25 Low-Prep Preschool Activities to do at Home
If you’re looking for Fun, Easy, Low-Prep Preschool Activities to do at home then this is for you! I absolutely love helping my two little one’s learn and develop their skills at home through fun activities and so, I thought I would share some of our fun activities with you.
There are literally hundreds of learning activities and games you can do at home with your Preschool aged kids, so here I have just focussed on our low-prep favourites. I mean, let’s face it, if you’re anything like me, you will likely have days (or weeks) when you are just too short of time to prep lots of complicated activities.
The good news is, our kids don’t need complicated or intensively prepped activities. They will learn just as well and have just as much fun at home with these low-prep Preschool Activities. Just try them for yourself!
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1. Animal Hospital
At this age, learning through play is by far the best way! This fun animal hospital game fires up their imaginations, provides opportunities to practice fine motor skills, and language skills.
We have a Doctors Kit similar to this one from Amazon, but if you don’t have one, you can improvise with rolled up kitchen roll torn into strips for bandages and plasters from your first aid box. Then line up those poorly patients and get to work!
If you want to add in a spot of literacy, give them a clipboard or notebook to record their patients temperatures and other notes. Even just practicing making marks on the paper and ‘pretend’ writing is great at this age!
2. Art in a Box
I love how simple this one is! If you get a big delivery, simply offer the box to your little one!
Chances are it will soon become a plane, a tractor, a racing car, or a boat! Great for imaginative play! Or simply give them some pens or some stickers and let them have fun decorating it and being artistic!
My daughter has been working away on her box for days now!
3. Quick Obstacle Course
Got some energy to use up? Want to practice those crucial Gross Motor Skills? Then this Quick Obstacle Course is perfect!
Simply scout around your house, with your little one to help you, and find bits and bobs you can use to create your very own obstacle course. You need things to go around, over, and under. If you have a skipping rope, hula hoop, or ball, definitely incorporate these into it!
Some of the core Gross Motor Skills for Preschoolers to learn include:
- Jumping
- Running
- Hopping
- Throwing a Ball
- Catching a Ball
- Kicking a Ball
So, the more you can incorporate these skills into your obstacle course, the better!
4. Making Music
Forming a band and having a sing-song is usually a popular Preschool Activity! But don’t worry if you don’t have any instruments at home, you can improvise! My kids loved their makeshift drumkit! I appreciated their musical talents from another room!
5. Easy Sensory Play with 2 Ingredients
This Messy, Sensory Play was great fun!
To make this kinetic sand, I simply mixed conditioner and corn flour together until it formed the consistency I wanted. I went for a consistency that could be moulded into shapes, but also broken up and sprinkled like snow for this snow sensory bin above.
You can add food coloring to it if you want and create a few different colors to play with. I really enjoyed joining in with my kids on this one! There’s something really relaxing about squishing it through your fingers. Very calming and soothing, after a stressful day!
6. The Floor is Lava!
This is a great balance game and fun for the imagination too!
A classic game, the floor is lava will be enjoyed by toddlers right up to primary school-aged kids!
If you’re interested in developing your Preschoolers balance through other fun activities, my post on the Montessori Walking the Line Activity will be of interest to you. It shares lots of different variations and examples to make the Montessori Walking the Line Activity interesting for your kids as they practice balancing along a line!
7. Necklace Making
Necklace making is popular with most kids, regardless of gender. You can make necklaces and bracelets with beads and elastic, or if you don’t have them, or fancy a change, try Cheerios’ threaded onto pipe cleaners!
The above necklace craft is one of my Valentine Necklace Craft Ideas, but it’s so cute and pretty that really you can make it any time of the year! I also have an Autumn Leaf Necklace Craft that makes for an Easy Fall Activity.
Threading is a great activity to help with Fine Motor Skills. It helps strengthen the finger muscles used for writing!
8. Cutting and Sticking
An age-old classic! Cutting and Sticking is always popular amongst this age group. It’s a simple yet fun, and useful, activity and better still, it involves no prep at all!
My daughter just grabs the glue and kids scissors from the art cupboard and gets herself some paper and I pass her some old magazines, newspapers, or fliers.
A great opportunity to be creative and practice fine motor skills like scissor-use.
9. Water Play in the Sink or a Tub
Fill the sink, or a tub with water, add some tubs, cups and spoons and you’re set to go. That’s probably the simplest water play activity there is! And it’s a classic! Little ones love it! Add some sponges or old toothbrushes and bubbles for a washing up activity. Another easy one when you’re short on time!
If you’re interested in seeing more Easy Water Play Ideas, like the one above, be sure to check out my post with lots of suggestions!
10. Shape Hunt around the House
Learning Shapes is another important Preschool milestone. While this can be a tedious activity, it really doesn’t need to be. There are so many fun activities to make this an enjoyable experience for you both.
A Scavenger Hunt is a great way to make learning shapes more fun, as well as helping your little one see the shapes all around them. You can make your own shape hunt sheet, or print off my FREE Printable Shape Hunt Challenge to use.
I have a collection of Shape Activities on my site to help you and your little one learn shapes. You can check them out here!
11. Teddy Bear’s Picnic
A picnic is always a winner with Preschoolers! And if the weather isn’t any good, you can always lay out a blanket in your living room and have an indoor picnic!
Encourage your little one to grab their favorite toys and help you prepare their favorite snacks or lunch and you’re all set!
If you want to add some extra literacy to this, why not design and write little invitations to their teddies, or to their friends to join you!
