if this player would really get much use at our house, but my kids love it!

It makes it SO easy for kids to listen to a story any time they want. If I'm too busy to read to them, they just turn on a story on the Yoto player. There are tons of great book options too.

We have Charlotte's Web and my kids have really enjoyed listening to it. We also have a pack of blank Yoto cards that have allowed me and my older children to record some of my four-year-old's favorite picture books. Now he can listen to them whenever he wants. He loves that!

Another nice thing is that we can use it to listen to stories together at times when it's harder for me to read. For example, I can put it on while I'm preparing lunch, washing dishes, or while we eat and we can all listen together.

It also plays music too and is available in regular and mini sizes.

edxeducation Counting Bears with Matching Bowls

Kids love it when you break out colorful manipulatives! These counting bears are great for practicing color recognition, sorting, counting, adding, subtracting, and more! These bears are great to get now because as your child progresses through elementary math you can continue to use them for more and more concepts.

This set comes with 6 bows and 60 total bears (10 of each color).

Julien's Bundle - 2021 edition

Cali's Books are special. Why? Because Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or anyone you'd like can record their voice so your children can hear them tell these stories time and time again and enjoy that special bond. You can also download several pre-recorded versions available in multiple languages on their website.

There are so many great Cali's Books to choose from, including new titles and retelling of beloved classics.

Julien's Bundle features classic fables that preschoolers love, with a lesson about the importance of work, perseverance, and dedication: Jack and the Beanstalk, The Ugly Duckling, and The Three Little Pigs. These classic stories have been adapted for Cali's Books and are wonderfully illustrated by Clara Spinassi.

This set features selected colored text to introduce your little one to word recognition.

Chef's Kitchen - Cloud

Lots of people think about getting a kitchen set for their little girl, but I'd encourage you to get one for boys too. As a mom of 2 girls and 4 boys, I can tell you that some of my boys have even played more with the kitchen set than their sisters. My boys love helping me in the kitchen too!

I like this wooden kitchen set because it's not overly loud (both with sound effects or colors) and it really looks the way a real kitchen might look. It's perfect for realistic pretend play!

The ice machine even works and can drop out two (included) ice cubes. My kids love that part!

Let's Play House! Stainless Steel Pots & Pans Play Set

Having a couple of good open-ended accessories to go with your kitchen set is super helpful for imaginative play. I love this pots and pans play set because your kids can pretend to make just about everything with them! He or she can make ingredients themselves using air dry clay, dried play dough, rocks, grass, flowers, etc. The possibilities are endless! My kids love to create "soups" with the pots and pans from things they collect outside.

edxeducation Step-a-Trail - 6 Piece Obstacle Course for Kids

When someone thinks about healthy cognitive development, they often think about curriculum and basic school-like supplies like paper, pencils, and crayons. Don't forget physical education!

Kids NEED activities that help them to be active! I find that my kids are able to concentrate on their seatwork so much better if they also have fun, active times to get the wiggles out.

Step-a-Trail is an excellent resource for building children's gross motor skills, balance and coordination. The textured surfaces allow children to safely balance and gain confidence while the rubbery bottom edges prevent slipping.

These stepping stones and logs can be incorporated into obstacle courses for fun physical play. Step-a-Trail also makes a perfect rainy-day activity as children can design their own courses!

Each stump and log is made of injection-molded, durable plastic with non-slip top surfaces and bases. The pieces will support the weight of a normal adult. The pieces are injection molded and load-tested to 792 lbs.

Step-a-Trail provides unlimited imaginative play. Children can incorporate the Step-a-Trail stumps and logs into make-believe play or create their own games.

As a teacher, you can also use these pieces to add an element of fun to school time. For example, a game where when you tell your child a number, they must climb onto a log and when you say a letter they must climb onto a stump.

My kids love when I incorporate this set into our day!

Catch & Count Magnetic Fishing Rod Set

These colorful 10 magnetic fish are numbered and patterned to enrich matching, sorting, and counting activities. This set also comes with 2 wooden rods making collecting them a blast!

Kids can use the spinner to play as a game, or just have fun collecting the pieces over and over again.

Children's Joggling Board

My kids ages 2-12 all love our juggling board! Instead of rocking forward and backward, it rocks side to side!

It's a great place for them to sit while they read a book, sit and do worksheets, or even to sit and converse with adults. We love our kid-sized joggling board so much, now we've gotta get one for adults too!

My Magnetic Daily Calendar

Now is the perfect time to teach your preschooler the calendar. They will have fun being able to be a part of changing out the magnets each day. This is a great way to help them memorize the days of the week and months too.

Magicube Shapes Recycld 25 pcs - Geomagworld STEM Toys

All of my preschoolers have loved building with magnetic sets, especially their Geomagworld sets!

This set has everything a child needs to build anything they want, including free-rolling wheels to make moving vehicles. The colorful blocks are great to use for practicing color recognition too.

Here are some other posts you might find helpful for your four year old.

• 10 Activities to do with a Piklar Triangle
• Fun Ways to Use Your Water Table
• A big list of the best gifts for preschoolers

Friday 17th of June 2022

My kids love building blocks of all kinds.

Monday 13th of June 2022

These are some fantastic ideas for activities to keep kids engaged and happy while they are learning important skills. If my grandkids were younger, I would have these items on my gift list.

Wednesday 8th of June 2022

These are awesome cognitive activity ideas for toddlers! Thank you so much for sharing. I love all of the wooden toys that are available now, they are definitely my favorite to buy for my kids. We actually have the My Magnetic Daily Calendar and the kids love it!

Do you love organizing? This newsletter is for you! →

Home › Activities

41 Fun Learning Activities for 4-Year-Olds

By Karo @ CraftsyHacks.com

on Nov 29, 2022, Updated Nov 09, 2023

This post may contain affiliate links: full affiliate disclosure .

Kids are so aware and observant at this age and want to know about everything, for better or worse! These brilliant learning activities for 4 year olds will help them answer those questions!

Gather as many fun and educational resources within reason as a girl can find. As tempting as it is just to let a screen be the answer, it’s not as beneficial as hands-on first-hand experiences.

Your kids will benefit from the list of activities because it puts into practice many critical and important skills that prepare young children for the classroom and the world.

The list of fun activities helps work on fine motor skills, gross motor skills, problem-solving, and patience –just to name a few!

I hope you find something fun on the list of best activities that you and your children can grow from, and good luck with the kiddos’ learning!

1. Textured Names

This fun activity never gets old! Try this great activity seasonally, and use them as a present for mothers, fathers, etc. days.

You’ll need construction paper, glue, a writing utensil, maybe scissors, and your small glueable material of choice for this simple activity.

On the sheet, you’ll need to write the name getting practiced, and then the child can finish with anything from sprinkles to scrap pieces of paper and have so much fun.

Any material you have on hand that is glueable and your 4 year olds can handle.

This is also a great large group activity for preschoolers !

2. Word Puzzle Printables

These free puzzle sets are endless hours of entertainment–a bit of assembly is required, FYI but these puzzle pieces are great educational activities for problem-solving skills.

I like to glue them to cardstock so they hold up a little longer against little hands, and if I’m really on my stuff, I’ll laminate them with these self-laminating sheets !

Once the letters of the alphabet are printed and assembled, you’ll cut along the dark lines to divide the letters and image. The goal of these cards is for the student to think critically to solve a problem.

3. Butterfly Life Cycle Craft

I still remember learning about the life cycle of butterflies and loving everything about it! A hands-on experience helps teach little ones to grasp an idea better.

This craft is an excellent introduction to a more complex idea, like a butterfly’s life, and you probably have all the materials already.

The materials are a paper plate, construction paper, Play-Doh, scissors, and a bit of glue.

First, cut a circle of paper that will act as the background on the plate, a leaf shape, and two long skinny strips to divide your plate into four sections.

Glue everything in place together, adding the leaf to one of the sections.

After, grab the Play-Doh and walk through each stage of the cycle while making each part. Start with the larvae on the leaf, then the caterpillar, after the chrysalis, and then, of course, the butterfly!

4. Printable Letter Craft

These printable letters are great for any eager learner to work on letter recognition and language development in a fun way!

You will have to make an account to download them, but it’s free; teacher’s Pay Teachers is an amazing resource for anyone working with kids looking for simple activities!

The animal associated with the letter helps reinforce recognizing the letter in the future. Bonus, your kid gets to color them in making them double as craft activities!

5. Oil Spill Sensory Activity

The pollution of the oceans is an essential conversation for anyone alive today to think about and discuss critically.

It seems like a lot for a four-year-old to understand, but a perfect way to introduce them to this is through a sensory activity.

Grab a bin, and fill it with toy boats, sea creatures, and water. Once that’s filled up, let the little one sensory play with it for a few, and ask about how things feel, look, etc.

After you’ve discussed that bit, add some oil to the sensory bins – feel free to add some cocoa powder to the oil to replicate the real oil leaks.

Ask the same sensory activities driven questions and have an honest and appropriate conversation during these fun learning activities.

This is a wonderful hands-on kindergarten activity .

6. Cloud in a Jar

Continuing on with the science-y activities, creating a cloud in a jar is another experiment that fascinates children.

You’ll need a cup, water, this shaving cream (non-gel), either these gel food colorings or watercolors , and pipettes or droppers.

Add the water first, then shaving cream, and then carefully, both of you can pipe in the food coloring or watercolor.

Talk about your experience and answer any questions that may arise during your conversation.

7. Planet Suncatcher Craft

There are many ways to accomplish this craft, but today we’re using tissue paper. Cut the specific colors you’ll need for each planet, organize them, and set them aside.

You’ll also need wax paper, a glue stick, and electrical tape. You can do one a day or knock them all out in one day, but you’ll need two circles for each planet–roughly representative of the size.

Once prepared, have your kiddo paste the colors onto the wax paper, and when ready, put the matching circle on top and tape shut.

Looking for more things to do outside? Check out these free outdoor activities for kids .

8. Fullbody Self Portrait

A classically fun art project for our little ones! You’ll need this roll of paper –a great deal, a pencil, and a kid to trace.

Have them lie flat on the paper and trace them entirely. After, let them draw the details and any activities important to them!

9. Slime Sensory Activity

A win-win in the world of slime! Kids get to play, but parents are pleased because it’s inside a bag–a bonus, throw some alphabet beads in there to practice sight words together and learn new things!

To make your slime for the bag, you’ll need this clear glue , (optional) glitter glue, baking soda, (optional) food dye, buffered saline solution, and of course, both a bag and letter beads.

10. DIY Upcycled Toilet Paper Seedling Pots

Teaching children the importance of being upcyclers is excellent for the future and teaches them how to grow food from seeds and other important life skills.

Grab a container you are okay with starting seeds in, a small collection of toilet paper tubes, and a packet of seeds.

You and your kids can set it up together, put the tp rolls in first, and then cover most of them with dirt, followed by burying the directed amount of seed per tube.

Water them together, and keep a written journal or photo journal of the journey to aid with observational skills and enjoy your quality time with your younger children!

11. Pollock Inspired Art

Don’t be afraid to get a little messy for this one, and make sure the paint you’re using is washable!

Get your paper ready, and let the kids squirt, dribble, fling (contained to the area!), or do anything their heart desires.

Pollock was a little more precise in his execution, but we want our kiddos to be able to let the creative juices fly.

12. Q-Tip Tree Painting

One of the best fine motor activities, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. Print out a tree, or draw the outline of one and let your little one dip a Q-tip into paint and dot in the leaves.

Provide a few different colors besides green and make it one of the most fun seasonal hands-on activities. What does a tree look like in the other parts of the year, and what happens to the leaves?

This great learning activity will help you teach your children just that!

13. Heart Crayons

Got a bunch of broken crayons waiting on standby in hopes of a better life? Grab this fun mold pack , your sad crayon collection, and a cookie tray.

Peel all your crayons and sort them into the molds however you’d all like, making sure to overfill them because they’ll melt down.

Put your oven on for 250 F (or 121 C) and place the molds onto cookie trays before putting them in the oven.

As soon as the oven has melted all the crayon bits, pull them out! This time frame shouldn’t be any more than 10 minutes, but it’s best to keep an eye to avoid any troubles.

14. Simple STEM Challenge

A very simple introduction to STEM is this challenge! Gather some plastic cups, popsicle sticks, and a fun toy to place on top.

Have them interlace the cups and the rods to build, trying what works, doesn’t work, etc.

Essentially, they are trying to build a structure as tall as they can with the sticks and cups and, when ready, place that fun item at the top.

15. Printable Gumball Machine

Counting has never been greater than with this download ! Print the sheets, grab these round stickers , and write 1-20 on them.

Once it’s all together, give them to your kid counter for a fun matching game.

A fun thing to try alongside this game is to pull up a randomizer online and enter all the numbers into the program so it becomes more game-like.

16. Alphabet Star Matchup

If your kiddo is working on letters instead of numbers, this download is just right! The stickers mentioned above will get the job after labeling them A-Z.

Again to make it more fun, throw the alphabet into the randomizer program to keep your little one engaged in the work.

17. Butter Science

Real-world contextual science projects are the best, and this butter one is no different! Heavy whipping cream, salt, a strainer, and a jar with a lid are needed.

Add the cream and shake for several minutes–pass it around and make it a whole family activity. Once you no longer hear a sloshing sound, open the jar, and voila, butter!

Strain the butter from the excess liquid (buttermilk which can be saved and used in other recipes), rinse lightly with water, and sprinkle salt into the butter.

Feel free to ask about what they hear, see, smell, taste, and feel throughout the experiment.

18. Homemade Playdough

A real lifesaver when you’ve realized all the other Play-doh has gone stiff or weird. This recipe has been a staple for us , and it does a beautiful job explaining all the ins and outs of achieving homemade playdough!

You can leave it a plain color or add dyes to the dough to brighten them up. Divide up your playdough if you want to make a handful of different colours.

19. Interactive Alphabet Book

A bit more complex, but it can be such a cool project to do with someone learning the alphabet. Or, there are options out there, but all cost money.

If taking on the project, you can decide with your child what each letter will be and then plan accordingly on how the page will interact.

20. Alphabet Flashcards

There’s no better way to learn anything than with good old-fashioned flashcards. Whether just working on letter recognition to phonetics, they are an essential tool to help your kiddo grow!

These from Etsy are so cute if you’re looking for buyable ones. Bring them anywhere, practice for a minute, or make a lesson plan.

21. Printable Ice Cream Template

To access these fun ice cream templates , you’ll have to subscribe, but if you’d instead make your own, here’s a mini tutorial.

You’ll need to find a simple black-and-white image of a cone and scoops, respectively, and print them all out, reserving a copy of each if you’d like to make copies.

To the originals, draw a column of dots to place stickers for your little one to count and replicate in scoop form.

22. 1-10 Dot to Dot Worksheet

These worksheets are great for children to practice counting without making it too much of a chore.

There are endless free options online that you can print, but here’s a nice spring flower one to try out–is it bad I’m already dreaming of flowers?

23. Insect Flashcards

As you know, I love teaching children about the natural world, and these insect flashcards are no different!

This download is free; you can cater the words to a different language or opt for the bilingual option.

24. Alphabet Bingo

Make your own cards, or find some online–alphabet bingo is fun for the whole family! Make sure to add some cardstock to the homemade or printed cards for a longer lifespan on them.

Also, there are a lot of great randomizers online; enter A-Z as the options and enjoy. I guarantee any kid loves the thrill of a randomizing tool.

25. Internal Organs Learning Binder

Kids love to ask questions about the body in general, and sometimes we have a hard time answering if we don’t have visuals or an appropriate way to present it.

This Etsy shop has printable information to change this conversation in your household.

26. Number Bingo

Just like alphabet bingo, there are many resources to find online or make your own! Again, add cardstock onto the more delicate cards and maybe even laminate them.

Pull up that online randomizer, enter the numbers your child is working on, and make a night of it.

27. Letter Fishing

This idea takes a bit of planning but can be done outside (weather dependent) or in the tub!

You’ll need magnetic letters, a magnetic fishing pole or net–whatever is easier to find, a kiddie pool (if outside), and a plastic scoop. 

Let them identify letters as they pull them out of the water, or ask them to find one. It brings a lot of fun while also being fully engaged in the educational aspect of the game.

28. Sequencing Cards

Sequencing cards are endlessly customizable and found all across the internet. One of the easiest and most import to try out is their name!

On a sheet of paper, write their name and on post-its, put a letter on each and then let the kiddo unscramble and sequence them correctly.

As a more complex sequence, you could have them order how a plant grows or how to put clothes on. There are plenty of options across the web and on sites like Teacher’s Pay Teachers.

29. Alphabet Sensory Bin

In a similar spirit to the fishing for letters, add any space-taking material (water, beans, sand), letters, and any other bits you’d enjoy in the mix.

Have an oversized matching board at the ready, have them identify as they play, or anything else that may come to mind–exploration through education is key.

You can cater to what your child needs. Do they need help with dexterity–add grabbers to pull the letters out.

30. Fridge Magnet Letter Matching

Matching is genuinely one of the best ways for kids to learn. Grab a set of magnetic letters, trace them onto a sheet of paper, cut the paper version out and attach them to the fridge.

Let them match casually play while you work in the kitchen, or get down there with them and do an impromptu lesson.

31. Name Writing Activity

Teaching a kid to write their name is a huge and exciting milestone. A way to help them get there–expose them to multiple outlets to recognize and try writing their name.

Start doing some tracing activities or puzzle-based ones–recognizing the order. A dry-erase board is a great asset during this time to explore continually.

32. Alphabet Colouring Activity

A way to implement learning without having to teach outright is through colouring sheets! Every theme imaginable has millions of options–from Peppa Pig alphabet pages to Holiday ones.

Grab what your little one would be thrilled to colour!

33. Baking Soda and Vinegar Art

Sometimes some projects yield no end product, and that’s an okay thing for, frankly, everyone to learn! You’ll need an easily cleanable space, a tray or dish, baking soda, vinegar, droppers, and a bit of food dye.

Mix the vinegar and food dyes, and then have them drop the mixture onto the baking soda. Ask some sensory or scientific questions as they proceed (or after, depending on their excitement).

34. Alphabet Arc Mat

These mats are powerhouses in helping children develop and learn–it helps with everything from letter recognition to long-term memory!

The activities are endless, and there are a few options in the pdf shared for learners anywhere in their journey.

35. Busy Bee Activity Pack

If you’d like this busy bee pack , you’ll have to subscribe, but there are countless activity packs targeted at any child.

Activity packs usually can include matching sheets, letter recognition, or any other educational-based worksheet.

36. Rainbow Colour Matching

A super simple colour matching option is to grab some paint samples and these clothespins if you don’t have some already! Get duplicates of the samples and simply cut one up by the dividing lines.

Have your child match the correct colour square to each strip. So simple, easy, and cheap!

37. Sprinkle Writing Sensory Bag

One of the cutest and sweetest ways to practice writing is to make a sprinkle bag! Fill a bag up with sprinkles and secure the top shut with tape, and then have them get writing.

38. Shark Letter Recognition Activity

“Feeding the sharks” has never been more educational! This activity requires you to add your email, but it’s worth downloading. 

If you’re not into that idea, try looking around for free letter recognition activities.

39. Rainbow Cereal Necklace

A classic from my childhood–making our cereal necklaces! It’s a great fine motor and patience practice with a very sweet payoff in the end.

Gather string, a colorful cereal of choice, a child-friendly needle like this one , and any other treats you want to string on.

Your kids will love these indoor activities for kids at home !

40. Printing with Nature

Make a day of this idea! Go on a nature walk with your kiddos collecting things you find on the path but still being respectful to nature.

When home, bring your collection to the table and break out paper and some washable paint. Squirt paint onto paper plates and have them dip their findings onto the paint and then onto the paper.

Ask them what they thought their stamps might look like versus what came out on the page; you can even introduce other nature subjects while working on this project.

This activity is the perfect fall craft idea !

41. Salt Writing Tray

An alternative to the sprinkle sensory writing bag, the salt writing tray is a lowkey and textural way to get your practice in.

Grab a cookie tray, pour salt onto it, and have your kiddo work on letters, numbers, names, or even sight words.

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It’s present time! Link the wrapped present to what’s inside by matching the shapes.

Match the Shape

Look at the picture and find all the hidden shapes.

Visit our  fun maths activities   page for a selection of activities and resources designed to help you enjoy maths with your child.

7. Cook together

Cooking with your child is not only fun but it’s an excellent way to begin to talk about maths – counting eggs for a cake recipe, more or fewer toppings for a pizza. Let them pour liquids or spoon flour to develop eye-hand co-ordination and control. Best of all, you both get to enjoy a tasty treat at the end!

Why not try our   banana bread and fruit smoothies recipes ?

Video: Cooking with kids

• Fun ideas for toddlers
• Fun ideas for 4-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 5-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 6-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 7-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 8-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 9-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 10-year-olds
• Fun ideas for 11-year-olds
• Creative writing
• Times tables

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29 Games That Every 4-Year-Olds Love to Play

Best Learning Games for 4-Year-Olds

Candy Matching Game

This game helps 4-year-olds with color recognition and pattern matching skills.

The best way to teach fundamentals of geometry playfully and have fun for four-year-olds.

Giant Dwarf

One of the incredibly simple learning games for 4-year-olds. (so easy a 4-year-old kid can do it!)

Drawing Game

You’ve just discovered the classic learning games every 4-year-olds loves to play!

Memory Card Game

This exercise game helps 4-year-olds learn fast with memory-boosting effects.

Musical Instruments Game

It takes less than 3 minutes to teach a 4-year-old kid dozens of instruments with this game.

Hidden Objects

A learning game for 4-year-olds that helps them learn the different objects while cleaning up their room simultaneously!

Flying Cards

This game makes flashcards more fun! It helps improve kids' memory as they progress.

Educational Games for 4-Year-Olds

This is the perfect time to give your 4-year-olds an early head start! Your kids’ faces will light up as they start playing these educational games for 4-year-olds! Experts design these games just for them.

Educational Puzzle

It's educational, engaging, and stimulates memory. Besides, it's one of the best educational games for four-year-olds!

Find the Pair

Easy peasy. Look for the pairs and match them to get the prize while improving visual attention and scanning skills!

Find the Animals

Let your 4-year-old recognize and memorize these animals by using visual memory and attention skills!

Color Pattern Shape

Here is one of the best learning games for 4 year olds. Conceptualization and attention skills will be improved.

Are you ready to test your small genius with legendary Bird Eye Game? 4 year olds love this attention game!

Find the Shadow

These shadows are tricky enough to challenge your 4 year old’s visual scanning and attention skills!

Let’s follow the lights’ dance! This one is a great game to improve short-term memory besides sustained attention.

4 year olds love birds, and it’s time to get to know birds much better! A special game for both visual and aural memory.

There are never enough fun games for kids.

If you are looking for color and shapes learning games , spot the difference games , or number games schoolers , look no further than this list! Our list includes mostly indoor games for preschoolers but from the classics to new creations, there is something fun for everyone.

Games for 4 Year Olds

1. mentalup learning games for 4 year olds.

Do you know what MentalUP is? Let’s briefly explain it: MentalUP is an award-winning app that offers hundreds of spot the difference, number blocks, puzzles, and other cognitive skills games that nurture mental agility , logic, attention, and memory development!

