What To Do at Home with Your 3 Year Old
Being at home with a 3 year old can be hard when you are not prepared.
Most pediatric guidelines recommend less than 1 hour of screen time a day. So what on earth do you do the 4-5 hours you may have at home with them?!?
To help you get through your day I have come up with a list of 50+ fun and easy things you can do throughout the day with them.
Most of these items do not require any preparation and use items you already most likely have in your home. The clean up for most of these activities is nothing or very minimal.
How To Use This List
Obviously you aren’t going to do everything on this list. So go through the list, choose about 10-15 things you think your preschooler would like to do.
Chances are there will be a few they will like more than others. So it’s a good idea to go armed with several activities in case one falls through.
Ready? Let’s get started!
50+ Things To Do at Home with your 3 year old
1. Finger painting with water on cardboard.
2. Cut junk mail with scissors.
4. Melt ice with warm water and eye dropper or turkey baster.
5. See how much water a diaper or pull-up can hold.
6. Use eye dropper to decorate a diaper or pull up with coloured water.
7. Tear a sheet into small squares. Draw on them. And then glue them together onto another sheet.
8. Play restaurant.
9. Place plastic wrap around a bowl using an elastic band and let them poke holes in it with their fingers.
10. Place a cardboard tube on their arm and use it to hit a balloon like a bat.
11. Fill sink with water and give them some large beads to put in the water.
12. Fill sink with water and add pom poms.
13. Fill sink with water and bubbles and add a few non-bath toys.
14. Have a dance party to their favourite Disney soundtrack.
15. Have a dance party to your favourite dance songs.
16. Build a pillow and blanket fort.
17. Take a bath with plastic balls.
18. Build a Book Rainbow.
19. Play dress up with your shoes.
20. Read a book lying down on the floor.
21. Play dress up with daddy’s old ties.
22. Teach them how to play rock, paper, scissors.
23. Stick some paper to the stairs and have them draw on the stairs.
24. Stick paper under a chair and have them colour a picture there.
25. Play in bath tub in swimsuit with toys.
26. Look at your child’s baby book.
27. Paint a colouring book with watercolours.
28. Have a toga party with swaddling blankets or towels.
29. Bake muffins together.
30. Make fruit kebabs and eat them.
31. Snuggle on the floor looking up at the ceiling pretending you see clouds shaped like different animals.
32. Play hide and go seek.
33. Have tickle fight.
34. Have a pretend wedding.
35. Cover rocks with shaving cream and have them clean them off.
36. Paint with a potato masher or spatula or other kitchen utensils.
38. Wash paint off Lego or Megabloks with soap and water.
39. Take a magnifying glass (pretend, real or handmade) and go looking for bugs.
40. Play with balloons.
41. Make faces on plate with their snack. (For instance cut up some fruit and have them make faces on their plate with the pieces of fruit.)
42. Play pretend telephone with 2 cups over your ears.
43. Make car ramps using books or cardboard on a couch or stairs.
44. Eat lunch on the floor picnic style.
45. Make funny faces in the mirror or smartphone.
46. Put several puzzles in a bin and then have your 3 year old search for pieces and put them all together.
47. Play pretend firefighters.
48. Build a tower using toilet paper and tissue boxes.
49. Take mattress off their crib and use it as a tumbling mat. For added protection, arrange pillows all around and set safety ground rules.
50. Have them ‘read’ their favourite books to you.
51. Blow bubbles outside, no matter the weather.
52. Use a measuring tape to measure your body parts such as arms and legs.
53. Dress up for lunch.
WILL YOU TRY ANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR 3 YEAR OLD? Pin it for later!
More helpful than I could have imagined! Can’t wait to check out more from Mandisa!
Yah! Im so glad!!
Amazing! Thank you so much!
You’re are most welcome!!
I’ve never commented on a blog post before, but I felt compelled to after browsing this list. It’s FANTASTIC! So many ideas I see on these sites are so complicated and involved that they are impractical for me. But I managed to actually write down 10 different activities to do with my 3-year-old and his big sister! He loves ice! Why didn’t I think to set him up to melt them in different way?! Brilliant list, thank you!
Yah!! Im so glad you found this list useful!! This is my favourite list too. It helped me get through the days with my then busy 3 year old while pregnant with twins 😅!
How many times can I like this post! Wow! I need all these ideas.
🙂 Thanks so much! I hope your preschooler enjoy them all!!