12. Playdough or Kinetic Sand
Playdough is one of the simplest and quickest Preschool activities to set up at home. Kinetic Sand is similar, but less messy!
We use both all the time! We use this playdough, from Amazon, as I found it really great value and it has lots of different shades of colors which is great for little one’s learning their colors. You can get all sorts of tools for working with the playdough too.
Kinetic Sand is less messy and feels nicer than playdough. We buy this brand of Kinetic Sand, from Amazon. It is so therapeutic to play with!
Playdough mats are also a great addition to this activity. They help to engage your little one’s imagination and work on a certain skill whilst playing. For example, my (FREE) Shapes Playdough Mats offer the opportunity for your Preschooler to begin to recognise shapes and make them with playdough themselves.
13. Sensory Farm Play
Combine imaginative play with fine motor skills and some sensory fun to get this Messy Farm Play Activity! I like to set it up on my Tuff Tray, but if you don’t have one, then a large sensory bin would work too!
Here I have used porridge oats, Weetabix, cocoa pops, and brown linseed to create the different fields. I’ve added carrot tops to the crops field and then some wooden animals and a tractor. This is a lovely versatile one though, as you can use whatever you have in the cupboards!
If you’d like some more inspiration, take a look at more of my Messy Farm Play Ideas here!
14. Build a Blanket Fort
Who doesn’t have treasured memories of fort building as a kid? I’m hoping we all have this wonderful memory buried back there somewhere! My kids love building blanket forts! They’re just so cosy and snug. Great for curling up and reading stories in, playing house, or watching a movie from.
15. Blowing Bubbles
It’s easy to overlook an activity as simple as blowing bubbles. However, it can teach our preschoolers a lot. You have to use just the right amount of puff to get those bubbles flying away. It takes practice and patience to learn this. It’s a lesson in managing frustration and not giving up.
Of course, as well as blowing bubbles, you can get some exercise chasing and catching the bubbles, and practice your maths by counting how many bubbles you can make in one go!
16. Don’t drop the Balloon!
There are so many games you can play with balloons! But keep the balloon in the air must be the classic one! Working in pairs or as a team, count how many times you can bat the balloon in the air before it touches the floor.
It’s great for team work, learning to encourage one another, hand eye coordination, counting, and of course, patience!
17. Reading
Reading stories together and visiting our local library never grows old! Did you know, reading to your child when they are young is one of the best things you can do to help them do well educationally for the rest of their lives?
Not only does reading to your child, create a beautiful bond between the two of you, but it also increases their vocabulary, helps with their literacy, and engages their imagination. They also learn so much from the books you read to them, whether they are reading books about diggers, friendship, space, or being kind! It’s pretty hard to find a book that teaches absolutely nothing.
If you’re little one isn’t interested in reading, start by reading them really short books on topics they love, with beautiful pictures, and gradually build up from there once they’re hooked. It takes time sometimes.
18. Color Sorting
Learning to differentiate between, and name, colors is another important Preschool skill you can work on at home.
The above activity is ridiculously easy to set up for your Preschooler, as you simply grab some different colored bowls or cups (you could even use circles of colored paper) and some colored objects like pompoms, feathers, fruit loops, toy cars, coloring pencils, etc.
19. Counting Practice
Looking for a fun way to practice counting. Why not try this cereal and cupcake case activity! I had it set up in less than 2 minutes! It’s a fab little activity for them to get on with if you have a couple of jobs around the house to do or phone calls to make, as its self-explanatory. Just help them check their answers at the end and correct as necessary.
For more Counting and Maths Ideas take a look at this post!
20. Ice Painting
Painting is always fun, and painting onto ice is a great variation. You can try painting a picture on a big block of ice, or painting ice chips a mixture of colors. You can even make different shaped blocks of ice, or use a numbers mould to add another angle to the activity.
This Ice Painting Idea is part of my Summer Tuff Tray Collection.
21. Make a Collage
A lovely creative endeavour, collage making encourages their imagination and develops their fine motor skills. You can use any materials you fancy, from magazine clippings, tissue paper, pompoms, feathers, stickers, bits of colored paper, etc. They can make a specific picture or go abstract. The options are endless!
22. Painting with Animals
Painting is a lovely sensory art activity for our little ones to experience. Why not try mixing it up with some fun animal footprints, or encourage them to make some tyre tracks with their favorite cars and trucks.
This idea is just one of the suggestions I have in my post on Fun Painting Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
23. Scissor Table
Learning to use scissors doesn’t have to involve scissor cutting worksheets! Why not set up this fun cutting invitation and see what your little one does with it?!
Check out my post on Fun Fine Motor Skills Activities for Preschoolers for more ideas!
24. Learning to Write their Name
Learning to write their own name is a huge milestone for your Preschooler. If they are not quite there yet, then have a go at some of these super low-prep sensory writing activities. A fun way to practice mark making and letter formation in different environments!
25. Letter Match Up
Learning letters is the first step to reading and writing. This is a great activity for Preschoolers who already recognise some of their letters and are beginning to hear the sounds at the beginning of words.
Why not start with the letters that are in their name, as chances are these are the ones they are most familiar with. Alternatively, you could teach them one letter a day, and have them search the house for items beginning with that letter.
For more Fun Letter Learning Activities check out this post!
Low-Prep Preschool Activities to do at Home
I really enjoyed doing all these fun, easy, low-prep activities at home with my kids when they were Preschool-aged. They really helped to grow my kids confidence and help them develop the skills they needed to do well at school. I hope you and your little one enjoy them too.