MentalUP is the best option for free learning games for preschoolers. The most significant advantage of this app is that it provides multi-faceted exercises rather than unidirectional exercises. There are no ads or inappropriate content, which is beneficial in that kids can play MentalUP without any parental control need.

MentalUP consists of learning apps for preschoolers that are designed for the development of visual , verbal , mathematical intelligence , attention , concentration , analytical thinking skills, and more based on their learning style .

MentalUP includes hundreds of exercises in the form of educational games for 4 year old children ! 🤩🥳

MentalUP games are designed by academicians , specialists , and game developers , and certified as pedagogical products . 😇That’s why both parents and kids love MentalUP that much! 🙌

The award-winning app also offers 240+ physical workouts besides hundreds of learning games for 4 year olds . 💯

One and only app that is extremely beneficial for both brain and body ! 🧠👟🚀

PLAY & LEARN WITH MENTALUP

2. From the Market Game

You can name the things that you bought from the market to your child one by one. While doing this, say one item and then ask them to repeat it. Then increase the items to 2 items, 3 items, 4 items, and etc. Here’s an example:

• Today I bought an apple from the market. Repeat Carol: what did I buy from the market today?
• Well-done! I also bought some other things. Today I bought an apple and a pear from the market. What did I buy?
• An apple and a pear.
• Bravo Carol! ☺ (Do not forget to praise each time) But I also bought some other things. Today I bought an apple, a pear, and grapes from the market. What did I buy?

A growing list will push her memory after a while. Mental skills are developed by pushing them (training a lot) just like muscles. Repeating constantly the updated list like “apple, pear, grapes, banana, and melon” contributes to memory development of your child.

This game is quite effective for short-term memory loss , reasoning and sustained attention skills .

3. Number Blocks

You can teach your child to count numbers with numbered and coloured blocks by using fun methods. This activity is suitable as one of the greatest educational games for 4 year olds.

You can even use the toy blocks you bought before by sticking numbers on the toy blocks, and also this saves you from spending money for a new toy. If you can afford, it is more effective to buy a new set which is designed in big and small sizes according to the number on the block.

Number 1 is written on the smallest block; number 10 is written on the biggest block. When your children build these blocks according to their sizes, they will sort the blocks in the correct order. In this way, while learning the quantity and magnitude concepts that are expressed by the numerical values, they also learn counting the numbers effectively.

This toy is also effective for establishing a correlation between different concepts. Therefore, they foster mathematical intelligence development. Coloured and numbered blocks are a very useful choice in the category of educational activities for preschoolers.

This game is quite effective for short-term memory , comparison , and counting skills.

4. Remote-Controlled Car

Remote-controlled cars, which are among the most favorite educational toys for kindergartners and toddler boys, are very important in the category of learning games for 4-year-olds. In order to help your child, you can assign some tasks.

Example : You may want them to drive their remote-controlled car under one table and park it under another table. A simple remote-controlled car is very important in 4-year-old children for reflex development, attention, and imagination.

Also, it is scientifically proven that parking develops skills in mastering geometric calculations. This toy is also suitable for children older than four. However, kids younger than 3 cannot use these toys effectively, so it can be classified as educational toys for 4-5year olds and olders.

This game is quite effective for calculation , focus and visual attention skills.

5. Spot The Difference Game

Spot the Difference games are one of the best games for 4 year olds online.

You and your child can start to play the spot the difference game with simple images. You can choose to play cards that are very similar but have little differences in colour or accessory.

For example: “Let’s find the different turtle.” (You probably remember the play cards in which all turtles have a similar appearance but one has different shell colours, glasses and no glasses, tail and no tail, etc.).

This game is quite effective for visual intelligence , analysis skill, and attention development .

Group Activities & Games for 4 Year Olds

6. hot-cold game.

This is one of the 4 year old games that can be played with a group of children or family members. One of the children closes her/his eyes, and someone else hides a toy somewhere. Then, the child opens her/his eyes and tries to find the hidden toy by looking around randomly.

If the child comes closer to the hidden object, others say 'hot'. Likewise, if the child moves away from the hidden toy, then other people say 'cold' as a clue for the child. When the child finds the toy, then she/he chooses someone else. So, the game starts all over again with the new player.

Thanks to games to play with 4 year olds, children can be both socialized and have fun, and they learn to follow instructions and evaluate clues.

This game is quite effective for aural memory and visual-attention skills.

🤫 Proven Way to Teach ABC a Kid : Teaching your preschooler to alphabets as one of the learning games for 4 year olds is a fun but challenging adventure. But children can learn them easily through play every day.

So, why don’t you use that advantage?

Try MentalUP’s Alphabet Learning Games to keep them engaged and excited to learn! 🎉

7. Night-Day Game

This is one of the most popular games for 4 year olds at home. The game starts when one of the children gives the instructions.

When the child says ' night ', other kids close their eyes by going down to the table and putting their forehead to their wrist. Then, they stand upright and open their eyes when the child says ' day '.

You’re gonna love the night-and-day game is if you looking educational games for preschoolers! As the game speeds up, chances of making mistakes increases. The children who go to the wrong positions will be eliminated during the game.

This game is quite effective for recognition , aural memory , and decision-making skills.

8. Indoor Games for Preschoolers

Indoor PE games that we have also mentioned in our previous articles is so important because these kinds of games contain many mental learning games for 4 year olds.

They aren’t rule-based and children can act as any characters and take any responsibilities they want.

While this game is tiring out the children physically, it also relaxes and restores them mentally. For children, being physically active means developing muscles and growing up healthy.

Some benefits of playing games for 4 year olds at home are:

• Improving creativity
• Developing of vocabulary skills and linguistic performance
• Developing a sense of responsibility
• Expressing thoughts easily
• Improving the ability of composition
• Development of attention and focusing on an object

We’ve put together the best games to play at home! You can check it out to discover many games for 4-year-olds at home: Games to Play at Home 🏠

Solo Games for a 4-Year-Old Child

We always talk about puzzles for 4-year-olds because there are many options for all ages. Adults might have puzzles made of thousands of pieces. However, for children, puzzles mostly consist of 10-20 pieces. As children grow up, the number of pieces of puzzles also increases.

Puzzles improve children’s problem-solving abilities and analytical thinking skills. Also, they are one of the best memory games .

10. Playdough

This is also suitable for many ages and provides various benefits. Playdough develops creativity , design and artistic skills. Of course, it also helps handcraft skills. For children at the age of 4, playdough is a brain developer. On the other hand, it is used to develop hand muscles and get them ready for writing for children at the age of 5-6.

Learning Activities for 4 Year Olds & Preschoolers

11. reading books together.

Read all kinds of books to your children. Every new book will open a new door in their minds. Books are one of the best educational games for 4 year olds, as well as for all ages, even if your child does not know how to read yet.

This activity will lead your child to develop many logical connections in their minds about the words they hear, the pictures they see, the harmony of the pictures with the words, the use of the words or the feelings they trigger. They will also strengthen their social skills by these kinds of learning activities for 4-year-olds.

Its positive effects on imagination have also been proven. With every new book, your child will dive into a stream of events that he has never experienced in his life. Moreover, you no longer have to buy many books, pay a lot of money for them and use a huge library. You can also find free eBooks on the Internet.

12. Sing Counting Songs

Here’s another great example of activities for 4-year-olds at home. Singing not only helps children improve their speaking and listening skills, but also makes them have fun with words. You can turn the singing activity into one of the best games for 4-year-olds! Counting songs, like ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … Once I caught a fish alive’, can help your child have fun and also learn numbers.

You can easily find different alternatives from different sources on the internet. For example, songs such as 'Ten Green Bottles' or 'Three Little Frogs' go in reverse order. This can help them refresh their knowledge, especially when young children begin to perceive adding and subtracting.

Let your children use their fingers to count and establish an unforgettable link between numbers , rhythms and visual intelligence .

13. Cooking With Kids

Best games for 4 year olds are the ones that blend creativity and fun with taste!

Yes, we are talking about cooking! Cooking with your children is not only a fun and delicious activity, but also a unique game with which they will learn math knowledge without even realizing it. How many eggs are in the recipe? How many spoons of flour should you add? So how are these units of measurement different?

Let your child ask questions. You are in no hurry. Your cake may not turn out very well, but this fun game will perhaps make it tastier and more instructive. You can also have a pleasant time with educational games for 4-year-olds.

Development Checklist 4-Year-Olds

Answer "Yes" or "No" according to your child's performance in the development areas in the checklist below.

If two or more of the answers you give for each section about your child are "No", consider talking to a specialist.

Does your child have difficulty with:

	Skills	Yes	No

Should Your Children Play Online Games for 4 Year Olds?

Children who are constantly surrounded by various technological devices will eventually want to play pc games for 4 year olds because of their curiosity, or their tendency to adapt to life around them.

This is sort of a need for children living in the technology age. Experts think that it is okay for children to have a certain period of time and play online games for 4 year olds with technological devices in their daily life. You can evaluate this screen time by providing them with even safe baby games or games for 4 year olds that have no ads.

Most kids like cartoons. However, children who watch cartoons are not in an interactive process and do not think about what must be done because everything is already prepared. That’s why playing proper computer games for 4 year olds can be more beneficial than watching cartoons.

Of course, relaxing and having fun are necessary for children so cartoons can be helpful for it. Still, it is also important to talk about more useful technological alternatives in terms of online learning games for 4 year olds.

The Importance of Educational Games for 4 Year Olds

Four is the age when dynamism and questioning reach the highest level. Therefore, while choosing learning games for 4-year-olds, it would be a good idea to choose the games that require energy-consuming, wondering and attracting.

🤫 Proven Way to Teach Colors and Shapes a Kid : Teaching your toddler to colors and shapes is one of the best games to play with 4 year olds. Good news, children can learn them easily thanks to beneficial technology ! 📲

Try MentalUP’s Color And Shape Learning Games to keep them engaged and excited to learn! 🌈

As you know, children do not only need games for fun, but they also need games for a healthy development. We have already mentioned that learning games for 4 year old is important on many levels, so it is good to make a short reminder.

Preschool education starts in the family before kindergarten. And the educational games for preschoolers is an essential part of. Both family games and educational toys for preschoolers that children play with each other foster mental , physical , language , attention , social and emotional development.

Choosing the right toys and games for 4 year olds is a very important detail for a successful future. 🤗

Check out MentalUP, learning games for 4 year olds that makes kids ready for their academic life by supporting their mental development during the preschool learning process. 🎓👏

GIVE MENTALUP A TRY

Alphabet Games and Activities for Preschoolers

Fun Games for 7 - 8 Years Old Children - Activities & Learning & Development

Kindergarten Learning Games and Activities

Games for 6-Year-Olds - Fun Home Activities

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Preschool Activities For 4-Year-Olds: Sensory Play, Games, Art Projects, And Experiments

April 20, 2024 //  by  Louise Pieterse

The days of coloring books and potato stamps are long gone. It’s time to get creative with your kids and help them explore their world in new ways. At 4 years old, they’re starting to learn more about numbers and letters, becoming pros at writing out their names, differentiating between colors, and showing tons of curiosity about everything around them. 

Why not indulge them in a bunch of awesome activities that promote sensory play, fun with numbers, and a host of artistic exploration? We’re confident that our collection of 57 innovative preschool activities will do just the trick and prove perfect for your curious little 4-year-olds!

1. Sprinkle Sensory Bag

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this activity, it’s packed with endless possibilities and tons of fun! Simply fill a Ziploc bag with a bunch of sprinkles before inviting your little ones to use it as a tracking platform to trace out letters and numbers with their fingers.

Learn More: Active Littles

2. Hiss Board Game

Every preschool teacher knows the importance of having one amazing board game on hand. Hiss is an excellent investment and your kids will be able to play it for years to come! Engage them in this vibrant game by having them match colors to build these radiant wriggly snakes.

Learn More: Game Cows

3. Floating Paintings

This whimsical activity is part magic and part science and incredibly easy to set up. Task your kiddos with drawing a fun picture on a smooth plate with dry-erase markers. Once their doodles are complete, prompt them to pour some water onto the plate and observe as their picture gets picked up by the water and floats around. It’s pure magic!

Learn More: YouTube

4. Cutting Slime

Exercising your toddlers’ scissors skills is an important part of their development, but most activities are resource-heavy and messy. With this simple project, you’ll encourage them to practice their cutting by having them snip into blobs of slime for infinite ways to exercise those little hands.

Learn More: The OT Toolbox

5. Squirt Gun Painting

Throw out those boring painting activity plans and roll out the big guns, or the water guns in this case. Load up some water pistols with a variety of water paints before passing them off to your preschoolers. Then, let the fun begin by allowing them to squirt their guns at some blank canvas to see what colorful creations they’ll come up with.

Learn More: Fireflies and Mudpies

6. Sticky Turtle Wall

This super cute activity is perfect for your curious kiddos who love to play outside. Start by sticking a sheet of contact paper on a wall or fence (sticky side facing outward) and then draw the outline of a turtle on it with a marker. Your children are then free to stick all kinds of natural green elements on the turtle to bring this masterpiece to life.

Learn More: Happy To d dler Playtime

7. Sensory Counting Bag

This customizable activity will make a fantastic addition to your summer-themed activities. Put together this captivating sensory bag by inserting the printable ice cream sheet in a Ziploc bag before filling it with hair gel and pom poms. You’ll then challenge your little ones to use their counting and color recognition skills to move the pom-poms around the bag to the corresponding cones.

Learn More: Happy Tot Shelf

8. Flower Arrangement

When springtime rolls around, embrace the colors of the season with this cheery activity. Engage your little learners’ in this sensory delight by inviting them to arrange flowers in an upside-down colander. Let their creativity flow as they use flowers of different sizes and hues to design these beautiful floral creations.

Learn More: No Time for Flashcards

9. Animal Tape Rescue Activity

Here’s another fun-filled way to work on your tots’ cutting skills and develop their fine motor skills. Start by taping plastic animals into a muffin tray before challenging your kids to free them by using a scissor to cut the tape. If you’re looking to increase the difficulty, replace the tape with string before encouraging them to release the animals with their fingers by unraveling the complicated web.

Learn More: Days with Grey

10. Toddler at Play

It seems like most indoor activities always leave a mess, but this absorbing game only requires a piece of paper and a few shapes. Begin by tracing outlines of toys, blocks, or even kitchen utensils before tasking your kiddos with matching the objects to their outline.

Learn More: Toddler At Play

11. Leaf Rubbing

Nothing promotes sensory engagement quite like nature! Immerse your class in all the colors, smells, and textures of the outdoors with this simple leaf-rubbing activity. Send them off into your schoolyard to pick up a few fallen leaves. You’ll then prompt them to place a blank piece of paper over their leaves before having them rub over it with crayons to reveal all the intricate patterns of nature.

Learn More: Social Field Trips

12. Sticker Lines

If you’ve got a few stickers to spare, this delightful and hands-on activity is the perfect choice. Simply draw lines on a large piece of white paper before having your children place stickers all along the line. You can even amp up the difficulty by challenging them to see if they can stick the colors in a pattern!

Learn More: Busy Toddler

13. Playdough Stamp Counting

Playdough stamping is an age-old kindergarten craft, but have you ever thought of switching it up to a counting activity? In this hands-on exercise, you’ll start by writing various numbers on pieces of paper before tasking your kiddos with stamping the correct number of dots into Playdough using different building blocks.

Learn More: Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls

14. Pom-Pom Patterns

This interactive activity will work wonders for your toddlers’ color recognition and fine motor skills. Simply arm them with a pair of mini tweezers and then challenge them to place pom-poms in a grid formation by having them follow these printable template cards.

Learn More: Just Teachy

15. Letter Search with Stickers

Familiarizing your tots with alphabet letters just got a whole lot more fun! Provide them with an empty paper towel roll and colorful stickers that you’ve covered in various letters. Then, invite them to match the stickers to the correct letter on the roll.

Learn More: How Wee Learn

16. Leaf Sorting

Here’s another excellent example of how your garden can be one of your greatest resources. Gather up leaves of all shapes and sizes or send your kids into your schoolyard to rustle up a bunch. You’ll then encourage them to do their best as you have them sort each leaf by size, texture, color, or any other characteristics you can think of.

Learn More: Montessori from the Heart

17. Rainbow Stacking Stones

In this triple-threat of an activity, your children will learn all about colors, balancing, and sorting according to size. Begin by inviting them to gather up a bunch of small stones before allowing them to adorn each stone with colorful paint. Once complete, challenge them to stack the stones in order from biggest to smallest.

Learn More: Happy Hooligans

18. Toilet Roll Haircuts

Have your little ones shown interest in wanting to cut their own hair? Avoid any unwanted mishaps by treating them to this adorable cutting activity. They’ll work on their scissors skills as you task them with decorating empty toilet rolls before you engage their inner stylist by having them give their cardboard characters some funky haircuts.

Learn More: Our Kid Things

19. Nail Painting

Another potentially messy activity can be reined in with just a small adjustment. Instead of letting your young minds paint your or their own nails, arm them with nail polish and give them these easy-to-make cardboard cutouts to decorate with colors of their choice.

Learn More: Play Hooray

20. Cotton Ball Painting

If your littles are struggling to get the hang of painting with a paintbrush, this cotton ball painting project will provide them with the perfect happy medium. Simply stick cotton wool in clothes pegs and then place them in various blobs of paint. Your kiddos are then free to go to town on a canvas of your choice as you encourage them to embrace their creative flair!

Learn More: Tip Junkie

21. Name Hop

Any game that can burn off a little energy is a winner in our books! In Name Hop, you’ll start by writing letters on paper plates before you scatter them around your classroom floor. Challenge your tots to make their way through the alphabet by having them jump from letter to letter, spelling out their name or even practicing sight words.

Learn More: Taming Little Monsters

22. Utensil Printing

You can turn nearly anything into art with a bit of colorful paint and a little imagination. In this case, allow your kiddos to use simple kitchen utensils to create vivid patterns with paint. You’ll be amazed to see all the creative flower designs that your budding Picassos come up with.

Learn More: Fantastic Fun and Learning

23. Flower Petal Name Practice

Staying on the floral theme, this delightful activity will let your kids practice spelling out their names. Try adding this to their daily routine as you have them practice laying out petals in the correct order to spell out their names.

Learn More: A Dab Of Glue Will Do

24. Number Search Sticker Activity

There’s seemingly no end to the things you can do with a few stickers and a sheet of paper. In this variation, you’ll start by writing down some numbers on paper before assigning a color to each one. Proceed by handing the sheets out to your class and challenging them to search for the numbers and place the corresponding sticker on each.

Learn More: Stay At Home Educator

25. Sticky Yarn Numbers

Get those nimble hands working in this super simple number recognition activity. Simply draw a bunch of numbers on paper before sticking a sheet of contact paper over it, making sure the sticky side is facing up. Then, invite your littles to trace out each digit by having them use pieces of yarn to map out all the curves and angles.

Learn More: Fun Littles

26. Make Counting Hands

It’s perfectly natural for your children to count on their fingers, but how about letting them count on someone (or something) else’s fingers? Treat them to some hands-on learning by first filling gloves with beans or grain. Afterward, have them roll a pair of dice before challenging them to represent that number on the gloves.

Learn More: JDaniel4’s Mom

27. Ribbon Threading

Even the simplest of activities can have great benefits in the development of your preschoolers. This ribbon threading activity is sure to do the trick as you encourage them to thread different ribbons through an oven rack. They’ll exercise their little fingers and their patience as they weave each ribbon through the rack.

Learn More: Happy Brown House

28. Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils

These salt dough fossils will make a fantastic addition to a prehistoric-themed lesson. Allow your kiddos to press toy dinosaurs into circles of salt dough to create impressions before placing them in an oven to dry. Once hardened, they’ll have an array of dino fossils that you can even hide in your garden for them to dig up later if you’re feeling adventurous! 

Learn More: Mom Brite

29. Colorful Counting Sticks

Craft sticks are probably already a staple in your classroom so setting up this game should be a breeze. Mark each stick with a number and then challenge your little learners to place a corresponding amount of small rubber bands on each stick, according to the number represented.

Learn More: Sweet Silly Sara

30. Paper-Cutting Station

This handy paper-cutting station is the perfect way to keep your little ones busy. Simply print out a few templates that you’ll place in a craft box along with a few pairs of scissors. When your tots have some free time or you’re looking to distract them for a moment, have them open the box, pick out a template, and cut along the lines.

Learn More: Playdough to Plato

31. Lock and Key Number Match

This innovative activity is guaranteed to keep your kids busy while teaching them number and counting skills at the same time. To create this exercise, write numbers on locks before making dots on the keychains of the matching keys. You’ll then encourage your learners to match each lock with its key to unlock them all.

Learn More: ABC Does

32. Bubble Art

Your young minds will create unique pieces of art every time with this imaginative activity. Create a colorful bubble solution by mixing dish soap and paint together before inviting your kids to form bubble clouds by blowing into the solution with a straw. Afterward, allow them to place paper onto the bubbles to form floral templates that they can then adorn with patches of greenery.

Learn More: A Piece of Rainbow

33. Wet Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

Liven up your classroom environment with this outdoor art session. Provide your tots with sidewalk chalk that’s been soaked in water before inviting them to forge impressive patterns in your schoolyard. You’re sure to be mesmerized by all the grand designs that they come up with and how the simple addition of water transforms ordinary sidewalk chalk into an ultra-vibrant medium.

34. Ice Block Treasure Hunt

Here’s a guaranteed boredom buster for those hot summer days. Freeze a bunch of plastic toys in a big block of ice before allowing your children to excavate them. Encourage them to use water, kitchen utensils, and more to try and melt or crush the ice to save the toys from their icy prison.

Learn More: The Inspired Home

35. Glow In The Dark Bowling

Kick lawn bowling up a notch with a whimsical game of glow-in-the-dark bowling. Simply snap a few glow sticks and pop them into plastic bottles filled with water to create a thrilling night-time activity that will work wonders for your kiddos’ gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Learn More: Passion for Savings

36. Rock Painting

You can never go wrong with a classic activity! Rock painting is a fantastic way to get your children to express their creativity while also enjoying some fun in the sun. Provide them with an array of paints and a rock of their choice before getting them excited to whip up these vibrant garden accessories.

Learn More: Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten

37. Yarn Painting

Yarn is another potential paintbrush alternative that makes for stunning outcomes! Invite your toddlers to create abstract pieces of art by first having them dip yarn in paint and lay it down on paper. You’ll then prompt them to drag it across the page to produce vibrant tapestries right before their eyes.

38. Clear Frame Portrait Drawing

This ingenious activity maximizes creativity while simultaneously being light on resources. Simply pair your kids up before providing each pair with a clear plastic lid and a dry-erase marker. They’ll then take turns outlining their classmates’ features by placing the lid over their partner’s face and using the marker to trace out all their features.

Learn More: Instagram

39. Mystery Box

Tactile exploration is a key part of your preschoolers’ development and this mystery box activity is one of the best ways to explore that sense. Start by adding anything from toys to fruit, utensils, or foam letters to a box before encouraging your pupils to feel the objects without looking and guess what hidden items lay inside.

Learn More: Kids Art n Craft

40. Animal Rescue

Round up your children and get them ready to embark on this engaging rescue mission! Wrap up a few toys with rubber bands or string before challenging your students to free each animal by using their fine motor skills to unravel the knots and loops that bind the toys.

Learn More: Team Cartwright

41. Animal Leg Match

This adorable activity makes for a delightful addition to animal lessons or could even be used as an extension exercise to an animal book reading lesson. Using clothespins with different kinds of animal legs on them, you’ll task your kiddos with matching them to their body cutouts to complete this fun-filled matching activity. 

Learn More: And Next Comes L

42. Move Like An Animal Cube

It’s time to get those little bodies moving with this dynamic activity! Creative this fun animal movement cube by sticking movement prompts and pictures of animals to each side of the shape. Then, have your littles take turns rolling the cube before encouraging them to jump, crawl, and hop according to the animal movement that their roll lands on.

Learn More: Choices for Children

43. Fine Motor Fishing

Inspire a fresh take on the classic game of magnet fishing! Begin by making these super cute pipe cleaner fish before twisting and turning a separate pipe cleaner to create a hook. Engage your class in scooping up their catch of the day by using the hook to pick up one colorful fish at a time and then drop it into a corresponding toilet paper roll.

Learn More: Home School AEC

44. Animal Washing Station

This might seem like a sneaky way to get your tots to clean their toys, but it’s actually a fantastic way to develop their fine motor skills. Simply cover a bunch of their toys in mud before tasking them with using a toothbrush, cloth, or even cotton buds to get into all the nooks and crannies of their animals – leaving them squeaky clean and primed for playtime!

Learn More: The Imagination Tree

45. Puffy Paint Art

For a whimsical take on art lessons, try whipping up a batch of puffy paint! Using shaving cream and food coloring, you’ll invite your little artists to create textural wonders by squeezing the mixture out of a piping bag. Draw outlines of a picture for them to follow or let their creativity run freely by allowing them to forge artistic wonders from scratch.

Learn More: The Artful Parent

46. Easy-Peasy Sock Puppets

Making these quirky sock puppets is an awesome way to indulge your kids’ creativity while also teaching them the importance of recycling. Gather up a bunch of old socks and have your preschoolers come up with their very own unique character using leftover popsicle sticks, craft supplies, googly eyes, and more!

Learn More: Pinterest

47. Shape Hunt

A classic shape hunt activity may seem simple enough, but it’ll do wonders for your toddlers’ developing minds. Challenge them to hunt around your classroom or outside to find objects in their environment that match a variety of known shapes.

Learn More: Michigan State University

48. Sensory Rice Bin

Sensory activities are as much a rewarding experience for your little ones as they are fun. Immerse them in this wonderful exercise where you’ll have them search through a sea of colorful rice using a variety of tools to aid them in excavating the hidden objects.

Learn More: Honors Grad U

49. Eggshell Garden

Planting little eggshell gardens will be one of the cutest and most memorable experiments to treat your littles to. Have them fill eggshells with soil and seeds before encouraging them to place their eggs in different places around your classroom to observe the effects of sunlight on their growth. It’s a fantastic way to teach them about the importance of recycling and how growing their own plants can aid in fighting the climate crisis.

Learn More: Bright Wheel Blog

50. Nature Art Collage

A walk outdoors is a lovely way for your children to interact with nature and adding a creative element to it means they get to put their thinking caps on as well. Allow them to pick up a variety of natural objects such as sticks, leaves, tree bark, and flowers before encouraging them to use their items to come up with designs such as a whimsical mandala pattern.

Learn More: Emma Owl

51. Story Stones

Inviting your class to create story stones is a sure way to engage every facet of their imagination. Have your kiddos paint simple doodles onto stones or pre-make them if you’re in a time crunch. Then, prompt them to pick a random stone and come up with a fitting tale to match the image displayed.

Learn More: Early Impact Learning

52. Balloon Tennis

DIY Balloon Tennis is an excellent way to work on your children’s hand-eye coordination and expel some energy in the process. Start by whipping up a few racquets using paper plates and popsicle sticks before challenging your little athletes to see who can use them to keep a balloon off the floor for the longest time.

Learn More: Lovevery

53. Sidewalk Chalk Obstacle Course

If your kids love to move and play outdoors, this activity will soon become one of their favorites! Plan out a thrilling obstacle course on your sidewalk by using colorful chalk to map out each movement that your learners will have to carry out. Once complete, challenge them to move through the course as quickly and accurately as possible as you have them jump, hop, and skip to the finish.

Learn More: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

54. Bubble Wrap stomp painting

It’s not often that your little ones get to make a mess without consequences, but in this creative project, they’ll get to do just that! Start by taping large pieces of bubble wrap around their feet before inviting them to step onto a large sheet of paper. They’re then free to dip their feet into different paints and stomp around the canvas to create an abstract masterpiece.

Learn More: Mess for Less

55. Balloon Rocket Experiment

Introducing your class to STEM activities at an early age is a wonderful way to skyrocket their progress. In this fun-filled experiment, you’ll assist them in using materials such as balloons, string, tape, and straws to design a balloon rocket that’s completely propelled by the laws of physics!

Learn More: Kaplan

56. Musical Statues

Treat your young minds to a classic game of Musical Statues to improve their concentration skills and get their bodies grooving. Have them try out the classic version where they’ll need to freeze as soon as the music stops. For an added twist, when the music stops encourage them to freeze before pretending to be an animal or prompting them to express a random emotion.

Learn More: Silly Fish Learning

57. Bead Patterns

Using beads as a tool for learning not only results in a variety of trendy accessories but they can also be used as a method to develop your toddlers’ finger control and fine motor skills. In this activity, have them pick a random pattern card before inviting them to string colorful beads onto pipe cleaners to accurately represent the order on their cards.

Learn More: 8 Beading Activities for Preschoolers

75 Sanity-Saving Mess Free Toddler Activities To Do At Home

• Last Updated: February 6, 2023

By Sarah Peerless

Got a young kiddo at home? Suffering severe lockdown fever?  No time for mess?

Sounds like you need some easy mess free toddler activities to do at home to keep them busy (and you sane).

Covid-19 aside, if you have a little one aged 2, 3 or 4, there’s always reason to have a few good at home toddler activities up your sleeve.  (Err, hello Taylors of Harrogate coffee. Yes, I’m a coffee snob.)

You need simple no mess activities to keep your busy 2 year old toddler engaged and out of your hair. 

You need easy activities to do at home for your even busier 3 or 4  year old preschooler to keep them out of mischief, just for a few minutes.  Ideally with zero set-up and with things you already have at home. 

Heck, even easy at home activities to do with your kiddo when you so desire.

And mess free is the name of the game. At home toddler activities that absolutely DO NOT involve cleaning up some hideous mess. 

These are paint-free and glue-free toddler activities that won’t wreck your home….pinky promise.

This post contains affiliate links.  If you click on one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Table of Contents

How do you keep a toddler busy at home?

To keep a toddler busy at home, you need to provide them the stimulation and activities that involve things they’re naturally curious about.  You’ve probably noticed that from the age of 2 (and even before), your toddler loves doing the following:

• stacking & sorting
• pouring & scooping
• ripping & throwing
• touching & exploring with their hands
• cutting, posting, packing & unpacking…
• figuring out how things work
• opening and shutting containers, doors, lids….
• getting wet and messy…
• move, move, move!

They’re not merely playing or actually trying to destroy everything they touch.  Whatever it may seem.  They’re learning through each and every activity they’re doing.  

Your 2, 3 or 4 year old is trying to master certain fine and gross motor skills, while also satisfying their desire to explore the world.   

This list of no mess toddler activities is naturally geared towards these tendencies to learn and explore.  It’s full of toddler at home learning activities and opportunities.   

The main aim is to keep your 2, 3 and 4 year old busy and engaged in a constructive way as possible.  Or in a destructive way, but under your terms!

For littles less than 2 years old, check out these simple activities for 18 month olds . 

Let’s define ‘easy’ & ‘mess free’ toddler activities 

My definition of a successful and easy activity for my toddler and preschooler is one which:

• is quick to set-up – let’s say 5 minutes max
• doesn’t require printing or laminating
• doesn’t need fancy or expensive supplies (most are things you already have at home or can easily get the shops) 
• keeps said toddler/preschooler busy for 15 – 30 minutes, often independently 
• can be easily adapted to kids a little different in age (my two are 15 months apart so that wasn’t too difficult)
• allow exploration and experimentation (i.e. hands on activities)
• has minimal clean-up or better still involves no mess at all

So these mess free toddler activities to do at home should tick all of these boxes.  They should be good to keep your little one going while you have a cup of coffee, feed your newborn, cook or catch up on emails…

Mess free toddler activities to do at home INDOORS

Most of these practice fine motor skills in one way or another – there really are endless possibilities – and you don’t have to look hard to see some very common themes…

#1 Posting toy cars into a large bottle

Small toy plus a hole just a little bigger = a mess free toddler activity that can last a loooong time…then there’s all the fun noise your little one can make shaking them around and around and around…

Another task is to shake them all out again… literally a good 30 minutes of fun for a busy 2 year old!

It’s always a good idea to check the toy will come out again, but in the case of toy cars into a 5 liter water bottle, I could easily have cut the bottle up to get them out.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: plastic baby wipes container also work very well to shove toys (and most other things) into and then pull them out again.

If you’re little one loves vehicles of all shapes and sizes try these Easy Transportation Crafts & Activities .

#2 Dry pasta scooping & sorting

Dried pasta shapes and ice cube trays with a set of plastic measuring spoons.  Or use muffin pans or silicone cupcake liners.  I swear these get used for toddler play a million times more often than for baking. 

Or just use any small plastic container.

EASY EXTENSION : Amp up this activity by mixing different pasta shapes in one bowl and have your toddler or preschooler fill some compartments/cupcake liners just with bows, others just with noodles, others with shells etc.

You can also make this a little trickier by adding in some different means of transferring the pasta.  E.g. salad tongs, ladels or plastic tweezers for kids (check the recommended products section for these).

#3 Puzzle mix-up

Those lovely easy chunky puzzles that used to keep your little one busy as a 1-year-old, are now too easy.  But most other puzzles you end up having to help your toddler with, right?

So take those easy puzzles and dump all the puzzle pieces out together.  Then have your older toddler or preschooler put all the puzzles back together at once.

Easy and fun and normally a good 15-20 minutes of peace in our house!

#4 Blowing pompoms with straws

This is as simple as it sounds…. but in practice was a bit tricky for my 2 year old.  However, my 4-year-old particularly loved this one.

There are any amount of ways you can set this up. I placed a bowl on a chair the other side of our narrow play table and he spent ages blowing pompoms across the table and into the bowl…

This is fun STEM activity for toddlers too. Smaller pompoms move easier but more wildly, and the larger ones are heavier and harder to move, but easier to maneuver.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: use cotton balls or scrunched up balls of paper to blow.  Can even be done without a straw altogether but for some reason, all kids seem to love straws…

Or why not turn this into a color-matching activity.  Place clear plastic cups on the table, then blow all the green ones into one cup, all the red ones into another and so on.  Mom Brite has a great post with more details.

#5 Cutting straws

Cutting is always a popular activity for toddlers and preschoolers.  They just love to cut anything, especially once they’ve got their first pair of scissors .   And so easy to do at home.

But instead of always using paper, get out some cheap plastic straws for your 2 year old.

(I know these are a big no-no environmentally so I’d like to add that we only use plastic straws for crafts and activities these days where they get used over and over…. very rarely for drinking).

Unlike paper, a straw is easy for a toddler to hold, and is long (or at least starts off long) so there’s less likelihood of them cutting their fingers off.  Bonus.

In addition, plastic straws seem to jump all over the place when cut – much to the hilarity of my two – which does mean a little bit of tidying up but does prolong the fun.

You could argue this isn’t strictly mess free, but grab a dustpan and brush and clean up will be done in a couple of minutes.  Or send your toddler off on a ‘straw treasure hunt’.  This normally does the trick in our house.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: a good alternative to straws, that isn’t paper, is long narrow strips of thin cardboard, think biscuit or cereal box cut into strips.  Advantage or disadvantage is card doesn’t jump into the air when cut!

Paint-chip cards are also perfect.

UPDATE: Just this morning I found an old jumbled up ball of wool… good for nothing… unless, of course, you have a young kiddo who loves to cut!  Another virtually mess free toddler activity to try at home. 

My 3 and a 4-year-old spent a good half an hour cutting up wool… I’m sure that’ll come in handy for another toddler activity or craft.

(You’ll see me on ‘Hoarders’ any day now.)

#6 Matching tupperwares with their lids

Who said toddlers couldn’t be useful?! Got a cupboard in Tupperware hell?  Haven’t we all. 

Dump them all out and if you have any with lids on, take them off. Then get your 2 year old to match the lids back to the correct Tupperware.

(While you’re at it, you can then throw the ones no longer with a lid away – or add to them to the box of junk really useful stuff for the kids to play with…)

#7 Bottle top posting

There are an endless number of learning opportunities and educational activities for bottle tops (just write letters or numbers on them and you can conjure up all sorts of related activities).

But for this one, you just need LOTS of them and then something to post them into.  I used an old formula tin and cut a few different holes in the top for tops of different sizes to fit through. 

Such a simple mess free activity for 2 year olds at home, but sadly not noise free! 

Using a tin means that the lid makes a satisfying clink when it hits the bottom – that’s a double win for a busy toddler.  

#8 Tower building & then (obviously) tower destroying

Tupperwares, plastic cups, empty cans, small boxes, large ones… you name it!

If your kiddo who loves to line stuff up and for things to be very ordered, then finding lots of things exactly the same is the way to go if possible.  This describes my preschooler to a tee.

So stacking empty (and clean) cans into various orderly arrangements and then knocking them down is his idea of heaven.

Because he loves the knocking down so much, it definitely suits him to use cans, rather than plastic cups – unless you don’t mind them being ruined. 

(He was determined to stamp on the cups having knocked down his cup tower so I swiftly put those away and delved into my stash of empty tin cans.)

#9 Squeeze pouch lids & mini muffin tins

I’ve yet to meet any toddler mom who doesn’t use squeeze pouches once in a while. Great for those early weaning days and also for emergency snacks when out and about.   

No surprise that those pouch lids are worth saving.  They’re the perfect size to fit neatly into the molds of a mini muffin tin, as demonstrated above. Other plastic lids work well too.

Putting them and in and taking them out can keep a toddler busy for quite some time.  So start stashing lids and use them for this simple mess free activity for 2 year olds. 

#10 Rip up egg box cartons

Another activity for destructive little boys.  Babies and young toddlers love to rip stuff – so paper towel, magazines or newspaper.  But for the older toddler and definitely the preschooler that’s just too easy – and can create a lot of mess in minutes.

So for an almost mess free toddler activity and to burn off some destructive energy, egg box cartons are the way to go, my friend.

These ripped up pieces are then perfect for dump trucks, diggers and rubbish trucks to play in (yup, even the rubbish gets reused in our house).

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: old cereal and biscuit boxes.

#11 Tiny toy rescue & recapture

Tape some little toys (toy dinosaurs, cars, ponies, Playmobil characters… anything really) to the side of the fridge with painters/masking tape.

Rescuing the taped toys is an engaging activity for the younger toddler, who will need to work those fingers hard to peel the tape off.  But even the older toddler and preschooler will enjoy it.

I thought my two would be too old for this, but no!

They added in a recapture element and spent a good 30 minutes resticking their Playmobil figures upside down (as in photo above), then making them fall by gently peeling the tape back.  Then they’d re-rescue them and start all over again…

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: Alternatively, stick toys to a table with plastic tablecloth or to a tiled floor.

#12 Screw lids on and off bottles

Another simple no mess activity for toddlers at home similar to the tupperware one above, but this time with bottles and lids.  It’s a bit trickier to screw the lids back on, so excellent fine motor activity for toddlers.

So start hoarding bottles of all shapes and sizes. It’ll provide a 2 year old with hours of fun. 

And if you’re feeling a little creative and have a spare 5 mins, why not make this DIY twist-top board . 

#13 Painters tape peel

You may have noticed your little one attempting to unpeel the sticky top off wipe packets so here’s a simple mess free toddler activity that plays to this desire.

Tape painters tape onto the kitchen floor and allow your 2, 3 or 4 year old to remove.  At first you can make it really easy, with a very definite end to the tape for your toddler to easily grab on to.  As their ability improves, you can stick the tape down more firmly at either end.

EASY ALTERNATIVE & EXTENSION: Try sticking to different surfaces and at different orientations. 

Peeling the tape off the carpet or a rug makes for a satisfying sound and changes the tape from sticky to fluffy.  The removed, and then fluffy, tape kept my two entertained even longer.

Or try taping to the fridge so your toddler has to peel the tape off a vertical surface and use different muscles.

#14 Dot sticker shapes & patterns

Dot stickers are amazing for all sorts of things when it comes to 2, 3 and 4 year olds, especially when it comes to counting practice, number recognition and basic math… So we’ll save those ones for another day.

So for a simple no mess toddler activity focus just on the stickering itself, i.e taking the sticker off and sticking it in a certain place.  Then just draw a pattern or outline of something very simple and have your little one trace it with stickers.

My preschooler – above – asked for a square and a triangle, my toddler asked for a heart.

Such a simple activity for toddlers at home and soooo effective to keep little minds occupied.

#15 Decorate a cardboard box

Decorate a small cardboard box that can become a ‘special’ toy box, baby bed, tiny house or whatever else takes your toddlers fancy.

My two recently wanted to make our new Jack Russell puppies a dog house.  I quickly taped up a small cardboard box and cut out a door and window and my two toddlers  went to town for a good 20 minutes ‘decorating’ it. 

(AKA scribbling with pencils and crayons, stamping with ink stamps and stamping pens.)

Needless to say the puppies are not at all interested in sleeping in it and so my 4 year old decided he’d try to hang it in a tree… Then we switched the sprinkler on and mmm… it’s now even less likely to be used as a dog house. 

But since the real aim was just to keep the two terrors (not to be confused with the terriers) busy for a few minutes, I’m counting it as a win.

#16 Pipe cleaners and a colander…

…and thread. That’s it!  My two loved using the finished articles as hats for their ridiculously enormous teddies and have also pretended they’re enormous spiders.  Fun as a Halloween activity too?

EASY ACTIVITY EXTENSION: Make this activity a lot trickier by challenging your toddler or preschooler to push pipe cleaners through a sieve.

#17 Rubber bands & a can

What is it with toddlers and elastic bands?  Well, give them a job to do with them: putting them on to a can and taking them off again, simple.

Or if putting them on is too much of a stretch (see what I did there?!) then you can put them on and let your toddler take them off.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: use a plastic bottle or empty cardboard tube for smaller bands or for bigger bands that can go around twice.

#18 Apple or potato poking

This is a fun mess free toddler activity for fall or any time of the year when you have an apple or potato to spare.

Use a felt tip pen to mark dots on an apple or potato and see if your toddler can stick a toothpick into the fruit/veg on the dot.  I was so surprised by how much my two loved this simple mess free activity.

A quick peel and said fruit/veg should still be good to use. 

(Having tried this with both apples and potatoes I’d recommend using the latter, since they’re less likely to bruise when dropped a few hundred times.)

EASY ACTIVITY EXTENSION: if your kiddo has a small toy hammer or you have a lightweight wooden meat tenderizing hammer, you can help your toddler hammer the toothpick in. 

You will probably need to help hold the toothpick (I did) but this is sure to keep them entertained as it’s quite tricky and you need to be gentle – something most toddlers or preschoolers are not good at!

#19 Trace simple pattern with pompoms

This is a little like the dot sticker patterns, but without the stickering part.  Draw any shape, and have your toddler line up pompoms or any other small loose item along the lines.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: Pasta, cereal or small toys work really well too.

#20 CD/DVD stacking

Got a bunch of old CDs that skip every few seconds?  Haven’t we all… well if you have one of those CD stacker storage thingy-m-bobs then taking the CDs off and putting them back on again could well keep your toddler busy…

Just know that you’ll never be using them for music or film again.

EASY ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY: this is not a direct alternative, but if you have old CDs in boxes that are destined for the rubbish then your kiddo is probably going to love just taking them out and putting them back in again.

It’s actually not all that easy for a toddler to get them in the right place so the box shuts nicely.

#21 Pompom transfer & sorting

Bunch of pompoms in a bowl, a muffin or mini-muffin tray and something to transfer them with.  Salad tongs, ladels or plastic tweezers or just a small spoon.

Sounds suspiciously like pasta scooping and sorting, right? Yup, that’s the beauty with toddlers and preschoolers; virtually the same activity, just with different tools!

Younger toddlers will love the transferring part to create pompom ‘cakes’.  (Stand by imaginary oven.)  Older toddlers and preschoolers tend to gravitate towards sorting colors… Whatever keeps them happy and busy goes as far as I’m concerned.

#22 Encourage toy mixing

As adults, it’s so easy to get caught up encouraging our kids to play with toys in a certain way.  But the mind of a 2, 3 or 4 year old is of course very different. Actively encouraging different toys to be played together leads to a huge number more ‘games’ that can be invented.

My preschooler loves his train set and has made endless additional bridges with duplo blocks and wooden blocks.  He’s made salt dough hills for the track to go around.  We’ve made cardboard houses too…

Mixing and matching those toys keeps it fresh – I highly recommend it.

#23 Marbles and cardboard tubes

Grab a few tubes, some marbles and then something to catch them in and let your toddler or preschooler play.

A very simple mess free activity for toddlers and preschoolers at home that involves a certain amount of problem-solving.  Getting the tube to stay up, and to position the cup, bowl or egg box in the right place to catch the marble and so on.

So a good one for lots of experimentation. 

(We found that egg box cartons work the best to catch the marbles as they don’t jump out as easily as from plastic bows or cups).

You could also make a more permanent marble run by hot gun gluing tubes to a big sheet of cardboard.  I wasn’t all that successful and my two just wanted to move the tubes all the time…

#24 Craft stick & block building

I saw this simple no mess activity on Frugal Fun 4 Boys and knew this would be a hit with my toddler, who loves to build!

If you click here you’ll see the different ways they build and balanced towers, using crafts sticks, blocks as well as plastic cups.  H was intent on the low, wide bridge and ramp pictured above.

Given there’s so much potential in this activity, I can see us returning to it again and again.

#25 Listen to stories on audiobooks

I was hesitant to include this as it’s not a very active toddler activity, but it’s very much no prep and no mess and my two love to listen to audiobooks.  Great for screen-free resting and relaxing, which we do every day after lunch.

We only got into this in a few weeks ago at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when Audible started offering free audiobooks.  We’ve been listening to The Timeless Tales of Peter Rabbit & Friends and Winnie The Pooh ever since.  And are now signed up forever more…

#26 Sweetie game

What better way to introduce your toddler to a simple board game than with sweets? This is one you’re going to be actively involved in but is fun and no mess all the same.   

Instructions as follows:

• Draw a grid of squares or rectangles
• Each player takes a line. One end is the start, the other the finsih.
• Put your sweetie at the start 
• Roll the die and move your sweetie along the grid, according to the number
• When you’ve reached the end and are finished, you can eat the sweet!

Great for counting practice and everyone’s a winner. 

Indoor WATER PLAY activities for toddlers & preschoolers

Toddlers and preschoolers love to play with water .  Wait, I hear you say, that doesn’t sound mess free?!  Especially if you’re stuck indoors…

Even if you can’t get outside, these water-play activities shouldn’t get out of hand.

These activities are mostly to be carried out at the kitchen sink (or similar) or in the bath.  There are a couple which can be done at a table, well covered with a plastic table cloth.

For plenty of ways to keep little ones busy in the garden or backyard, wet and otherwise, try these simple and fun outdoor activities and play ideas .

#27 Pour and scoop water at the sink

Stool at the kitchen sink, sink full of warm water and some empty yogurt pots/tupperware with some measuring cups… Yes, this is exactly the same as playing with stacking cups in the bath.  Different location, different tools, completely different activity!

#28 Play with ice cubes in the sink

Toddlers and preschoolers alike just love ice. So an ice activity is a must once in a while and I’d definitely argue that this one is a mess free toddler activity, perfect for a 2, 3 or 4 year old.  It can keep my two busy for ages…

EASY ACTIVITY EXTENSION: Add some food coloring to the water before freezing for a bit of color or some pompoms for a hidden surprise.

#29 Wash plastic toys in the sink

As above but make out that your toddlers toys (battery-free of course) need a good scrub.  Let’s face it, you won’t need to ‘make out’ that they need a clean, in all probability they’re fairly grubby.

Just remember to be clear that ‘only Mom or Dad’ can put the dish liquid in though.  And then hide it unless your toddler has an insane amount of self-control.

#30 Play with non-bath toys in the bath

So not regular bath toys, but other water-friendly toys.  Think duplo, plastic animals, plastic characters etc.  Our rule is nothing wooden and nothing with batteries.

Building towers in the water is completely different to building them on dry land. Obviously Mommy because now it’s boat, not a house. Or a houseboat.  Or a submarine. I lose track…

#31 Bottle tops & pipettes

First, fill a few small cups with water – you can add a drop of food colors to each if you want so each cup of water is a different color.  Then lay some bottle caps and jar lids out on the table (preferably on a plastic table cloth or plastic tray, or both). 

Take a plastic pipette and show your toddler how to use it first – this can be quite difficult for a 2 year old.  My youngest struggled with this at first (see the easy alternative below) but now at 3 she’s got it nailed.

Then show them how to transfer water from the cup to the bottle lid – without it overflowing of course.

EASY ALTERNATIVE: if your toddler can’t manage to figure out the pipette, then you can do the same activity using a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon.  You need to use a small teaspoon otherwise those bottle tops overflow very quickly.

#32 Water transfer with pompoms

This activity is good fine motor practice for your little one and can be done at the sink or at the table. 

We’ve tried it at the kitchen counter, with a shallow oven dish full of water and a bowl of pompoms and then a few small bowls and cups.

Younger ones will just enjoy picking them up and squeezing them but an older toddler or preschooler can transfer water from the dish into the cups and bowls by squeezing the pompoms.  Just don’t set the cups up too far away from the dish to minimize water dripping too far.

Mess free SENSORY ACTIVITIES for toddlers at home

This post is all about easy mess free activities to do at home with minimal clean-up.  We don’t need to add to the craziness of life with toddlers do we?

Here are some clean sensory activities for toddlers that are totally mess free.

If and when you’re in the mood for letting your toddler get messy, try this bumper list of sensory activities for 1 year olds and up. 

#33 Create a textured walk

Toddlers love nothing better than to explore with their fingers, but also with their feet.  So in this easy mess free activity for 2 year olds create different sensory opportunities for them specifically for walking on.

They may also want to touch with their hands and crawl over them too but set it up primarily for walking.

Bubble wrap is always a favorite. Tape it to the floor and let your toddler loose! Jumping up and down on it will be a fun experience and will also burn some energy.   

EASY ALTERNATIVE: Rather than tape things to the floor you could set up a sensory bin specifically for walking in.  Simply add lentils or rice for your 2, 3 or 4 year old to walk over. 

#34. Twinkly light sensory bottle

You do need a large plastic bottle with a large opening for this one.  The bottle pictured originally had craft supplies in it but has been used for several different activities and play scenarios since.

Add battery operated twinkly lights to the bottle and screw shut.  A 5 liter water bottle might work too, depending on the battery pack size of the lights.

A fun at home toddler activity that’s safe for tiny tots and involves no mess whatsoever.

EASY ALTERNATIVE:  Add jingle bells and tinsel for a Christmas themed toddler activity or how about acorns and dried leaves during Fall?

For more seasonal sensory fun, try these festive Christmas sensory activities or these fake snow sensory bins .

#35. Water beads mess free toddler activity

Water beads are fun to play with but are not safe for under 3’s or any little one who loves shoving everything in their mouth.  But you can bag them up and make a colorful sensory bag in a jiffy.

This one does need a bit of prep as you need to soak the beads in water overnight.  Then pop in a ziplock back, seal shut with tape and you’ve now got a safe and mess free toddler activity that’s good for tiny tots too.

I tried this with my 10 month old twins (pictured is one of them).  It’s an easy and safe sensory activity for babies .

#36 Play with silks or dance scarves

Play silks/dance scarves make for a fun no mess toddler activity at home and there are so many different ways in which they can be incorporated into play.

Stuffing them into a box or  Oball and pulling them out will keep a 2 year old busy.  Older toddlers and preschoolers will love incorporating them into all sorts of costumes.  Play silks can become a cape or wings or used to create a sea or river in small world play. 

#37 Squishy sensory balls

I tried these squishy balls as a baby Easter activity , because they look like eggs. Sort of.  Regardless of the season, playing with these will keep a toddler who loves to fiddle and touch all the things well occupied.

Using a funnel, simply fill balloons with different dry materials, tie the top and off you go.  The flour filled balloon was my personal favorite –  it feels just like a stress ball, it’s so, so squishable.

My toddlers liked all of them of course.  We’ve tried corn kernels, rice, oats, beads, beans, sand – whatever could be fitted in, went in. Such a fun mess free activity for 2, 3 and 4 year olds and up.  (Including adults!) 

Minimal mess SENSORY ACTIVITIES for toddlers & preschoolers

Here are some dry messy play ideas with minimal mess.  The mess can be fairly well contained and swept up quickly.

Of course, with a toddler at the helm, things can get out of hand pretty quick.  So skip ahead if minimal mess activities are not mess free enough.

Remember to state those boundaries/expectations upfront!

#38 ‘Bake’ with playdough

I could say ‘anything’ with playdough because playdough never ever seems to get boring and can be used in a million and one different ways.  However, I  thought it more useful to name something specific.  So baking it is – a firm favorite and something we do almost weekly in our house.

Our equipment list of choice is:

• playdough, homemade or store-bought
• muffin pans
• silicon muffin cases
• cookie cutters
• toddler sized rolling pin
• cut straws (cake candles, of course)
• some kind of unit that will double as a pretend oven (we use a white plastic kitchen trolley – finishing the homemade play kitchen is still on my to-do list…)

This is a case of less is more – toddlers get easily overwhelmed with too much choice in the cookie-cutter department…

For a winning playdough recipe, mix the following together, heat gently and stir until you have a lump of the stuff – dead simple.  Even works when my 3 and 4-year-old are doing the measuring!

• flour – 2 cups
• salt – 1 cup
• cream of tartar – 4 tsp
• vegetable oil – 1 tbl
• food coloring – a few drops

That’s enough to make 4 different colored decent-sized lumps.

For a more permanent play dough like activity, salt dough crafts are fun.  They make great Christmas ornaments .  

#39 Moon sand sensory bin

Mix flour and oil together (any types will do, whatever you have to hand) in a ratio of 8:1 and you have some lovely soft and fluffy moon sand.

Put it in a large plastic container or crate – at least 40cm by 80cm (think underbed storage container) or use a sand or water table.  Then throw something in:  a bunch of sand toys, little diggers or cups and spoons or small plastic animals.   

Then let your toddlers scoop with it, smush it through their fingers and just play.

My two loved burying their plastic insects in a moon sand mound and then rescuing them with toy diggers… whatever floats their boat, right?!

#40 Rice bins

Very similar to above – a scooping and sensory play activity that is virtually mess free.  Remember, state the rules of play first and stick to them!

Cheap, uncooked rice in a large plastic container, as it is.  Or dyed if you want to get fancy (just soak in food colored water overnight).

You can take this one a bit further and tape some paper tubes to the side and add a funnel or too.

My toddlers loved to put a little dump truck under the tube, pour the rice down the tube and be incredibly excited to watch the truck collect their cargo.  Simple minds, remember!

EASY ALTERNATIVE: Instead of rice use, cereal or small pasta shapes.

TIDYING & CLEANING activities for toddlers at home (no mess)

Who said toddlers and preschoolers can’t be useful?!  If you haven’t got your kiddo involved in a few household activities at home yet, I’d urge you to, for a few reasons:

• toddlers and preschoolers love to feel useful at this age and love to help with things – capitalize on this because it can only last so long, right?
• although most activities will take long with a little one in two but at the same time said toddler/preschooler is busy and out of mischief
• they start to learn the importance of being tidy and responsible and other general life skills
• there are plenty of easy activities for toddlers to try at home that are mess free

Of course, they’re not going to get it 100% right but remember to praise anyway.  (And re-do if necessary.) 

Gradually you could build a few into your schedule and turn them into daily activities for toddlers at home.

#41 Cutting food up

Set your toddler up in the kitchen close by (this is obviously not to be done unsupervised) and hand them a normal eating knife or plastic salad knife .  I bought the latter especially for my toddlers to use.  They’re great for playdough too.

Fruit and veg that work well for us have been potatoes, cucumber and lettuce.  For the first two, cut them lengthways in half first so that they don’t roll around. 

Warning – things will end up very small – fine for cucumber but probably only good if you want mashed potatoes.

#42 Folding pajamas or other clothes

If you’re looking to introducing some fun and easy daily activities for your toddlers at home, then folding pajamas and night blankets is a good place to start. This is now firmly part of our morning routine. 

I do still lay them out so it’s easy for them to get started, but they both love this.  Racing to see who’s the fastest normally motivates my toddlers when they’re dwindling.

A winning mess free activity for toddlers at home that is useful too.

#43 Washing up

Well, if they can play at the sink, why not take it one step further and get them to wash up?

Not glasses, china or sharp knives, obviously… but their own plastic crockery and cutlery, plastic cooking utensils and small metal saucepans are well within a 3 or 4-year-olds capability.  Might be a stretch for a 2 year old but will keep them busy!

They’re probably going to spend much of the time just playing, scooping and pouring the soapy water, but that’s ok. 

If it gives you 15 minutes to clean up the kitchen or think about what to get out the freezer the next day then I’d count that as a win.

 #44 Sorting the clean cutlery back into the cutlery draw

I.e. putting the forks back with the forks, the spoons back with the spoons and so on… A classic matching activity for toddlers to do at home that ticks the mess free box.

#45 Breaking spaghetti

I think you can see that my daughter loves this one!  Super simple virtually no mess toddler activity to do at home with your 2, 3 or 4 year old and surprisingly time-consuming.

It can take little hands a good 10 minutes or so to break up enough spaghetti for a meal for 4.  It also minimises the mess of your toddler or preschooler eating spaghetti if you get them to break it up nice and short…

#46 Toy clean up

If you’re looking for a simple tidyng and cleaning activity for toddlers, then packing away toys is a good one.  The sooner they learn to take care of and keep their toys organised the better. Easier said than done but worth the effort. (I think!)

You can make toy tidying fun too, by singing songs, racing cars onto the shelves and so on.  It also keeps little ones busy, hence is definitely an ‘activity’ in itself.

It can take a good 15-20 minutes plus an additional 5-10 minutes while your toddler or preschooler stops to play with the toys they’re meant to be tidying up. A fun activity that’s all about tidying up the mess.  Win win!

Mess free toddler CRAFT activities to try at home

With a bit of extra time and on my hands, I do love painting (or fingerpainting ) and doing crafts with my toddlers.  

But crafts don’t have to involve sticky glue or paint…. Here are some crafty, creative and simple mess free toddler activities to try at home.

If and when you are in the mood, here are some easy arts and crafts we’ve tried over the years.  And for paint, check these recomended baby-safe non-toxic ones .

#47 Make a pipe cleaner bracelet

Wonderfully engaging toddler or preschooler activity for girls and boys… pipe cleaners are perfect for threading activities because they’re dead easy to poke through a bead without a needle.  Pipe cleaners are super useful for all sorts of toddler crafts .

Related post:  STUPIDLY EASY pipe cleaner spider craft for toddlers (no prep & no mess!)

EASY ALTERNATIVE:  thread noodles or buttons onto shoelaces.

#48 Sticker birthday or occasion card

Everyone loves a homemade card from someone special, particularly when that someone is knee high to a grasshopper.  Making a homemade Christmas card or two is something we’ve gotten into. It’s a favorite Christmas tradition of ours.

So for a very simple mess free craft activity, your toddler can simply decorate a blank card with stickers.  Write a cute message inside and you’re done. 

If and when you don’t mind a bit of mess and you want to make a cute personalised card for someone, check out these handprint birthday card ideas .

#49 Paint with marbles

This may sound a little curious, but painting with marbles is fun process art which can also yield some lovely results.  And yes, it’s a completely mess free activity for 2, 3 and 4 year olds that you can do easily at home.

Simply line a large tray with paper, add dollops of paint (I used our everyday child friendly paint), chuck in some marbles and get them to moving.

If you do want to try and keep the artwork afterwards, I’d advise using some decent slightly heavier weight paper.  Also choose the colors you use carefully, since they will end up mixing.  

To see all the various works of art we created check out the full post here:  Marble rolling: easy art activity you’ll actually want to keep)

#50 Contact paper window mosaics

Tape some contact paper to the window and then your toddler can decorate it with tissue paper shapes, feathers, pipe cleaners and other materials you have to hand. 

A fun mess free activity for toddlers at home that creates cute window decor you can theme to the season.  Pictured is a fall-inspired window mosaic from Mom In The Six which uses faux leaves. 

More simple Fall themed crafts for 2 and 3 year olds here . 

#51 Paper plate wreath craft

Another easy craft activity for toddlers with no mess whatsoever and takes mere minutes to prep.  Yet again, it involves a sheet of stickers or two!

Simply cut a circle out of the paper plate and add stickers of choice.  Of course, wreathes are normally assoicated with Christmas, Easter and Fall.  For some themed wreath inspiration check these toddler Christmas crafts and these Easter crafts .

#52 Make paper airplanes

Since he flew his very first paper airplane as a 2 year old, my eldest hounds me for them day and night. Well, that’s what it feels like! Now his little sister has found the love…

If you’re not sure how to make one, try this simple video tutorial. I tried lots of other that said they were easy, but that was the only one I could follow with said toddler hot on my heels.

#53 Make a simple crown

Toddler love making hats.  And pretending to be a princess, a king, a knight and so on… So for a simple mess-free toddler activity at home, make a simple crown for them to decorate.  The fun doesn’t end once it’s decorated, then it’s time to play!

Don’t be put off by the making part – all you’re making is a headband out of card with some zigzag edges.  Simply size it to your toddlers head and secure with a stapler.  Just be sure to staple so the flat side of the staple is against your childs head.

Here’s an easy paper crown tutorial if my instructions are a little too basic.

#54 Make a noodle necklace

Another deja vu… yup, more jewelry and another threading activity for your toddler or preschooler.  We painted our noodles first but totally not necessary.  Then threaded using some decorative twine – stiff-ish and easy enough for little fingers to thread.

EASY ALTERNATIVE: thread Cheerios for an edible and (probably) short-lived necklace.  Or for a similar non-jewelry toddler activity, stick some spaghetti, toothpicks or wooden skewers into a lump of playdough and create a noodle or cheerio tower by threading them on.

#55 Mess free painting

Tape a piece of paper to a large chopping board, add blobs of paint and then loosly, but securely, cover with plastic wrap.  Then your toddler can paint at home, indoors, mess free.

EASY ALTERNATIVE: Slip paper into a ziplock bag with paint and seal shut.  Use tape if your toddler is good at opening ziplocks!

For more simple, minimal mess toddler crafts of a themed nature, try:

• Fun Fathers Day crafts for toddlers
• Cute Valentines crafts for toddlers to make
• Adorable Mothers Day Crafts for toddlers
• Natvitiy crafts for kids
• Fun & easy Easter crafts for 3 year olds

Simple MUSIC activities for toddlers at home

Music can get everyone out of a funk.  Toddlers and preschoolers are no different so for a different type of no mess activity, try something musical.

#56 Action songs

There are so many fun action songs that will entertain little ones, particularly a 2 year old who’s still experimenting with basic movements like clapping their hands, bending down to touch their feet etc.

Lots of these will also help expand your little one’s vocab and coordination. But best of all they’re plain good fun as well as being very obviously no mess.

Here are some fun and easy action songs you’re sure to know:

• Heads, shoulders, kness and toes
• Row, row, row your boat
• Hokey Cokey

#57 Have a boogie

There’s nothing cuter than the waggling hips of a toddler.  But this one is definitely not just for the onlooker.  Little kids love to have a boogie and normally at 2, 3 or 4 years old have yet to become shy about it, especially if they’re at home.

#58 Make plastic bottle maracas

Add different materials to plastic bottles to make DIY maracas for your toddler. 

Rice, dried pulses and uncooked pasta, sand make interesting and varied sounds.  You can use bottles of different sizes and experiment with the sounds by filling them to different levels.  Seal shut with tape if you need.

Then let your 2, 3 or 4 year old play and experiment with their very own homemade maracas.

#59 Play With Jingle Bells

This one is as simple and easy as the title suggests… your toddler will love shaking and playing with jingle bells. You could also make a jingle bell maraca or use them in your sound experiement, as outlined above.

#60 Play the pot and pans

Use wooden spoons and other baby-safe kitchen utensils as drum sticks.  Upturned pots, pans, plastic containers and old shoe boxes are the drums.

This one never fails to entertain my particularly boisterous and noisy toddler! An easy at home toddler activity that keeps said 2 year old entertained, with zero mess.

EASY ALTERNATIVE & EXTENSION: Experiment with larger items, like teaspoons, metal bottle lids, onions etc in different containers, like a lidded  sauce pan or tupperware and create all sorts of different ‘noise makers’.

Extend this for older toddlers and preschoolers by discussing and testing which ones will make the loudest noise, which will make the most soothing noise and so on.  A simple mess free activity that’ll get them thinking.

#61 Try a dance routine with Just Dance

This one is more for older toddlers and preschoolers as the routines are a little tricky to follow. Let’s just say, I struggle.  But it’s good for a laugh and a 2 year old is sure to still enjoy it.

Wacka Wacka is our favorite Just Dance track at the moment.

#62 Musical statues (or freeze dance)

A classic party game that definitely shouldn’t be reserved for special celebrations and definitely should be started in the toddler years.  Play some music, hit pause, and everyone must stand like a statue or freeze. 

This can also be themed to the season too.  The Monster Freeze would be a fun Halloween party activity .

PRETEND PLAY at home toddler activities 

Toddlers love to play out and recreate scenarious they see in everyday life.  You don’t need many props, as these fun mess free toddler activities prove.  They have an amazing imagination so combine that with a few items you have at home and you should be all set.

#63 Teddy bears picnic

Here’s another classic activity that will never grow old.  Simply get your toddler to gather their favorite teddies and treat them to their very own picnic. Use your toddlers cups and cutlery and add any toy food items. 

If you’re short of anything, don’t worry. Your 2, 3 or 4 year olds imagination will be more than sufficient.  They can help their teddies to sip their tea and eat their fairy cakes.

Remind those teddies of their table manners! 

#64 Build a fort

With large cushions, sofa cushions and blankets build a fort with your toddler.  They’ll love crawling in and out, taking their teddies inside and may even want to take nap their. 

There may be a few cushions to tidy up after, but in the grand scheme of things, I definitely class this as a mess free toddler activity.

#65 Cooking and baking

It’s no secret that toddlers love to pretend to cook and bake.  There is an abundance of choice when it comes to play kitchens and toy food.  But you don’t need to rush out and buy anything for your little one to enjoy this mess free toddler activity.

A small coffee table works well as a toy oven, as does a large cardboard box.  Cut out a flap of cardboard to create your oven, complete with door.  Or simply use a small table with stove tops for your kids to pretend to cook on.

#66 Picnic in the garden or on the carpet

Make preparing for and eating lunch or a snack a fun activity in itself. Pack up food, crockery and a blanket (or foam floor mat as pictured) into a hamper or your toddlers backpack.  Oh yes, take the potty too if you’re going from the house!

#67 Go on a bear hunt

Going On A Bear Hunt is a fun book that my toddlers really enjoy.  In this fun no mess toddler activity to do at home you’re going to act out the book.   My two like to nominate one of their teddies as the bear to be hunted. 

Use an old toilet roll as your monocular and off you go. (Or check this list of toilet roll crafts if you want to make binos.) 

EASY ALTERNATIVE: You can simplify this and just make it a hide and retrieve game.  My two love to go on a dino hunt.  I hide their toy dinosaurs around the garden.  (They’re foraging in the jungle.)  And then they go find them. Simple!

A fun dinosaur activity for indoors and out that involves no mess and takes minutes to prep.

If your toddler or preschooler loves these prehistoric crestures, check out these fun and easy dinosaur crafts and activites .

#68 Make a play house

Cut doors and windows out of a gigantic cardboard box and turn it into a play house.  Decorate or not, as you please.

MOVEMENT GAMES & activities for toddlers at home

Kids of all ages need to move, toddlers perhaps more so than most.  While there are plenty of activities that keep their hands busy and mind engaged there are plenty more that involve full body movement.  These will help develop gross motor skill development, while getting all those wiggles out.  

Several of the mess free activity ideas above, and most of the music activites, involve movement.  But this section here is dedicated fun movement games and activities.  

Not only are these no mess, they’re also no prep too.

#69 Bean bag toss

Learning to catch is a skill which your toddler can start to learn around 2 years old. This simple gross motor activity helps develp visual processing skills and descrimination.  Hand-eye coordination and a good grasp is then needed to catch. 

A simple and fun gross motor activity for toddlers at home, indoors, as long as you have a clearish space and nothing precious in the firing range.  

This would also be fun game for a little one’s birthday party .. 

#70 Balloon keepie-uppies

Playing with balloons is a fun activity in itself. If you have young kids at home, always have a stash of balloons somewhere.

In this easy energy-busting toddler activity to play at home, the aim is simply to keep the balloon in the air.  This is a surprisingly difficult task and another that’s good to develop visual processing, coordination.  It’s also a tiring but fun activity for toddlers and sure to be a hit.

#71 Torchlit hide and seek

This is an absolute favorite game of my two – they ask for this one on a regular basis. 

The only restriction is that it needs to be done once it’s dark outside, so no good for long summers days… Simply hide teddies around the house, in obvious places. Then your 2, 3 or 4 year old must go and hunt for them using their flashlight.

#72 Balloon waddle

Another fun balloon activity, the one more challenging than the last.  See how far your toddler can walk across the room, while holding a balloon between their legs.

#73 Shape tag challenge

A fun way to learn and practise shapes while burning off some energy.  Call “square” and your toddler must find and tag something at home that’s square shaped.

More fun and minimal prep indoor games, try these gross motor activites for 1, 2 and 3 year olds .

#74 Green light, orange light, red light

In this fun movement game, your toddler is driving their imaginary car, zooming around according to the color of the traffic light. 

Call “red light” and they must stop, dead still. “Orange” and they can move slowly and “green”, you guessed it, top speed.

Such a simple activity that you can wear your toddler out with, while staying at home.

#75 Ball wall

Setting up the ball wall does take a few minutes, but is guranteed to keep your toddler occupied for quite some time. 

The ball wall consists of plastic balls, such as ball pit balls or pingpong balls, attached to the wall using masking or painters tape.  Roll it into loops, sticky side out, so one side sticks to the wall and the other to the ball. 

Attach as many balls as you have time for at a height on the wall that makes it tricky, but not tricky, for your 2, 3 or 4 year old to reach.  At the other end of the room, place a bucket.

The game is to grab a ball from the wall and run across the room to place it in the bucket.

Recommended toys to engage toddlers at home

I’m a big believer in less is more when it comes to toys. There are so many toddler toys on the market that don’t keep them busy for very long.  The best toys are ones that can be played with in an open ended way, which means your little ones will continue to find new and interesting ways to play with them.

This is an additional section I’m adding now that my 2 eldest, pictured frequently throughout this no mess toddler activity post, are at school. These are toys the’ve loved since around the 2 year old mark and still play with now, at 6 and 7.

#76 Duplo blocks

There are an endless number of houses, animals, vehicles and towers that can be built with simple building blocks.  Duplo blocks are simple enough for toddlers as young as 2 years old to handle.  That’s when mine started playing wtih Duplo.  I’ve still not put them away, 5 years later…

#77 Montessori Music Instruments

Toddlers love making noise, sorry music. That doesn’t change as they move through the preschooler and early school years!  

Playing with these simple instruments works on hand-eye coordination and other fine motor skills while allowing your little one to experiment with rhythm.  And it’s just plain fun!

Click to purchase music set on Amazon 

#78 My First Purse

I’m not much into purses, but at around 2 years old, my daughter got into them big time.  She just loved packing and repacking her purse of the moment. This is still a favorite activity of hers, 4 years later…

Click to purchase My First Purse set on Amazon 

#79 Farmers Market Set

Click to purchase farmers market set on Amazon 

#80 Shopping cart

Great to accompany the farmers market set, but can be used for a whole host of other things too.  Every toddler needs something to carry all their stuff around in.  Soft toys, books, duplo…. you name it, everything will be transported in this cute trolley.

#81 Magformers

Another fun building toy that has kept our two busy for hours over the years.  This one has the interesting USP of being magnetic, so towers and shapes are built by sticking pieces together. 

Click here to purchase Magformers on Amazon

An advantage over the Duplo and other more traditional building blocks is that it packs down small and comes with a cute carry bag, making this an ideal toy to take when traveling.

For more toy recommendations, try these posts:

• Best toys for 1 year old baby girls
• Best outdoor toys for 1 year olds

Summary SUPPLY LIST for mess free toddler activities

Here’s a list of everything that you’ll need to do these no mess activities at home:

• kitchen implements – salad tongs, ladles, wooden spoons, measuring spoons
• whiteboard/dry erase markers + whiteboard (though the latter you can do without)
• elastic bands
• cocktail sticks
• plastic straws
• masking/painters tape
• printer paper
• crayons, coloring pencils

To add to this – here’s a list of things I’ve begun hoarding in order to use in other mess free toddler activities:

• bottle tops
• toilet rolls
• cardboard tubes from kitchen towel rolls, foil and wax paper
• cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes (if too big to store I flatten them for use for painting projects)
• old tupperwares
• used spice jars

Recommended products for these toddler activities 

And lastly, a few specific items to purchase if you don’t already have. Below are all the links to the recommended products that are included in various places throughout this list of easy mess free toddler activities at home.

All these links are ‘affiliate links’, which means that if you click on one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

• pipe cleaners
• dot stickers
• toddler scissors
• toddler sized rolling pins and playdough tools
• colored and natural wood craft sticks
• pipettes and other fine motor tools
• jumbo beads
• plastic salad knives (or other kid-friendly knives)

Tips for doing toddler activities at home (for preschoolers too!)

1. be realistic.

If your kids are only 2 or 3 then don’t bargain on more than 20-30 minutes before it’s time to move onto something else.  Even at 4, staying content to do one activity for more than 30 minutes is a stretch, although there have been a few activities which have done the trick.

2. Let your child lead the way

Don’t be restrained by the exact way your toddler is meant to play or do the activity. If he or she comes up with a variation of ‘the right way’ and it’s safe and engaging and keeping them busy, then just go with it.

3. Simple is always best

If your toddler finds something too difficult and is getting frustrated, don’t push it.  Either adjust to make it easier if possible or move on to something else.  I still continue to be amazed at quite how simple things need to be.

4. Keep open-minded

Some of these hands on activities for toddlers might sound the bees knees and get zero love from your toddler… because it’s going to happen.  Don’t be disheartened!

While others you might be a bit skeptical about and are an instant hit.  And you’ll keep coming back to them again and again….

As the saying goes, you just never know until you try.

5. Set and state any necessary boundaries first

There are couple of activities to do with toddlers that could get messy if no boundaries are set.  Or if your toddler is not good at sticking to them.  This can take a bit of practice!  (See above photo…)

Clearly stating the rules and then a firm ‘if we can’t stick to these rules then we’ll have to put these things away’ has worked pretty well for us. Then, of course, you need to stick to what you say.

6. Safety first

Hopefully, this goes without saying, but for any at home toddler activities that involve small parts, watch your little one carefully.  If your toddler is on the younger side and still loves to put stuff in her mouth, then skip those activities altogether.

Adjusting easy toddler activities at home to different ages

Always keep it simple – so set the difficulty level of the activity to the youngest.  Then adapt as you go along. 

Given that it’s through play, that toddlers learn, this post lists toddler learning activities at home.  However, you can easily add in a specific learning concept, such as counting, letter or number recognition in to the mix and turn them into more ‘educational’ activities for toddlers at home.

Do I have to entertain my toddler all day?

Toddlers are pretty good at entertaining themeselves, given the right environment, tools and hands on opportunities. You don’t need to ‘entertain’ them as such, but rather provide them with these opportunities.

This list of easy and fun toddler activities at home will help you do just that.

I started this post back in lockdown, knowing that many people had a sudden need to keep their young toddler busy as a result of lockdown.  Because all the “sanity-saving nurseries are shut”, as a dear friend put it.

Keeping your toddler busy at home is a skill that can be learned!

Keeping 2, 3 and 4 year olds busy with easy activities is certainly not a skill I was born with.  (Like a bunch of other things I kind of presumed would come easily as soon as I became a mom. Silly me.)

But with no playgroups, daycare, softplay, toddler groups or tots classes of any kind where we lived in this beautiful corner of the African bush, I got plenty or practice. 

I got a handle on what makes their little brains tick and how to bust that energy, all while maintaining a certain level of sanity.

(Most days.  As long as the Taylors hasn’t run out.)

So for all those of you who are suddenly or not so suddenly on the hunt for easy mess free activities to do with your toddler at home, you’ve come to the right place.

Ready to try some mess free toddler activities at home?

I hope that’s given you a good few ideas to keep your toddler or preschooler busy at home  and give you a little peace.  I’m sure before you know it you’ll be coming up with more ideas of your own!

You’ve probably figured out along the way exactly what your little one loves doing and gravitates towards.  Remember there’s actually a very real need to practice these things. This is how toddlers and preschoolers master new skills.

So instead of just saying “no”, “don’t do that” and “don’t touch that”, hopefully, this list will give you the means to offer your child that need in a way that you are ok with. 

So pick and choose from these mess free toddler activities at home.  You’ll also begin to see how you can easily adapt activities to the materials you have on hand. 

You can also easily turn many into more specific educational activities.  For example, you can include letter and number recognition dependent on the age and stage of your toddler. 

There are so many possibilities!

Enjoy these special stage of your toddlers development.  And good luck!

_______________________________________

Looking for more preschooler or toddler activities? Check out these posts now:

• 50 Easy Easter Bunny Arts & Crafts Ideas For Toddlers 
• 29 Scarily Easy Skeleton Crafts for Kids
• CRAZY EASY pipe cleaner spider craft for toddlers 
• 41 Easy Christmas Tree Arts and Crafts for Toddlers
• FREE 3d paper Christmas ornament templates for kids

Useful stuff? Want to save it for later?  Want to share with other moms? Click above or pin this image:

Got any comments or questions?

I’d love to here from you.  (Your email address will not be published.)

Or contact me direct at [email protected]

Want to dig a little deeper? Check out these other related posts:

35 Cute, Easy Christmas Ornaments to make with Toddlers (Fun DIY Holiday Decorations)

75 easy fun Easter crafts and activities for 3 years olds (toddlers, preschoolers+ all little kids!)

55 Easy Dinosaur Crafts & Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers

31 Cute Handprint Birthday Card Ideas For Mom, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa (Footprint Ideas Too)

39 Easy Mothers Day Handprint Crafts, Cards & Gift Ideas

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Hi, I'm Sarah

Mom of four outrageously gorgeous Littles.  Yup, four!  The twins are now two and that title still brings me out in a cold sweat… Yet I’m just as determined to give them the best without losing my mind.  I reckon it’s possible!  Most days.  

I love a challenge and have to find out they ‘why’, ‘what’ or ‘how to’  –  there are rather a lot of these when it comes to kids… 

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Views From a Step Stool

Open Minds & Messy Hands

65+ Fun Activities for 4 Year Olds

February 8, 2017 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

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These activities for 4 year olds provide for tons of learning and self-expression through play . 4 year olds are inquisitive and independent, and are learning at a rapid pace. From grasping numbers and letters to developing deep relationships with peers, learning is fun at this age, and experiencing all of this through play is ideal.

Below are plenty of ideas for learning activities for 4 year olds to do at home or in school! 

What are 4 Year Olds Learning?

Four year olds are learning so much! Learning activities for 4 year olds include counting, pre-reading, emotional development and more. This age group is learning:

• how to count objects
• counting by memory
• understanding size and spatial relationships
• expanding vocabulary by using new words
• coordinating movement to jump, spin, skip and more
• learning letter sounds 
• making inferences and predictions about what will happen
• beginning to form letters in writing

How to Play with a 4 Year Old

There are so many really fun ways to play with this age group. As an older preschooler, 4 year olds are able to engage in dramatic and fantasy play, and love exploring creative thinking. Some really fun ways to play are by:

• acting out favorite stories
• playing ‘house’
• opening a pretend restaurant
• have races outside
• play board or card games
• have a dance party
• play Red Light, Green Light or Simon Says
• dig for worms
• plant vegetables

Fun Activities for 4 Year Olds 

Below are categories for 4 year old activities, including: learning activities, arts and crafts, sensory play, and games. 

These are fun activities to do at home to learn through play and bond together, or to do in the classroom. 

Learning Activities for 4 Year Olds

Pre-reading.

Pre-reading activities help children learn that which is essential to have in their toolbox before any formal reading education. These activities help children identify letters and make their sounds through play and hands-on activities.

Story Stones for Kids

Snowball Sight Words on a Sticky Table (pictured)

See and Spell with Toy Train Cars (pictured)

Beginning Sounds Match // You’ve Got this Math (pictured)

Free Dinosaur Printables // Living Montessori Now (pictured)

We’re Going on a Word Hunt // Walking by the Way (pictured)

DIY Tile Letter Magnets // Artsy Momma

Sight Word Splat // Views From a Step Stool

Valentines Day Literacy Activity // Sparkling Buds

Pre-Handwriting

Pre-handwriting activities engage the fine motor skills necessary to hold a pencil. Pincer grasp can be developed without holding a pen or pencil at all! These activities might include threading or stringing, pinching playdough, sorting with tweezers, and more! 

Button Practice Felt Flowers // Twitchetts (pictured)

Teddy Bear Bread // Messy Little Monster (pictured)

Felt Rocket Name Puzzle // Teach Me Mommy (pictured)

Color Matching for Kids with Pom Pom Flowers // The Moments at Home (pictured)

Kids Fun Fine Motor Weaving  // J Daniel 4’s Mom (pictured)

Sandbox Writing // Walking by the Way (pictured)

Fine Motor Skills: Rainbow Rice in a Jar // KC Edventures (pictured)

DIY Twig Art // Twitchetts (pictured)

Simple Sewing Busy Bag // The Chaos and The Clutter

Google Eye Envelope Alien Busy Bag // Crafty Kids at Home

Coin Sorting // Rhythms of Play

STEM Activities for 4 Year Olds

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. These STEM activities for 4 year olds will encourage children to make inferences and think critically, and to sort, count and organize materials while having fun! 

DIY Worm Farm (pictured)

Fizzing Fireworks Painting (pictured)

Basic Math with Fall Leaves (pictured)

Acorn Fine Motor Counting (pictured)

Monster Truck Counting Printables // Artsy Momma (pictured)

Making Friendship Ice Cream // Mama Smiles

Popsicle Stick Shape Building Magnets // Planning Playtime

Counting Raindrops: 1-10 Math Printable // Schooltime Snippets

Love Heart Number Line // Adventures and Play

STEM Activity for Kids: Valentine Tower // Preschool Powol Packets

Build Magnetic Robots // Adventure in a Box (pictured)

Pete the Cat Math Game // Buggy and Buddy (pictured)

Counting with Marbles and Bath Mats // Creative Playhouse (pictured)

Pipes and Water Play // Moms and Crafters (pictured)

Montessori Nature Tray // Living Montessori Now (pictured)

Math Busy Bag // The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

Penguin Dice Addition Game  // Adventures and Play

Exploring Colors with Baking Soda and Vinegar // Buggy and Buddy

Counting With Playdough // Creative Playhouse

How to Put Together a Portable Tinker Box // Little Worlds Big Adventures

Counting Caterpillar Busy Bag // Powerful Mothering

Sensory Activities for 4 Year Olds

Sensory play is essential to early learning. Sensory activities develop the vocabulary as children describe their experiences. It develops fine motor skills that are essential to early handwriting. Is is calming and can help regulate emotions. Sensory play is wonderful for busy 4 year olds eager to explore their environment! 

Ultimate Collection of Sensory Bins for Kids

Arctic Small World Play (pictured)

Shark Week Sensory Play (pictured)

Dinosaur Swamp Sensory Bin // Mommy’s Bundle (pictured)

Jump and Wash! Dinosaur Sensory Play // Little Worlds Big Adventures (pictured)

Soft Sheep Sensory and Science Discovery // Simple at Home

Letter Sensory Bin // Views From a Step Stool

Flower Arranging Montessori Practical Life Kids Activity  // Rhythms of Play

Arts & Craft Activities for 4 Year Olds

Arts and craft activities for 4 year olds help encourage self-expression. Children are able to express their creativity and their individualism while developing scissor skills, color mixing, cause and effect and more!

Clothespin and Cottonball Cloud Painting (pictured)

Coffee Filter Butterfly Magnets (pictured)

Superhero Puppet Craft // Messy Little Monster (pictured)

Exploring Symmetry with Art // Crafty Kids at Home (pictured)

Easy Bubble Art Activity // Mommy’s Bundle

Draw the Missing Half // Adventure in a Box

Cut it Out! Art Inspired by Ohara // Homebound But Hopeful

Busy Bee Headband Craft // Simple at Home

Painting with Hexbugs

4 year olds love to play games ! At this age, teamwork is attainable and gross motor activities are important for engaging in daily activities. This list includes indoor activities for 4 year olds as well as outdoor fun with this age group. 

Fun and Free Printable Board Games for Kids

Butterfly File Folder Games Printable (pictured)

Pretend Play Busy Bags // Lalymom (pictured)

Cup Twisting Fine Motor Games // Lalymom (pictured)

DIY Car Magnets Craft // Moms and Crafters (pictured)

Spiderweb Obstacle Course // Mama Smiles (pictured)

Hit the Cardboard Road // Non Toy Gifts (pictured)

DIY Cardboard Car Wash // Non Toy Gifts (pictured)

DIY Cardboard Car Track // Planning Playtime

Playground Scavenger Hunt // KC Edventures

I Spy in Ice  // Sparkling Buds

A Pox on Your House // Homebound But Hopeful

Shapes, Counting and Colors Busy Bag // Powerful Mothering

Have so much fun playing and learning with your 4 year old! These activities will be sure to help kids learn through play, and fun!

More Activity Lists for 4 Year Olds

• Fun Games for 4 Year Olds
• 10 Fun Play Ideas for 4 Year Olds

Want ideas for other ages?

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Play-Based Learning Activities for 4 Year Olds

Introduction

Finding activities for 4 year olds can be a fun challenge. At this age, kids are inquisitive, active, and enthusiastic about the world they live in. Through play-based activities, children not only stay engaged, but also develop in many domains. The article is about a collection of activities, that teach 4 year olds to develop themselves, with the goal of learning through play.

The Importance and Impact of Activities for 4 Year Old Kid

The activities that are adjusted for 4 year olds, are a key element of their holistic development. These activities are meant to develop their minds and bodies, resulting in holistic development. Being involved in play and activities, that 4 year olds can handle on their own, boosts their self-confidence. It provides them with the ability to make their own choices, and solve problems by themselves.

Easy activities for 4 year olds are a must. They let children achieve their goals. This success is essential in motivating them to be more interested, and excited about learning. The activities must not be too complicated. Simplicity enables kids to remain focused, and not become bored.

It is important to ensure that the activities for 4 year olds learning, are matched with the child’s abilities, and current development level. Activities must be interesting enough to keep them engaged. In contrast, they need to be realistic, to prevent feelings of frustration as well. The success of learning, will depend on the harmonization of these factors.

Try puzzles, matching games, or simple crafts for activities for 4 year olds to do by themselves. Such activities are key to developing independence, and cognitive skills. They motivate the kids to think both creatively and critically.

Things to Do at Home with a 4 Year Old

At home, with 4 years old, you can find a variety of activities that are both fun, and educational. Activities 4 year old at home can be diverse, aligning with their endless energy and curiosity. From creative arts and crafts, to more structured educational games, there are endless ways to keep them busy and learning.

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Arts and crafts are amazing activities with four year olds. They promote imagination, and fine motor skills mastering. For example, easy tasks such as coloring, finger painting, or making a collage from magazine cutouts, may help them to be busy and to show their creativity.

Educational games can be a wonderful addition to the playtime for the 4 year olds at home. Games with number recognition, shape, and color identification, and basic word puzzles, support the development of cognitive skills. These games can be both enjoyable, and a quiet way to learn concepts.

Daily routines are great for things to do at home with 4 year old, that are fun and educational. Cooking together is an ideal example of this. It is a very practical way, to teach them how to read the measurements, follow the instructions, and the importance of safety in the kitchen. Easy recipes like making a sandwich, or decorating cookies are suitable for their skill level.

Gardening can be both entertaining and educational. It helps the kids to understand the process of growth, responsibility, and the life cycle. Planting a seed, and taking care of it until it blooms can be a rewarding experience for a 4 year old, helping them to develop patience and caring.

Storytime is an important activity for 4 year old at home. Reading together promotes a love for books, enriches their vocabulary, and boosts their listening skills. It also helps to build relationship, and unwind before naptime or bedtime.

Lastly, sensory play activities such as playing with playdough, water tables, or sandboxes, help with exploration and discovery. They can explore the various textures, shapes, and behavior of materials interactively.

4 Year Old Recreational Activities

Recreational activities are an integral part of 4 year olds’ development. They not only assist in their physical development, but also help to improve their emotional and social aspects. Activities that involve a 4 year old in movement are most beneficial. They help to train their motor skills and coordination, which are the basis of their physical development at this age.

Dancing is a remarkable activity for 4 year olds. It provides them with a platform for creative self-expression, and the development of their balance and coordination. A simple dance routine or free dance to the music they like, can be a great way to have a fun and energizing activity.

Jumping is a fun activity that can be done in several ways, such as using a trampoline, playing hopscotch, or even just bouncing around with balloons. Jumping activities of 4 year old, improve their leg muscle strength, and bring overall physical coordination.

Playing tag or other chase games is perfect for the development of physical activity, and fair play. These games also give the chance for the kids to develop their social skills, as they interact with other people.

Easy 4 year old activities can also include ball games . Games such as catch, rolling the ball back and forth, or kicking the ball into a goal, are not only entertaining but also contribute to the development of fine motor skills and gross motor skills.

An obstacle course is an interesting activity to set up as well. The use of household items or toys to build a course, can serve to challenge their physical capabilities, and problem-solving skills. It’s a good way to get them to think creatively, and to move their bodies in different ways.

Simple yoga poses designed for kids can be the first step on the path of mindfulness, and development of balance and flexibility. Yoga can be a soothing activity that gives them a chance to learn about their bodies, and how to move consciously.

People Also Ask Questions/FAQs related to Keyword

Question 1: what are some recommended activities for 4 year olds to enhance their learning and development.

Activities for 4 year olds should have a mix of playful and educational tasks. Some of these activities include crafts for creativity, easy science experiments for curiosity, story time for language development, and puzzles for problem-solving. These activities are engaging for children, and promote cognitive growth, creativity, and language and social skills.

Question 2: How can parents and educators select suitable activities for 4 year old kid that promote independence?

When it comes to activities for 4 year old kid that promotes independence, it is essential to select tasks they can do on their own with minimal help. Examples include blocks, simple puzzles, dolls dressing, and drawing or coloring. These activities build their self-esteem, improve their small motor skills, and help them be creative and make choices.

Question 3: What are some easy activities for 4 year olds that can be done at home?

Easy activities for 4 year olds may include playdough sculpting, water play, chalk drawing on sidewalks, and interactive reading. The activities are simple, take little time to set up, and they offer a lot of development benefits, like improving hand-eye coordination, encouraging creativity and literacy.

Question 4: Can you suggest some activities for 4 year olds to do by themselves that also foster learning?

Activities for 4 year olds to do by themselves that are educational, include sorting colored objects, simple jigsaw puzzles, matching games, and listening to audiobooks. Such individual activities, develop the sorting and matching skills, improve the focus, and at the same time, introduce them to new words and concepts in a fun way.

Play-based learning activities for 4 year olds have multiple benefits, that help with their development in a fun and interactive way. The variety of options, is meant to satisfy every child’s interests and needs. Through the inclusion of these activities in their daily routine, you can grant your child a solid basis for lifelong learning and development.

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How to Homeschool a 4 Year Old

Your child is turning 4, and you are eager to start homeschooling. Your first question is, Should I homeschool my 4 year old? Well, that’s an easy answer. Your 4 year old has already been homeschooled for three years—technically! As a parent, you have been teaching your child how to walk and talk and use a spoon and so many other things that you would not consider to be school. However, you have been teaching, and your baby/toddler has been learning. When it comes to homeschooling a 4 year old, you are probably thinking about adding a bit of structure to that teaching and learning you both experience every day. Let’s see how homeschooling a 4 year old can work:

What Should a 4 Year Old Be Learning?

How to start homeschooling a 4 year old, what should a curriculum for a 4 year old look like, how time4learning helps you homeschool your 4 year old, tips for homeschooling a 4 year old.

Already, your 4 year old can probably do household tasks like toileting, opening a tube of toothpaste, pouring a cup of water, and undoing buttons, and you have likely watched your child happily running, jumping, hopping, and catching a ball. Equally as likely, your child has also begun more academic pursuits like telling stories, singing songs or short poems, recognizing letters and numbers, beginning to understand time, and naming some colors.

Now, one of your goals in homeschooling your 4 year old is to prepare your child for kindergarten —academically, behaviorally, and socio-emotionally. Here are some knowledge and skills that your 4 year old should be learning to help as you plan what to teach a 4 year old at home:

• To identify some letters of the alphabet and some common sight words
• To identify words that rhyme
• To write his/her first name with uppercase and lowercase letters
• To speak in complete sentences
• To repeat his/her full name, phone number, address, and birthday
• To grip writing implements (i.e., pencil, marker, crayon, chalk) correctly
• To count to ten
• To classify objects based on shape, size, and quantity
• To use glue, scissors, paint, and other art supplies
• To bounce a ball
• To play alone or with another child, focused on one activity for a maximum of ten minutes

So how do you start homeschooling a 4 year old? Here are a few simple steps that will help you prepare:

• Step 1 : Make sure to do your research and find out what resources are available. Look for 4 year old curriculum ideas and homeschool activities for 4 year olds. Getting started with preschool homeschool is a big step, and many parents have gone before you. Learn from them before you begin with your child!
• Step 2 : Prioritize what you want your child to learn this year. Compare your child’s abilities with developmental milestones and what is expected for kindergarten. What does your child need in order to catch up to other 4 year olds or get ready for the next phase of education?
• Step 3 : Set up areas in your home and yard to encourage interest in learning in natural environments (e.g., Lego table, sandbox, puzzle basket, costume bin). Allow your child easy access to these areas.
• Step 4 : Create a healthy, age-appropriate homeschool schedule for your 4 year old that is consistent but relaxed, includes some time with other preschoolers (if possible), and targets short periods of focused learning spaced throughout the day.

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Your 4 year old is starting to build a foundation for reading, writing, listening, and speaking as well as initial math skills. Your child also needs to build the gross and fine motor skills to support physical activity/sports and the use of writing implements and art supplies while social and emotional skills are also beginning to develop.

A homeschool curriculum for a 4 year old must be consistent and flexible. It must also be engaging and motivating enough to build a solid foundation of not only knowledge and skills, but also habits, attitudes, and confidence. Here are some things to consider when choosing a curriculum for a 4 year old:

• A preschool curriculum should include language arts, math, science, and social studies in a way that prepares your child for kindergarten.
• Lessons should be focused on basic concepts, including pre-reading and pre-writing activities, and include repetition for skill mastery.
• Instruction should be play-based, engaging your young child in different modalities using a variety of teaching styles.
• Learning should build from one topic to the next, ensuring that a strong foundation is constructed for each subject area.
• Activities, including worksheets, should enable preschoolers to follow simple directions.
• All aspects of the curriculum should introduce your 4 year old to “school” in a positive and reinforcing way that builds self-confidence.

Time4Learning offers an online curriculum that can be the basis for homeschooling your 4 year old. Although it requires early levels of attention, fine motor control (i.e., ability to use a computer mouse), and language, the curriculum is designed so that your child will be able to use it without much adult supervision. It assumes no prior knowledge and was created for pre-readers.

Here are some reasons why Time4Learning’s preschool curriculum can be ideal for your 4 year old and your family:

• Time4Learning’s preschool lesson plans are organized into two levels, with an additional alphabet level. Level One themes include School Time, My ABCs, My Colors, and At the Zoo. Level Two themes include All about Me, In My Neighborhood, and Measurement. You can use the curriculum as a two-year program to prepare your child for Kindergarten.
• Each theme is introduced by a song and show or story, including professional music and animations, and then your child can choose among activities like games and puzzles to deepen learning.
• A lesson planning worksheet helps you to plan the number of lessons per day in each subject to complete the curriculum.
• Your child can save snapshots of work onto a dashboard to share with you.
• You receive information on all completed activities, including time on task and the date and time of completion.

Is Time4Learning the only online curriculum you can use when you homeschool your 4 year old? No. You can compare Time4Learning and ABCmouse.com® , another popular online preschool program, to see which curriculum may be the ideal fit for your child. Remember that you can always choose to blend the best parts of more than one curriculum (called an eclectic approach) to truly fit the needs of your 4 year old.

We know that early childhood education success is important to you and your family. Here are some overall tips for homeschooling your 4 year old:

• Tip 1 : Focus on Play-Based Learning: A preschooler’s job is to play, so your job is to make sure that your preschooler has plenty of opportunities to do just that. When you add some learning to play, you have created a win-win! Remember that just learning how to play (especially with others) is an important accomplishment all by itself!
• Tip 2 : Include Art: Drawing, coloring, painting, cutting, and pasting not only build fine motor skills, they also encourage preschoolers to begin expressing themselves. You want to help your 4 year old become an active learner who engages with content and is willing to express opinions and ideas. Art can be a great beginning!
• Tip 3 : Be Flexible: While you may have a schedule and curriculum already planned, be attentive to your child. If your child is getting frustrated or avoiding activities, make changes and follow your child’s interests. Ease your 4 year old into “school” in a way that is supportive and encouraging and creates positive views of learning.

The most important tip for homeschooling your 4 year old is to have fun! Chances are that your state’s homeschool laws do not regulate preschool, so you have a wonderful opportunity now to introduce your child to lifelong learning that is enjoyable and stimulating and a way to bond with you. “Unitask” while you homeschool your 4 year old and enjoy every single second!

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25 Fun Activities for 4 Year Olds with Household Items!

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Below, you’ll find a list of 25 activities for 4 year olds that you can try at home. These activities are fun, stimulating, and won’t break the bank and they utilize many common household items!

Four is a very special age when it comes to the mental, physical, emotional, and social development of a child. Just past the torrential toddler stage, slightly more independent, yet still irrevocably adorable and inquisitive as ever. The mind of a four-year-old is still like a sponge, and they are constantly learning about the world around them through experience. As caregivers, we do our best to offer activities that not only entertain them but stimulate their minds. 

Activities for 4 Year Olds with ONLY Household Items

Homemade instruments.

DIY projects are always the best. Making instruments at home is a fun and cheap activity for your four-year-old and you both can enjoy an in-home concert! Here are a few instruments you can make at home with stuff you most likely have:

Rain-maker: Take some uncooked rice and place it inside a cardboard roll (toilet paper or paper towel) and secure both ends.

Harmonica: Tape plastic straws together that are cut at different lengths.

It’s no secret that young children love baked goods- but how fun would it be if they could learn how to make their favorite treats? Baking with your four-year-old is an activity that comes with a multitude of benefits. Learning to read and understand recipes, measure, and count time are all benefits of baking with your four-year-old.

This activity also teaches patience and the importance of paying attention because they get a yummy reward at the end.

Costumes don’t always have to come from a Halloween store at a steep price. With a little imagination, you and your four-year-old can use some items from around the house to come up with their own unique costume. When you’re done, have fun with some imaginative play!

DIY Play Dough

Homemade playdough is easier than you think! Here’s a  great recipe – you probably have all the ingredients around your house! It’s inexpensive, you can make as many colors as you like, and it’s non-toxic! This playdough can also last for a few months if stored in a Ziploc baggie.

Cheese graters, cookie cutters, and other household objects can be used as molds to make cool soft creations.

At Home Puppet Theater and Show

Making your own puppets and a puppet show theater is actually pretty easy. There are plenty of cool DIY ideas online and puppets can easily be made from old socks, paper bags, or just about anything your four-year-old can stick googly eyes on (with your permission of course!).

Watching your four-year-old put on a puppet show can also give you a glimpse as to what’s on their minds.

Creative Activities for 4 Year Olds

Finger/feet painting.

Not only is painting with hands and feet loads of fun, but it’s also great way to get in some sensory play. Washable finger paints are easily found online or in craft stores, and you can recycle old newspapers, paper bags, or junk mail to use as a canvas. There are so many different creations you and your little one can make together with your built-in paintbrushes.

Find a cute room and decorate the playroom or kid’s bathrooms with your creations!

DIY Silly Putty

Let’s face it, kids love potty sounds, I know I did as a kid! Combine borax, school-glue, and some food coloring to make your own silly putty that’ll have your four-year-old laughing hysterically!

Make a Collage

Finally a use for those old magazines and newspapers collecting dust in your attic! Collages are fun to put together and the end product is a satisfying project for any four-year-old. Whether you’re making a dream/vision board or just a collage of favorite things, your little one can express their creativity with different colors and scissors with different designs.

DIY Storybook

Having your four-year-old create their own storybook is a really enjoyable way to enhance their reading and writing skills. Staple a few blank pages together and let your little one’s imagination run wild, complete with hand-drawn illustrations. When they’re done, read the book together!

Invent a New Toy

Creativity in a four-year-old is full of imagination and innovation. Why not have them invent a new toy with household items?

DIY Bird Feeder

A DIY bird feeder is an easy home project and your four-year-old will love seeing the different types of birds and other woodland critters come up for a bite. Simply find a pine cone and have your four-year-old cover it with peanut butter, attached a string, and hang it up outside where you can see!

You don’t have to have a green thumb to enjoy this activity with your little one. Many large retail home and garden stores sell already sprouted plants, all you have to do is plant them and water! Tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs are all fairly easy starter plants.

Yes, your four-year-old might ask you every day if the plants are ready to harvest, but the joy on their faces when that day comes is incomparable, and they can take pride in their hard work and patience.

Sidewalk Chalk

On a warm sunny day, there’s no better activity than covering a driveway or patio in bright and colorful creations with your four year old. Your little one will love spending time doodling on this giant canvas.

Create a New Song

If you listen closely, you’ll often hear your four-year-old singing a silly song they made up. Why not join them? Write down the lyrics and record them on your phone.

If you’re handy with an instrument, accompany your little one. If not, it’s still fun to add in some DIY instruments.

Classic Activities to Play Together

Most of us probably grew up with Legos in our home. Whether you and your four-year-old are working together to build a specific Lego kit, or just having fun and letting imaginations go wild, building with Lego blocks are a great way to express creativity and fine-tune those developing fine motor skills.

On a day where the weather may not be the best for outdoor activities, a puzzle might be just what you and your four-year-old need to chill out and concentrate on for some time. Puzzles are a great way to spend some downtime with your four-year-old, talking and working together.

Who doesn’t love a good karaoke session? Whether you and your four-year-old are performing in the car or at home, karaoke is a fun activity that releases energy and brings you and your little one closer. Sing along to the radio or find the karaoke version of your favorite song on YouTube!

Hide and Seek

Hide-and-seek is a fun activity that only requires you and your four-year-old! For a few extra “players” hide some stuffed animals or action figures around the house.

Freeze Dance!

Freeze dance is a fun way to release some of that four-year-old energy. The rules are simple: play your favorite song and when the music stops, everyone has to freeze!

Indoor/Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts don’t have to wait until Easter time. This is an easy and educational activity for your four-year-old than can be done with objects already at home. Create a list of everything you’re hiding and let your four-year-old find them and check off the boxes. 

Add an extra challenging element by making an obstacle course to get to some of the items!

“Simon/Simone Says”

I’m sure we’ve all played this game at some point in our lives, and it’s a timeless one. This game is a quick activity that only requires you and your four-year-old. Simon/Simone says is a great way for four-year-olds to learn to give and receive directions.

Sink or Float?

My son’s current favorite internet personality is Blippi. Blippi creates highly interactive videos for young preschool-age children and provides many great ideas for parents on activities they can do with their young ones. One simple activity is the “sink or float” game – it’s just as simple as it sounds. All you need is a large container filled with water, like a spare fish tank and a few items you don’t mind getting wet.

Ask your four year old if they think the item will “sink or float”, and then test out their theory!

Paper Airplanes

A classic indoor or outdoor activity that we’ve all enjoyed ourselves when we were younger. Paper airplanes don’t have to be simple. There are plenty of online ideas on how to create a unique plane that’ll be loads of fun to test out.

Pretend School

As four-year-olds are preparing to enter kindergarten, they may be curious as to how the school day will go. A great activity to get them used to the formal school day is to set up a pretend school. Let your four-year-old be the teacher and you and other family members (or stuffed animals) can be the students. This is also a great learning activity as your little one will be “teaching” and leading the class.

These are just a few of the many activities that you can do with your four-year-old at little to no cost. Whether you’re spending the day indoors or enjoying some fresh air, there’s always plenty to do with your little one. 

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Hands On As We Grow®

Hands on kids activities for hands on moms. Focusing on kids activities perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

Activities for 4 Year Olds

Preschooler activities that are perfect for 4 year olds.

We have created a fun and simple week of activities that's perfect for preschoolers (3-5 year olds) to enjoy.

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In this week of preschooler activities, you'll get a taste of what we provide inside The Activity Room.

While this week for you to download is sample week just for preschoolers, The Activity Room provides weeks of fun for 2-5 year olds, week after week, continually! The fun literally never ends!

We also provide an extra themed week of activities to our annual members that are committed for the entire year. So much fun to be had!

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To find a preschooler activity you're looking for, you can do a search in the search bar found at the top of the page, or search by topic or category that's found in a pulldown menu below.

Browse our activities for 4 year olds by age below (at least the age the we did them at!).

Please note: This is just the age that we tried these activities in our house. These activities may be suitable for other ages. As well as not suitable for your child that is of this age. Please take into consideration the level of development that your child is at.

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25+ Best and Fun Learning Games for 4 Year Olds in 2024

1. SplashLearn

2. listen to fun number songs, 3. matching letters, 4. wooden magnetic letters, 6. geosafari jr. talking kids microscope, 6. scavenger hunt, 7. hopscotch, 8. jump rope, 10. red rover.

Four-year-olds are adorable, energetic, and curious little beings. Most children at this age develop independence, self-control, and creativity. Thus, it is essential to select development games for 4-year-olds to support their physical, mental, and cognitive skills. 

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Usually, four-year-olds have a better attention span and can play with one toy for an extended period. However, an average four-year-old’s attention span is still 5-10 minutes, which is higher than it was when they were 2-3 years old (just three or four minutes).

Hence, it’s crucial to introduce some fun games to 4-year-olds that can engage them for longer periods. This guide will walk you through the 25 best games to play with 4-year-olds that parents we talked to have found to be the most effective.

Looking for more online Math games and ELA games to educate and engage your kids? Here are more games to check out!

25 Fun Games for 4-Year-Olds’ Emotional and Physical Development

The first five years are crucial for a child’s development. Therefore, you must engage your toddler in various games that can stimulate their senses and educate them. Notably, games for a 4-year-old has to be fun and exciting. So, after thorough consideration, we have created a list of the 25 best games for your 4-year-olds:

6 Learning Games for 4-Year-Olds

Skill Development: Math and reading 

Price: Free for teachers and a 7-day free trial for parents. Subscription starts at $4.99 per month.

Are you looking for engaging yet educational games for 4-year-olds online? If so, SplashLearn is the best online game-based program for Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5. Preschoolers learn math and reading skills through interactive and adaptive games that match their skill level. The program also has a Daily Learning Path to guide kids from one skill to the next, which means they can learn independently. In addition to this, parents and teachers get detailed progress reports on how their child/students are doing, which keeps them in the loop. 

Make learning numbers fun and musical with number songs! Sing along to catchy tunes that teach counting and number recognition, making it an engaging way for 4-year-olds to learn. These songs not only help in memorizing numbers but also improve listening skills and rhythm. Perfect for interactive learning sessions at home or in the classroom!

Skill Development: Memory skills, spelling, and word recognition

Price: $11.99

Matching Letters is a learning game for four-year-olds that helps develop their memory skills and strategic mindset while also improving their word recognition ability. It is the perfect game to play with the entire family and develop your child’s alphabetical skills. It is simple to play since it only has 60 cubes that can only form 3-4 letter words. 

Skill Development: Matching, fine motor skills, alphanumeric recognition 

Price: $24.99

This educational game for 4-year-olds is fun and engaging. The game board is designed with different alphabetic and numerical letters. Your children will use a magnetic fish rod to find the right letters based on your instructions. With this game, you can teach colors, numbers, letters, and matching skills.

Skill Development: Thinking, reading skills

Price: $17.59

Zingo is a simple bingo game for toddlers that helps develop their critical thinking and reading skills. Your kids have to follow the instructions mentioned on Zingo cards and match different connectors on their slips. It is fun and easy to play a game that the entire family can enjoy together.

Skill Development: STEM skills

Price: $33.99.

This is a unique talking microscope for your children that can teach them about animals, plants, and other household things. This talking microscope has five different slides to teach different things to 4-year-olds. For example, it has a fact mode that tells facts about the image your child has selected. There’s also your four-year-olds, an interactive quiz mode to test your child’s scientific knowledge. It is a perfect game for four-year-olds to develop their interest in science.

5 Group Games for 4-Year-Olds

Skill Development: Leadership, instructions, understanding, and processing skills

Requirements: random items to hunt.

Whether it is your 4-year-old’s birthday party or you want to tire out energetic preschoolers, you can organize a scavenger hunt. You can create doodles or drawings to create a treasure map, as some four-year-olds might struggle to read written instructions. In addition to this, you can make a scavenger hunt more fun by dividing your children into groups of two and organizing a small competition among them.

Skill Development: Counting, physical strength 

Requirements: a chalk and pebble.

Hopscotch is a classic and fun game for four-year-olds. To play this game, using chalk, create a grid of nine blocks and mark numbers in each block like 1, 2, 3, etc. Now, give a stone or pebble to your preschooler and ask them to throw it on any number in this first row. They have to then hop down the grid and then back and pick up their pebble while standing on one foot. It’s going to be fun watching kids hopping, falling, and laughing. 

Skill Development: Balance, coordination 

Requirements: jumping rope.

Jumping rope is a fun and entertaining game for four-year-olds. All it requires is a jumping rope, and your preschoolers can have a blast playing with it. They can even do group jumping to develop coordination and body balance. It is a perfect outdoor activity for kids to improve their body strength.

Skill Development: Motor skills

Requirements: open space to run around in.

Tag is a game that four-year-olds and adults can play and have fun with their friends. There are several versions of this game. So, you and your child can play freeze tag, simple tag, or any other version of tag that your family plays. It is a perfect game to improve motor and sensory skills among young children as they have to respond quickly while playing this game.

Skill Development: Speed and strength 

Requirements: open space.

Red Rover is the best group game for four-year-olds parties. Divide your group of kids into two and make them stand in two opposite lines holding their hands. Make sure that both lines have at least a 20 feet gap. Then, a player from each team will say, “Red rover, red rover, let … come over”, and march toward another team to break their bond. If a player can break the bond, they will come back to their line with one member from the other team. Eventually, the team with the most members wins the game.

5 Board Games for 4-Year-Olds

11. Yahtzee Jr. Marvel Edition

Skill development: matching skills, price: $14.92.

Is your child a Marvel fan? Then, get them a Yahtzee Jr. Marvel Edition board game to play with their favorite Marvel characters like Spidey, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and more. There is no reading involved in this game. Kids have to roll the dice and match characters on the board.  

12. Snug as a Bug in a Rug

Price: $22.95.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug is an award-winning game for preschoolers. It has an exciting storyline in which kids have to put as many bugs as they can under the rug before three bugs stink and destroy everything. The game is available in three interactive modes to keep your kids interested. The game contains 1 game board with a built-in spinner, 24 colorful bugs, 3 stink bugs, 1 die, and instructions. 

Skill Development: Motor skills, matching skills

Price: $10.99.

Cootie is a classic preschool game that you must have also played in your childhood. The game is pretty simple. Your child has to spin the wheel and hope to get the part they need to build their plastic bug. The person who makes the bug first will win this game. However, all the colorful parts and mechanism to create a bug is excellent educational training for four-year-olds.

14. Chutes and Ladders

Skill development: counting, strategy , price: $9.99.

This is another classic game you can find everywhere. Several versions of the game are available so that you can purchase the game with your child’s favorite cartoon characters. The game board has 100 squares your child must cross while moving through different ladders and chutes. It will be fun when ladders lift your child’s pawn closer to the winning square, and chutes bring them down again. It is a great family game to enjoy and learn numbers.

15. Candy Land

Skill development: color recognition, counting, price: $12.99.

Candy Land is a great board game for 4-year-olds at home. It is a classic game with gingerbread players, colorful cards, and several sweet adventures to explore. Your children will use cards to find their way through the chocolate fountain, candy cane garden, etc. No reading is involved in this game, so it is perfect for young minds.  

5 Physical Games for 4-Year-Olds

16. Hide-and-Seek

Skill development: motor skills, analytical thinking , requirements: a safe space with places to hide.

We don’t think hide and seek requires any explanation. Every person has played this game in their childhood and had a blast. So, if you are a preschool teacher or parent, you can play hide and seek with your four-year-olds to improve their reflexes and analytical skills while also getting some physical exercise.

17. Animal Walk

Skill development: hopping, galloping, requirements: animal picture chart.

The animal walk is the perfect game for preschoolers to teach them the characteristics of different animals and do some physical work. All you need is an animal picture chart to show to your toddlers. And ask them to imitate the walk of the animal mentioned on the chart. With this game, your child will move, hop, and gallop to build physical strength. 

18. Keep the Balloon Up

Requirements: balloons and an open play area.

It is a two-player game. To play this game, you have to give a balloon to the two players and ask them to balance the balloon in the air using their bodies except for their hands or feet. They must move from one point to another while balancing the balloon. It is an excellent team coordination and balance-building game for 4-year-olds.

19. Wet Sponge Design s

Skill development: throwing, requirements: lots of old sponges.

During the summer break, you can play this fun game with your four-year-olds. First, gather some waste kitchen sponges and put them in a tub of water. Then, ask your preschooler to throw wet sponges on a hard surface like a concrete wall or floor. This is not only a fun game for a 4-year-old but also helps to strengthen their arm muscles. 

20. Simon/Simone Says

Skill development: jumping, hopping, crawling, and more, requirements: no equipment needed .

It is a fun game for four-year-olds without any complicated rules. The player has to say “Simon says” and instruct other players to do any physical action like jump like a duck, hop like a bunny, etc. It is a ruleless and joy-packed physical game for preschoolers. 

5 Indoor Games to Play With 4-Year-Olds

21. Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button

Skill development: guessing, social skills, requirements: a button .

It is a quiet game for preschoolers to play indoors. Get your preschoolers to sit in a circle and ask them to close their eyes. One person will have a button in their hand and pretend to pass it on to everyone. Once the button is passed on, everyone will try to guess who’s got the button. 

22. Broken Telephone

Skill development: listening skills , requirements: nothing .

Another simple game to play with a group of four-year-olds. Make the group sit in a circle; one person will whisper a sentence into the ear of the person sitting next to them. That person will pass the message to the next person, and so on. The cycle keeps moving until it reaches the last person in the circle, and they will say the message out loud. The game’s main motive is to improve students’ listening and information-processing skills. 

23. Story Time Clap

Skill development: language development , requirements: storybooks.

This is an excellent game for 4-year-olds to improve their reading skills. You can pick one child and give them a book to read aloud to the rest of the group. You will then assign the listeners a specific word or phrase. When they hear that word or phrase being mentioned in the story, they have to clap. It is a great way to improve young students’ reading, language, and listening skills. 

24. Touch and Feel Box

Skill development: sensory development , requirements: a box and different textured objects .

This game is perfect for students suffering from sensory disorders. To play this game, you must put some unique textured items in a box. After that, ask the children to touch and feel one of the items. Without seeing it, they have to guess the item’s name based on their feel and touch senses. 

25. Musical chairs

Requirements: lots of chairs .

Musical Chair is an excellent party game for preschoolers. You have to arrange chairs in a circle facing outwards. However, there should always be one less chair than the number of players. Once the music starts, everyone walks around the chairs, and when the music stops, they have to grab a seat. The person who is left standing will lose the game. Keep on playing until you have a winner. 

Let’s Play!

Games are an essential part of child development. With games, children learn to socialize, become team leaders, and learn new things. Their physical and mental strength also improves.

Play all the suggested games to improve your child’s physical and mental development. Choose from a vast number of games you can buy, as well as free games for 4-year-olds, and get started!

Explore more online educational resources and printable worksheets for kids that will aid in their learning experience.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What impact do games have on children.

Games are a great way to enhance your four year old’s physical development. Games like tag or ‘Simon Says’ will improve your child’s muscular strength and body balance. In addition to this, games also help stimulate your child’s brain and develop their mental strength. Besides this, playing games also ensure your child is active and tired enough that they sleep well at night.

What are the benefits of board games?

Playing board games increases brain function and strategic skills among young children. Board games also help to improve social skills and strengthen relationships. Board games are the perfect way to have some family time and reduce stress. In addition to this, these games teach life lessons and patience.

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40 Fun Indoor Activities for Kids of All Ages

These inside amusements for everyone from toddlers to teens will keep the "I'm Bored" blues at bay.

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When we talk about spending the day indoors, we usually give it a negative spin. It's always, "We're stuck inside today," and never really, "Hooray, we get to spend the day inside." But, if you keep these indoor activities for kids on the top of mind, the next time a storm rolls in, a sick day happens or a school closes unexpectedly, it won't feel like a disappointment.

You can still fill the hours with active, enriching or creative activities — and get some family bonding in along the way — without having to venture into the great outdoors. In fact, you might start to look forward to these inside days — and not just because you can declare it "Pajama Day."

These are the best indoor activities for kids : Most of them can be done with the items you already have around the home — hooray for free! — which means that indoor days can be good for the wallet, too. There are some, though, that require certain ingredients or activities, so it might be good to check this list even on a sunny day and to make sure you have the supplies on hand for the next time the rainclouds blow in. There's a mix of learning activities , creative crafts , active games and some just-plain-fun diversions for everyone from toddlers to teens.

Tell Riddles

Take turns challenging each other to figure out some challenging riddles, giving kids' minds a workout and letting them work on their logic and criticial thinking skills. You can buy a book , do some from memory or even try to come up with your own.

See our list of the best riddles for kids »

Hosts Arts and Crafts Hour

An indoor day is the perfect time to break out all of the ribbons, craft sticks, pipe cleaners and googly eyes that are just begging to be turned into DIY masterpieces. (And, if you need a refresh on all those supplies, there's always the Kid Made Modern Arts and Crafts Supply Library .) When the glue and paint are dry, you can have an at-home museum experience. For 2D work, grab clothespins and hang them from baker's twine for a real gallery feel.

See ideas for 50 fun crafts for kids to try »

Make a Movie

The process of making fine cinema has gotten a whole lot easier now that most of us have the equipment to make films in our pockets and bags at all time. And yet, even if they just make a quick movie on a phone, they'll get hands-on experience at lots of parts of the creative process: They can write a script, plan out shots and scenes, gather or make props and even try their hands at special effects. (Something like the VTech Kidizoom Creator Cam even lets them do editing in-camera.) If they're shy about appearing on screen, they might have better luck with stop-motion animation, and things like Stickbots or the Hue Animation Studio will help.

Have a Paper Airplane Competition

Who doesn't have a few leftover shipping boxes lying around? With just a few modifications, those can be targets for a fleet of paper airplanes . Experiment with how folding the paper in different ways affects the trajectory of the flight.

See Good Housekeeping 's preferred method for folding a paper airplane »

Make a Scrapbook

Go through the miscellaneous loose photos, ticket stubs, handouts, school notices and more and turn them into a memory book that you all can enjoy for years to come. You can choose one event to focus on, like a family vacation, or go broader and try to encapsulate a full school year. (Something like the HP Sprocket photo printer can help if you don't have printed photos lying around — it prints onto sticker paper.) Decorate the pages with stickers, drawings, quotes and other mementos. There are even scrapbooking sets geared towards tweens and teens. And hey, if you never get past the going-through-old-photos phase, that's a fun way to spend an indoor day, too.

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Make Homemade Modeling Dough

There are many benefits to playing with modeling dough. Kids work on their hand strength when they manipulate the dough, and they can also practice their pincer grasp or improve their fine-motor coordination when they do things like roll it out or pinch it into smaller balls. But to make the experience even more engrossing, kids can get in on making the dough themselves! (Plus, this way, you get to keep an eye on the ingredients.)

See the tutorial for making homemade modeling dough »

Do a Room Makeover

When was the last time their rooms were spruced up? If you want to go all-out, you can let them choose a new paint color and re-arrange their furniture for a fresh new look. For something with less effort, they can find new art for their walls — perhaps a DIY wall collage ? — or decorations for their shelves. What vibe are they feeling? Cottagecore ? VSCO aesthetic ? They'll have fun looking up inspiration.

See our favorite kids' room ideas for inspiration »

Build a Rube Goldberg Machine

Gather the dominoes, marbles, LEGO bricks and other construction toys and challenge their STEM skills by building a (simple) Rube Goldberg machine. Tinkerlab has tips for what materials to use, stunts to try and how to get started. (Their biggest tip? Figure out what you want to happen at the end first, from popping a balloon to ringing a bell.) It's best to keep your homemade machine simple, but it's always fun to get inspiration from really elaborate ones: Check out OK Go's " This Too Shall Pass " video, the breakfast-making machine in the beginning of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure or the videos @RubeGoldbergTV for ideas.

Host a Comedy Show

Doing an at-home comedy set actually helps them work on a lot of public-speaking skills, including timing, speaking clearly and self-confidence. ( Magic tricks work, too.) See if you can work together to come up with a "set" of three to five jokes each, and then gather the family around for laughs. The book LOL 101 , a 2023 Good Housekeeping Best Kids' Book Award winner , even takes kids through the steps of writing their own jokes.

See our favorite jokes for kids »

Do a Learning Activity

There are lots of fun, hands-on learning activities that secretly give kids extra practice in reading, math, social studies or STEM concepts. Whether you have an elementary school student, a preschooler , a toddler or even a 1-year-old , they'll love these projects — which, as a bonus, mostly involve materials you already have around the house.

Get ideas for learning activities for kids »

Go on a Hunt

It's easy to rig up an indoor finding game. You could come up with scavenger hunt-style list of items your child has to find all over the house, or put together a series of clues that lead to one big prize at the end. On Etsy, you can find customizable clue cards that you fill in and print yourself.

Get more ideas for scavenger hunt themes »

Make a Friendship Bracelet

You might not have made a friendship bracelet since your summer-camp days, but the craft is back and hotter than ever. Break out those embroidery threads and teach your kids the art of making stripes, chevrons and spiral staircases. You can get a kit that'll help you make intricate patterns, or just do it the old-fashioned way.

Get the instructions for 20 different friendship bracelet patterns »

Do a Science Experiment

You can do a ton of at-home science experiments with very little prep and set-up, often with items you can just grab from around the house. For example, if you sit a "cloud" of shaving cream on top of a jar of water, then add drops of blue water one-at-a-time, when the "cloud" becomes saturated, you get blue rain — and the water cycle in a jar. ( Good Housekeeping Amazing Science book offers even more at-home ideas.)

See our favorite at-home experiments »

Host an Open Mic Night

It doesn't matter if you have an official karaoke machine or not. All that matters is you can hit the high notes when it counts. So, what's your go-to, belt-it-out-to-the-rafters song?

See our list of the best songs of the decade »

Bake and Decorate

Indoor days are the perfect time to try and get creative in the kitchen. Whip up some kind of make-your-own dessert bar by putting out toppings (frosting, sprinkles, M&Ms, etc.) that kids can add to either a cupcake or ice cream sundae.

See 45 different cupcake recipes »

Break out the Board Games

It's the oldest idea in the book, but if you really want some screen-free family time, old-fashioned board games still do the trick. Get your competitive spirit up and get ready to play.

See our list of the top-tested family board games »

Make a Sensory Bin

Fill a bin with rice and other treasures, plus a few toys, and you have yourself an instant hit with the little ones. Kids can scoop and pour the rice or dig through to find the prizes you've hidden (in this example, they had fake bugs, a magnifying glass, and tweezers to "collect" them). Just be warned that you'll probably have to vacuum after.

Get ideas for different sensory bins here »

Movies and TV Shows

Sure, if you're worried about screen time , movies and TV shows are always a last resort. But if you're stuck indoors for an extended period of time, at some point you're going to want to get something accomplished. Make every second of screen time count by making sure you're choosing the best kids' TV shows and movies available.

See our picks for the all-time best movies for kids »

Start an Indoor Garden

You don't even need empty planters to get the garden growing — an old egg carton will do the trick at first. To make it more of STEM activity, give kids journals so they can take notes on what they've planted and keep track of their garden's progress. They can even draw the heights of their seedlings as they grow. Bonus: Plant basil seeds or other herbs, and you'll have delicious ingredients for a cooking project. (Tip: If you don't want to go the DIY route, Creativity for Kids offers kits for growing sunflowers or a pizza garden that have all the materials you need.)

Indoor Obstacle Course

This activity is great for young ones working on their gross motor coordination or older ones who might need to get some energy out. Set up an obstacle course in as many rooms of the house as you dare.

Cardboard boxes can transform into tunnels to crawl through. You can tie strings around furniture and pretend that they're laser beams that kids have to step over or crawl under. ( Pool noodles also work.) And you can use indoor stepping stones , pillows or cushions and invoke The Floor Is Lava rules. See who in the family has the fastest time getting through the obstacles, and then see if anyone can break the record.

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Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother . She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.

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• WOODEN ALPHABET AND NUMBER STAMPS：You will receive 26 letter stamps, 10 number stamps, 3 arithmetic symbol stamps and 26 activity cards. These fun stamps are designed to help children learn ABC and elementary math in a fun and easy way.Playing these stamp embossing games can help kids develop imagination, hands-on skills, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
• STAMPS DESINESD FOR KIDS：The letter&number stamps are designed for toddler&children, made of solid wood and silicone, with comfortable grip handles and smooth non-toxic water-based paint surface, safe and easy to hold. The two shapes of numbers and English embossing film can be clearly distinguished, and the characters on the top of the stamp and the top and bottom of the stamp are overlapping, which can make it easier for kids to control the direction of the characters.
• THE BLOOM OF CREATIVITY：Use each number and letter stamp to form the expression of your child's language. Used together with clay, inkpad, paint, etc，Not only forming alphanumeric words, but also decorating greeting cards, scrapbooks, pictures, letters, etc., as well as making some handcrafts, so that your child's creativity can be unleashed. It can also be used as a learning toy for parent-child or friend interaction. It can also preschool classroom must haves and homeschool supplies.
• 26 LEARNING ACTIVITY CARDS：Each learning card is a common animal, plant and everyday object around us, perfect for learning and cognition. Each card has a main body with word vowels highlighted Combined with the main body there are arithmetic problems, children can use the stamps on the back of the card in the blank space to copy words or calculate arithmetic problems. Children can discover a lot of interesting knowledge and problems in this playful process.
• BEST GIFT FOR CHILDREN：This wooden letter and number stamp is prepared for your child's preschool and basic language awareness, with very strong educational and learning meaning. You can give this special gift to your kids on their birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween or other occasions to create a happy and fun learning atmosphere for them.

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Father of Teen Suspect Charged in Georgia School Shooting

The father, Colin Gray, was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the authorities said. An official said the charges stemmed from him “knowingly allowing his son” to have a weapon.

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Sean Keenan Glenn Thrush Rick Rojas and Emily Cochrane

Sean Keenan and Rick Rojas reported from Georgia, Glenn Thrush from Washington and Emily Cochrane from Nashville.

Here’s the latest on the investigation.

Colin Gray, the father of the 14-year-old accused of killing two teachers and two students at his Georgia high school, was arrested and charged on Thursday with second-degree murder in connection with the state’s deadliest school shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

In addition to two counts of second-degree murder, Mr. Gray, 54, was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to a statement. At a news conference on Thursday night, Chris Hosey, the G.B.I. director, said the charges were “directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon.” He declined to offer much more detail, other than to note that Mr. Gray was in custody.

The arrest came after new details emerged on Thursday about the teenage suspect’s interest in previous massacres and his father’s ownership of several guns, including a military-style rifle like the one used in the attack.

Two family members told The New York Times that the youth, who has been charged with four counts of felony murder, had a troubled home life. “My grandson did what he did because of the environment that he lived in,” said his grandfather, Charles Polhamus. An aunt, Annie Brown, texted: “The adults in his life let him down.”

There were also growing questions about potentially missed opportunities to prevent the attack. Sheriff’s officers interviewed the teenager over a year ago about school shooting threats made on social media, but found no definitive evidence that the boy had posted the messages, according to an investigative report obtained by The Times.

Here’s what else to know:

The victims: Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14-year-old students at Apalachee High School, were killed, along with Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, who were teachers, state officials said. The nine other people in hospitals with injuries were all expected to survive. Read more about the victims .

The suspected shooter: Officials charged the accused shooter, identified as Colt Gray, 14, with four counts of felony murder and said he could face additional charges. His first court appearance will be Friday at 8:30 a.m. The boy’s aunt, Ms. Brown, said via text that her nephew “was actively seeking help” for his mental health.

The weapon: The shooter used a black AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, officials said in arrest warrants. Records from a 2022 eviction obtained by The Times show that the suspect’s father had owned a black AR-15 at the time. It was later returned to him. AR-15s are one of the most common weapons used in mass shootings.

The investigation: The police found evidence of the suspect’s interest in mass shootings during a search of his room on Wednesday, according to the two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. The 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, which left 17 people dead, drew his particular interest.

Previous encounter: Mr. Gray told sheriff’s investigators last year that his son did not have “unfettered” access to firearms. He said he would be “mad as hell” if the teenager had made online threats about a school shooting, because “then all the guns will go away,” according to an interview transcript obtained by The Times. Read more about the interview .

Emily Cochrane and Jacey Fortin

The father of the accused shooter has been charged with second-degree murder.

The father of the 14-year-old accused of killing four people at his Georgia high school was arrested and charged on Thursday with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the attack, the state’s Bureau of Investigation said.

The father, Colin Gray, 54, was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, officials said at a news conference on Thursday night.

The charges against Mr. Gray are “directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Chris Hosey, the bureau director, said at the news conference. He declined to provide details, including what evidence had given the authorities probable cause to charge Mr. Gray in the attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga.

Earlier on Thursday, Charlie Polhamus, the teenager's maternal grandfather, said he believed his grandson was responsible for what happened, but he also cast some of the blame on the tumult in the teenager’s home life with his father, who had split from Mr. Polhamus’s daughter. “My grandson did what he did because of the environment that he lived in,” Mr. Polhamus said.

When investigators looking into an online threat spoke to Mr. Gray last year, he said he had been teaching his son, then 13, about hunting and guns to divert his attention from video games. The teenager denied making the threat to “ shoot up a middle school ” and claimed his account on the social media platform Discord had been hacked, according to a transcript of the May 2023 interview .

Mr. Gray told the investigator that he had often discussed “all the school shootings, things that happen.” He also suggested that he had emphasized the dangers of using a firearm.

“He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,” Mr. Gray told the investigator at the time.

It was unclear on Thursday evening whether the father or son had legal representation. A man who answered the door at the Gray home on Wednesday night refused to speak with a reporter.

Records from an eviction two years ago show that Mr. Gray owned an array of weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle. Officials said that type of firearm was used in the shooting on Wednesday morning.

Georgia lawmakers have steadily loosened gun laws in recent years, including with a 2022 measure that allows most residents to carry a firearm without a permit. The state is not among those, for example, that penalizes failing to safely store a firearm.

It was unclear what the precedent was in Georgia for charging parents in connection with a serious crime committed by their children. Asked on Thursday, Mr. Hosey said he was unaware of the details.

Though four people, two teachers and two children, were killed in the attack, Mr. Gray has been charged with only two counts of second-degree murder. In Georgia, that charge applies when a person is accused of causing a death while committing cruelty to children in the second degree, which involves criminal negligence.

The charges in Georgia came months after a mother and father in Michigan were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with their teenage son’s deadly attack on a high school in 2021. Four students were killed and seven others were wounded in what became Michigan’s deadliest school shooting.

The parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were the first in the country to be directly charged for the deaths caused by their child in a mass shooting, and the prosecutions were seen as part of a national effort to hold some parents responsible for enabling deadly violence by their children.

Reporting was contributed by Johnny Kauffman , Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and Isabelle Taft .

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Isabelle Taft

Though four people — two adults and two children — were killed in the attack, the suspect's father has been charged with only two counts of second-degree murder. In Georgia, that charge applies when a person is accused of causing a death while committing cruelty to children in the second degree, which involves criminal negligence.

Emily Cochrane

The authorities were unable to answer in detail a question about whether there was a precedent in Georgia for the arrest of a parent. A mother and father in Michigan were convicted earlier this year after their son killed four people in a deadly school shooting, widely seen as the first such instance in the country.

Gray is in custody and the charges are “directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said. He is declining to offer more detail.

Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the charges stem from Gray “knowingly allowing” his son to possess a weapon.

Sean Plambeck

The authorities in Georgia say they have arrested the suspect’s father, Colin Gray, and charged him with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said it would provide more details about the charges at an 8 p.m. news conference.

Johnny Kauffman

Charlie Polhamus, the shooting suspect’s maternal grandfather, said he and many in his family were grappling with pain after the shooting. “I understand my grandson did a horrendous thing — there’s no question about it, and he’s going to pay the price for it,” Polhamus said in a brief interview at his home.

Polhamus, 81, said he believed his grandson was responsible, but also cast some of the blame on the tumult in the teen's home life. The boy lives with his father, who split from Polhamus’s daughter. “My grandson did what he did because of the environment that he lived in,” Polhamus said.

Valerie Boey

Annie Brown, the shooting suspect’s aunt, said in a text message about her nephew that “the adults in his life let him down,” adding that “he was actively seeking help” regarding his mental health.

In an epidemic of mass shootings, there is a persistent threat of copycat violence.

As the United States confronts yet another outburst of mass gun violence, this time in Georgia, experts and law enforcement officials say they’re also increasingly grappling with the threat of copycat killers.

Investigators have not yet publicly described a motive for the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Wednesday, in which two students and two teachers were killed.

But law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation said it appeared that the 14-year-old suspect had shown an interest in other mass shootings, particularly the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people.

Researchers who have studied the actions of those who perpetrate mass violence say that behavior would fit a familiar and disturbing pattern.

“It’s some kind of a really deviant cultural script that they’re following,” said Jeffrey W. Swanson, a sociologist at Duke University. “It’s not the act of a healthy mind.”

Some experts have cautioned against highlighting too much about the assailants to avoid inspiring future mass killers.

In the aftermath of the rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, news coverage prominently highlighted the images and motivations of the two killers and inadvertently fueled their infamy . The Columbine effect , as it has since been called, has been cited as having influenced multiple conflicted and isolated young people who mimicked that deadly violence in their own communities.

The shooter at Virginia Tech University, who killed 33 people in 2007, idolized the two Columbine killers as “martyrs.” The attacker who killed 20 young students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 had compiled a database on the Columbine violence.

And the assailant who killed three students and three staff members at a private Christian school in Nashville last year “considered the actions of other mass murderers,” the police said at the time .

News outlets like The New York Times have in recent years developed guidelines for reporting on mass shootings, which include focusing on the victims and survivors and avoiding repetitive or prominent use of the shooter’s name and image.

The surviving families of the Nashville shooting have also cited the Columbine research in a bid to keep the writings left by the assailant from being published. (A court decision in their favor has been appealed.)

But reducing the amount of attention given to the perpetrators of mass violence is only one aspect of countering the epidemic of gun violence, experts say. President Biden renewed a push on Thursday to require the safe storage of guns, while other Democrats and gun violence survivors have pushed to curb access to firearms.

“It’s not a one-thing problem and it’s not a one-thing solution,” said Dr. Swanson, who has led gun violence research that has formed the foundation for extreme risk protection order laws.

Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs

“There are too many people who are able to access guns that shouldn’t be able to,” President Biden said in his first remarks about the Georgia school shooting. “Let’s require safe storage of firearms. I know I have mine locked up,” he said, adding, “You've got to hold parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns.”

Sean Keenan and Isabelle Taft

Sean Keenan reported from Jackson County, Ga.

The suspect’s father told investigators he would be ‘mad as hell’ if his son had made online threats.

The father of the teenager accused of Georgia’s deadliest school shooting told investigators looking into an online threat last year that he had been teaching his son about guns and hunting, and that the boy claimed that his account had been hacked.

“I’m going to be mad as hell if he did” make threats about a school shooting, said the father, Colin Gray, according to a transcript of the May 2023 interview obtained by The New York Times. “Then all the guns will go away,” he added.

Records from an eviction the previous year show that Mr. Gray owned several weapons, including an AR-15, the type of firearm that officials say was used in the shooting on Wednesday morning at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga.

Mr. Gray said he wanted to get his son, Colt, now 14, interested in the outdoors, and away from video games, according to the interview transcript. The son, then 13, had recently shot his first deer, and his father kept a photo on his phone of the animal’s blood smeared on the boy’s cheeks — a common tradition among hunters.

Mr. Gray said that he and his son had often discussed “all the school shootings, things that happen.” He told the investigator with the Jackson County sheriff’s office: “He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them.”

Mr. Gray said his son had been picked on during the last three months of the school year, which had just ended at the time of the interview. The problems had escalated to the point where he had trouble concentrating on his final exams, he said.

Mr. Gray said he had been to his son’s middle school frequently, talking to the principal and asking for support. “He gets flustered and under pressure,” he said of the boy. “He doesn’t really think straight.”

The investigator was looking into tips about a post made in a chat group on Discord, a social media site, about a potential school shooting. The post, which had been reported to the F.B.I., was linked by investigators to the account associated with Mr. Gray’s son.

Mr. Gray said in a follow-up phone call with an investigator that he didn’t know much about Discord, and that he had asked his son to “dumb this down for me.” His son had told him about people called “raiders” who could break into other people’s Discord accounts, he said. “They can make it … basically say whatever they want to about you,” Mr. Gray said his son had explained.

The son told the investigator that he had not used Discord in months and was only on TikTok to watch videos. The investigator ended one interview by telling the teenager, who had just finished seventh grade, to focus on getting good grades.

“It’ll set you up for the rest of your life,” he said.

In a follow-up phone call with Mr. Gray, an investigator told him he wasn’t sure they would be able to get to the bottom of who had made the post on Discord. He assured the father he didn’t think his son was being dishonest, and encouraged him to make sure his son’s identity had not been stolen.

Mr. Gray said his son was eager for the situation to be resolved. “He wants to know what happened,” he told the investigator.

President Biden said he and the first lady, Jill Biden, were mourning for those killed in Georgia. “Students, just young teenagers. Educators, just doing their job. A community, like so many around the country, just getting back to school. And a joyous and exciting time just shattered, absolutely shattered.”

President Biden again called on Congress to pass an assault rifle ban and other gun control measures in the wake of the school shooting in Georgia. “We need more than thoughts and prayers,” Biden said before an economic speech in Wisconsin. “Some of my Republican friends in Congress just finally have to say, ‘Enough is enough, we have to do something.’”

Biden, speaking in the rural town of Westby, Wis., appeared focused on calling for gun control measures without alienating gun owners. “We cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence,” he said in his first remarks on the Georgia shooting.“My dad is a hunter,” Biden added. “I don’t know a whole lot of deer wearing kevlar vests.”

The suspect has been charged with four counts of felony murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. His first court appearance will be tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. The agency said the “complex investigation” is ongoing, and officials expect to file additional charges.

Sean Keenan

The shooting suspect’s father, Colin Gray, told a Jackson County sheriff’s department investigator in May 2023 that his son, then 13, had been picked on at school, according to an interview transcript obtained by The New York Times. The problems had escalated to the point where “his finals were last week, and that was the last thing on his mind,” the father said.

The suspect's father told the investigator that he was teaching his son about firearms and the outdoors to get him away from video games. “He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do, and how to use them and not use them,” the father told an investigator, according to the transcript.

The suspect’s father, Colin Gray, told investigators from the Jackson County sheriff’s department last year that he didn’t know anything about his son making online threats about a school shooting, which the boy had denied. “I’m going to be mad as hell if he did, and then all the guns will go away,” Mr. Gray said, according to an interview transcript obtained by The New York Times.

When the suspect's family was evicted from their Jackson County home in 2022, sheriff’s deputies removed several weapons, including a black AR-15 rifle with a scope — the type of weapon used in Wednesday's school shooting — as well as boxes of ammunition, records showed. All of the weapons, which also included handguns and bows, were marked as "released to owner."

Troy Closson Dana Goldstein and Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon

Security measures may have prevented the shooting from being “way worse.”

The deadliest episode of school violence in Georgia’s history could have ended with even more bloodshed, if not for the school’s newly installed security systems, according to law enforcement officials.

The Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., killed two teachers and two students, and injured at least nine others. But the gunman may have been stopped from taking more lives after a staff member appeared to activate an alarm that triggered a police response, officials said.

All teachers at the school were equipped with an ID badge on a lanyard that had a panic button, which alerts the police to an active threat, according to the authorities. The badges can also initiate a schoolwide lockdown when activated, according to Centegix, the company that makes them.

The alert system can send both administrators and responders details on the floor and classroom where the staff member sends up the alarm, and it operates outside of a school Wi-Fi network, according to Centegix.

The security measure had been installed at the high school about a week before the shooting, law enforcement officials told reporters.

“This could’ve been way worse,” Jud Smith, the Barrow County sheriff, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, schools have sought ways to bolster security and save lives during a shooting. They have turned both to technology and training to help students and teachers prepare for the worst.

Ninety-five percent of schools now conduct lockdown drills, according to a 2017 federal report, while nearly two-thirds of secondary schools have sworn law enforcement officers working on campus. School spending on security topped $3 billion annually in 2021, with companies marketing electronic locks, software to look for threats in students’ social media posts and many other services and gadgets.

Still, there is little evidence suggesting that these efforts prevent gun violence. Armed police officers were on duty during several mass shootings, including the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. In Uvalde, Texas, law enforcement conducted an elaborate school-shooting role-play less than two years before a gunman there killed 19 students and two teachers.

At Apalachee High on Wednesday, the police accused a 14-year-old of bringing a military-style rifle into the school building and killing two educators and two 14-year-old students on Wednesday.

The school did not have metal detectors, according to a teacher at the school, but doors always locked automatically when they closed. Experts who study school shootings say locks are one of the most effective and cheapest security measures. Georgia law enforcement officials said more families may have lost loved ones if classroom doors at the school did not lock.

Stephen Kreyenbuhl, 26, was teaching a world history class on Wednesday in a hall around the corner from the classrooms where the shooting occurred. He said that as gunshots rang out, a lockdown alert flashed on a screen in his classroom, indicating that another staff member had activated their ID alarm. He said the gunman did not enter his classroom because the door was locked.

Mr. Kreyenbuhl and law enforcement officials also credited school resource officers at the high school with their handling of the shooting. “His response was probably under 120 seconds,” the teacher said of one of the officers.

Mr. Smith, the sheriff, said at a news conference that at least two school resource officers were regularly stationed at the high school, and Mr. Kreyenbuhl said they were armed. When they were alerted to a potential gunman, one “engaged him, and the shooter quickly realized that if he did not give up” he would be shot, the sheriff said.

He did not identify the school resource officers, and the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, which certifies the state’s public safety workers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Still, Chris Hosey, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, said at a news conference that the security protocols “prevented this from being a much larger tragedy.”

Georgia has loosened its gun laws in recent years. Here’s how it compares with other states.

When Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law in 2022 that allowed most Georgia residents to carry a firearm without a concealed carry permit, he celebrated the expansion of gun rights in the state.

The law “makes sure that law abiding Georgians — including our daughters and your family, too — can protect themselves without having to ask permission from state government,” he said at the time .

Republicans in control of state government have steadily loosened restrictions on firearm ownership in recent years. The state does not have universal background checks for gun purchases, safe storage laws or a so-called red-flag law — measures that have been instituted elsewhere in the nation in response to gun violence.

It remains unclear how the 14-year-old suspect in the Apalachee High School shooting obtained the weapon, which the police have described as an AR-15-style rifle.

Last year, officers with the sheriff’s office in Jackson County, Ga., interviewed the suspect and his father during an investigation into online shooting threats, the F.B.I. said on Wednesday. The child denied making the threats, the authorities said. His father told investigators that there were hunting guns at their home, but that his son did not have unauthorized access to them.

“There are too many people who are able to access guns that shouldn’t be able to,” President Biden said on Thursday. “Let’s require safe storage of firearms. I know I have mine locked up.”

“You’ve got to hold parents accountable if they let their child have access to these guns,” he added.

Georgia law prohibits an adult from “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” selling or giving a handgun to a minor. An adult who is found guilty of breaking the law could be charged with a felony and face some prison time or a fine.

There are some exceptions , including if a minor is attending a hunting or firearms course, doing target practice on a range, participating in a competition, or if the minor is at home and has parental permission to access the weapon. But those exceptions do not apply if the minor is convicted of a forcible felony, like murder.

“Firearms are not the enemy,” said State Senator Frank Ginn, a Republican, on Thursday. “The enemy is the mentally deranged, and that’s where I want to try to make sure that we do all we can to get those people help that need it long before they pull a gun.”

Experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions said that by not penalizing negligent storage or imposing any safe storage requirements, the law is less effective at reducing gun violence and firearm-related deaths involving children.

“Georgia’s law is not actually geared toward preventing unauthorized access of firearms by children — it’s instead focused on punishing adults who recklessly or intentionally give children handguns,” said Tim Carey, a law and policy adviser with the center.

Georgia has experienced mass gun violence before, notably in 2021, when eight people were killed in a rampage at three Atlanta area spas . But the attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., in which four people were killed, was the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.

A State Senate committee dedicated to studying safe firearm storage gathered for a previously scheduled meeting on Thursday, where it heard emotional pleas for the legislature to incentivize the safe storage of firearms, including storing guns unloaded and locked away.

“Are we talking, or are we doing something to try to make sure that legislation is passed in order to give us some kind of relief when it comes to guns?” said State Senator David Lucas, a Democrat.

“It’s just unimaginable that a 14-year-old would go out and do something,” he added, noting that he owned multiple guns. “I would assume that somewhere, somebody missed something.”

Georgia has also not approved legislation for law enforcement to intervene if someone raises concerns about a person using a gun to harm themselves or others.

It is also not among the nearly two dozen states with a red flag law , which allows a judge to sign off on the temporary confiscation of a firearm if law enforcement or, in some cases, a family member, warn about a person’s credible risk to do harm.

“Nobody is taking anybody’s gun, but we can and should create a framework that makes gun ownership safer, not just for the owner, but for the common good,” said Heather Hallett, a representative from the Georgia Majority for Gun Safety.

Jen Pauliukonis, the director of policy and programming at the Johns Hopkins center, said that red-flag laws can enable law enforcement to intervene if a child is seen as a possible threat.

“It’s not always written into the state law that it’s allowed, but quite often it’s done in practice when law enforcement realizes that the parent is not taking the threat seriously,” Ms. Pauliukonis said. Sometimes, she added, parents are allowed to retain access to their firearm, but are required by a judge to keep it away from their child.

She pointed to research that showed that such orders had reduced intimate partner violence, suicide attempts and plans for mass shootings in states where red-flag laws were in place.

Jeffrey W. Swanson, a sociologist at Duke University who has studied violence and mental illness for more than three decades, said that the transition between adolescence and young adulthood, was “a relatively high-risk time, particularly for young men, for not just mass shootings, but violence and aggression.”

The protection law, he added, “is an important policy because it’s nimble, it’s risk-based and focused on individual circumstances.”

But such laws have faced resistance from conservatives, who frequently raise concerns about infringing on Second Amendment rights. A 2022 bipartisan compromise in Congress, which ended a decades-long stalemate on gun safety legislation, did not enforce a national red-flag law, but instead incentivized passage of such measures on the state level.

Rather than restrict firearm access, Republicans instead often favor putting money toward mental health programs and hardening school safety protocols.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.

Sean Keenan and Rick Rojas

Sean Keenan reported from Jefferson, Ga., and Rick Rojas from Atlanta.

A report details the investigation of the Georgia suspect in a prior school shooting threat.

The anonymous tips were sent to the F.B.I. last May from as far away as Australia, warning that a user on Discord, a social media platform, had threatened in a chat group to possibly “shoot up a middle school.” The authorities were led to a 13-year-old living in Jackson County, Ga.

A report from the Jackson County sheriff’s office, obtained by The New York Times, detailed how investigators looked into but were unable to definitively link those threats to the teen, who is now in custody after a shooting on Wednesday morning at his high school in Winder, Ga. He is accused of killing two students and two teachers.

Hours after the shooting, the F.B.I. disclosed that law enforcement had investigated the online threat, which was made in May 2023. But the report from the sheriff’s office reveals more about how the authorities were able to trace the post to the teenager, and why — after interviewing the boy and his father — they did not take further action, other than a warning to his middle school.

According to the report, the F.B.I. received several tips from users with internet addresses in Palmdale, Calif., Los Angeles and Cockburn, a city in Western Australia, which included the posts made in a group chat on Discord. The email associated with the account belonged to Colt Gray, the teen accused of the shooting at his school.

The investigators found that the username on the Discord account had been written in Russian. “Translation of the Russian letters spells out the name Lanza,” the investigator wrote in his report, noting that it was the surname of the perpetrator of the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 students and six teachers were killed.

In interviews with investigators, both Mr. Gray and his father, Colin Gray, said that they did not speak Russian, and the boy denied that he had been the author of the threats. He said that he had previously had a Discord account, but had deleted it, claiming he had been repeatedly hacked and was “afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes,” an investigator wrote.

The teenager told an investigator “he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” according to the report. During the interview, an investigator noted that the boy was calm and had a reserved demeanor.

His father told an investigator that he and his wife were divorced and had been evicted from their home. His wife took their younger two children, he said, and he and his son had moved into a new home.

The father also told an investigator that his son had experienced “some problems at West Jackson Middle School and now that he was going to Jefferson Middle School it was a lot better.”

Colin Gray also told investigators that he had hunting rifles in the house, but that his son did not have “unfettered” access to them.

Sheriff Janis G. Mangum of Jackson County said on Thursday morning that her office had notified Jefferson Middle School, where Mr. Gray had been enrolled, but classes had already ended for the school year. This year, Mr. Gray had just started as a freshman at Apalachee High School in Winder, which is in neighboring Barrow County.

After interviewing the father and son on May 20, 2023, the investigators determined that they had exhausted their efforts.

“Due to the inconsistent nature of the information received by the FBI,” an investigator wrote, “the allegation that Colt or Colin is the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated.”

Sheriff Mangum said in an interview on Thursday that she was anguished about the violence at Apalachee High School, but also said that her office had investigated last year’s threat thoroughly and taken the inquiry as far it could.

“It’s not like we didn’t investigate it,” she said. “It’s not just that we didn’t do anything.”

She added: “I’m broken to think about what happened yesterday. That could have been any school. There’s other schools where this has happened. There’s evil in our society.”

Glenn Thrush

Police found evidence that the 14-year-old suspect had an interest in mass shootings during a search of his room on Wednesday, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. He appeared to be particularly obsessed, they said, with the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people.

Sheriff Janis G. Mangum of Jackson County, Ga., said in an interview that her agency had taken the 2023 investigation into online threats, which led them to the accused shooter, as far as possible. “It’s not like we didn’t investigate it,” Mangum said, adding, “I’m broken to think about what happened yesterday. That could have been any school.”

Law enforcement officers were led to the accused shooter more than a year ago after threats to “shoot up a middle school” were made on Discord, according to a sheriff's office report obtained by The New York Times. The boy, who was 13 at the time and living in Jackson County, Ga., denied making them, and investigators could not definitively link him to the posts, the report said.

According to the report, the suspect told Jackson County sheriff's office investigators in May 2023 that he used to have an account with Discord, a social media platform, but deleted it, claiming he had been repeatedly hacked and was “afraid someone would use his information for nefarious purposes.”

The suspect was booked overnight into the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice said. The facility in Gainesville, which serves some counties northeast of Atlanta, is roughly 30 miles from Winder, where the shooting took place.

Christina Morales Rachel Nostrant Kate Selig and Rukmini Callimachi

What we know about the Apalachee High School shooting victims.

On the day she died, Cristina Irimie brought in desserts and other treats that she had baked for her math students at Apalachee High School to celebrate her 52nd birthday, which came on Aug. 24.

By day’s end at the school in Winder, Ga., that typically kind gesture seemed like a thought from another world after a 14-year-old student shot and killed Ms. Irimie and three others in the deadliest episode of school violence in Georgia history.

Also killed were Richard Aspinwall, 39, a math teacher who was also the school football team’s defensive coordinator, and two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

Jordan Rushing, who leads the school’s math department, said that Mr. Aspinwall and Ms. Irimie were beloved by their students. Mr. Aspinwall was known for his kind and calm demeanor while teaching math, a subject that can be stressful. Ms. Irimie’s life experience as an immigrant from Romania helped her bond with her students, some of whom were not fluent in English.

“Everybody needs to know what phenomenal people they were and what we lost,” he said.

At least nine others were injured. Law enforcement officials said that the victims taken to the hospital were expected to make a full recovery.

The accused shooter has been charged with four counts of felony murder. His father, Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

Cristina Irimie

Ms. Irimie, a native of Apoldu de Jos, a village in the Transylvanian mountains of Romania, immigrated to the United States after the fall of one of the Eastern Bloc’s most ruthless brands of Communism.

Her entry point was her mastery of Romanian folkloric dance: She came in 1996, a member of a dance troupe performing on the sidelines of the Atlanta Olympics, said Emanuel Popovich, a relative.

Romania’s economy was on its knees and the entire dance troupe, called Dumbrava Sibiului, ended up defecting, said Anca Belju, a friend.

For years before Ms. Irimie’s departure from Romania, she had been a teacher at School No. 25 in the town of Sibiu — located around 30 minutes from her village — where she taught children ages 7 to 10, said Ms. Belju, whose son was one of her students.

Ms. Irimie met her husband, a fellow Romanian, in the United States. Repeated treatments to have her own children, including I.V.F., failed, Mr. Popovich said. She doted on students as if they were her own, relatives, her friend and her priest said.

“She took care to teach them as well as she possibly could, to explain concepts to them,” he said in Romanian. “She did everything she could for them.”

“To think that a student could do this to her,” he said, his voice trailing off.

Gabrielle Buth, Ms. Irimie’s niece, called her a dedicated goofball who was integral to the Romanian community in Atlanta and so deeply in love with her husband that it made people envious when they saw them together.

Ms. Irimie was well known for “always being one of the first” to volunteer at her Orthodox church and for Romanian festivals in the United States.

When she and her family were told that Ms. Irimie might have been one of the victims, Ms. Buth said she had called her over and over again, waiting for her to answer her phone the way she always did: in Romanian, saying “da, iubită” or “yes, my love.”

The returned call never came.

Richard Aspinwall

Marquel Broughton, 24, was coached by Mr. Aspinwall — known to the players as Coach A — when he was a sophomore at Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville, Ga., in 2015.

Mr. Aspinwall, the outside linebackers coach, promoted Mr. Broughton, then a sophomore, from second-string safety to starting outside linebacker. Despite being relatively small for the position at 5’7” and about 160 pounds, Mr. Broughton said that Mr. Aspinwall recognized potential that he hadn’t seen in himself.

Mr. Broughton described Mr. Aspinwall as someone who was not inclined to give rousing speeches in front of the whole team. Instead, he said that Mr. Aspinwall excelled in one-on-one conversations that left players feeling “like you can attack the world, that you can do anything.”

“That’s who Coach A was as a person,” Mr. Broughton said. He added: “He always uplifted you in ways you couldn’t uplift yourself. He put everything into what he did, whether it was family, football or math.”

Without Coach A, Mr. Broughton said he wasn’t sure his football career would have taken off. He went on to play football at the United States Military Academy, where he was a two-time captain, and he is now a second lieutenant in the Army.

Mr. Aspinwall was a devoted father to his two young daughters and was thrilled when he found out his first child would be a girl, said Michael Bowbliss, 50, a special-education teacher at Mountain View High School.

During halftime at the high school football games he coached, he gave his daughters kisses. He wouldn’t leave home to meet friends until the girls were asleep, Mr. Bowbliss said.

“Everything he did was for his girls,” he said. “He was a phenomenal girl dad.”

Mason Schermerhorn

Mason Schermerhorn was described by friends of his family as a lighthearted teenager who liked spending time with his relatives, reading, telling jokes and playing video games. He had recently started at the school.

“He really enjoyed life,” said Doug Kilburn, 40, a friend who has known Mason’s mother for a decade. “He always had an upbeat attitude about everything.”

Louis Briscoe, a co-worker and friend of Mason’s mother, said the boy and his family were looking forward to an upcoming vacation to one of his favorite places, Walt Disney World.

When Mr. Briscoe learned about the shooting at the high school in the afternoon, he called Mason’s mother to ask if everything was OK. She told him, “Mason’s gone.”

“My heart just dropped,” Mr. Briscoe, 45, said. He added, “Nobody should have to go through this type of pain.”

Christian Angulo

Lisette Angulo, Christian Angulo’s eldest sister, described her brother as “a very good kid,” who was “very sweet and so caring.”

“He was so loved by many,” Ms. Angulo said in a statement on her brother’s GoFundMe page. “His loss was so sudden and unexpected. We are truly heartbroken. He really didn’t deserve this.”

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

The suspect was interviewed about online threats of a school attack last year.

Federal investigators said on Wednesday that the suspect in the shooting at a Georgia high school had been interviewed more than a year ago by local law enforcement officials in connection to threats made online of a school shooting.

The authorities were led to the suspect, Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, after the F.B.I.’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips in May 2023 reporting threats that had been posted on an online gaming site warning of a school shooting at “an unidentified location and time,” according to statements from the F.B.I. field office in Atlanta and local law enforcement officials. The threats included photographs of guns.

Investigators from the sheriff’s office in Jackson County, Ga., interviewed the suspect and his father, the F.B.I. said. His father told investigators that he had hunting guns in the house, but said that his son did not have unsupervised access to the weapons. The suspect denied making the threats.

The F.B.I. said that the Jackson County authorities alerted local schools “for continued monitoring of the subject.” But it was unclear if officials at Apalachee High School, where the shooting took place and the suspect was a student this year, had been among those informed; the school is in Winder, Ga., in neighboring Barrow County.

The F.B.I., in its statement, said that investigators lacked probable cause to arrest the teenager or “take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state or federal levels.”

In a separate statement, Janis G. Mangum, the sheriff in Jackson County, said that a “thorough investigation was conducted,” but that “the gaming site threats could not be substantiated.”

Ms. Mangum cautioned residents to be careful of posts containing misinformation circulating online. “My phone is blowing up with messages from people about social media postings about other possible incidents,” she said in a note on Facebook. “To my knowledge, there is not a list indicating any of this.”

Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon

Some quick thinking by one student ‘saved us,’ a classmate says.

Bryan Garcia heard what sounded like gunfire — boom, boom, boom, he said — coming from outside his math class at Apalachee High School. A lockdown alert flashed on a screen inside the room.

Following protocol, the students and teacher ran to the back of the class and huddled in the corner furthest from the door.

Bryan looked toward the door. It was open.

Almost immediately, Bryan said, a classmate ran across the room and slammed the door shut.

“He saved us,” Bryan said.

Another student, Nahomi Licona, described a similar scene in her math class. As students hustled to the back of the room, she said, one of them ran up to close the door. They heard gunshots, then footsteps, then lots of shouting, she said.

Nahomi, 15, a sophomore, said her family moved to the United States nine years ago from Guatemala. Walking beside Nahomi on Wednesday afternoon, her mother, Jackeline, said shootings in their native country tended to happen in the streets, not in schools. Nahomi said she recognized the sound of gunfire at once.

“It’s normal over there, but it’s still scary,” Nahomi said. She added: “I never expected to hear that in a school.”

Within a few minutes, Bryan said, school resource officers responded. Bryan said he heard a confrontation involving the shooter, whom the authorities identified as a 14-year-old student at the school. The officers were engaging the suspect, Bryan said, telling him to raise his hands and surrender.

Nahomi said she knew people were at least injured while she was evacuating the school. In a hallway, she said, she saw white powder used to absorb blood.

Richard Fausset

Reporting from Winder, Ga.

A mother and daughter endured lockdowns in separate schools before they could reunite.

Anetra Pattman, 43, was teaching social sciences at the alternative school in Barrow County, Ga., when she received a text on Wednesday at 10:24 a.m.

It was from her 14-year-old daughter, Macey Wright, at Apalachee High. It said, “Mom, I heard gunshots. I’m scared. Please come get me.”

Dr. Pattman knew that she could not hurry to her daughter. She had to stay with her own students, and keep calm.

“At that moment, the primary thing was continuing this communication with my daughter, but now I’m also responsible for keeping my other children safe,” she said of her students.

Then her own school went into hard lockdown mode. Her students hid in the corner. Lights out. Quiet. They stayed that way from 11 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m.

The reunion of mother and daughter finally came about an hour later. A friend had picked Macey up from Apalachee and taken her to a convenience store, where her mother was waiting. They hugged each other and cried.

Two students and two teachers were killed at Apalachee, the authorities said, and at least nine other people were injured.

Macey’s friend, a fellow freshman, had been shot in the shoulder, and Macey was worried about her. She told her mother she did not want to go back to school and get shot.

It was difficult for Dr. Pattman, an educator for 22 years, to accept that so many students have to live with such a possibility every day that they set foot on an American high school campus. But she said that she and her daughter would find a way to soldier on. She spoke on Wednesday afternoon with a resolve that seemed laced with resignation.

“I think most of it just comes from not living in fear, knowing that things like this happen,” she said. “Not just in schools, but in grocery stores, in churches. I’m almost to the point where I feel that no place is exempt.”