Preschooler’s sample schedule and hands-on activities

“Mom!” 

“Mommy!!!” 

“Mummaaa”!!! 

One more time…

And one more….

Just before you respond “Yes sweetie?” There is yet another one.. “mooooom!” 

Story of every kid. Story of every parent. 

Kids are home. Kids want attention. Kids want parents all the time. Kids want… time and need you to hear their stories, All.the.time. Period.

I want to share some important activities with a brief information on what skills are focused on each task with awesome parents who really want to lessen screen-time for their kids, increase hands-on experiences and still do their wfh.

I hope you will enjoy!

Schedule

I would like to suggest a very basic and simple rule of the house during quarantine time (and for all the time) and that is SCHEDULE! We adults are having trouble with the transition from various life-style and routine changes, kids too feel the same way. They certainly need balance between ‘with parents’ activities and ‘without parents’ activities. 

To keep up with the schedule it is beneficial to discuss schedule of the day with your child in the morning, or a day before. They are truly smart enough to grasp that information and follow exactly the same. 

Here is a ‘sample schedule’ that you can change as per your family routines. You can accommodate kid’s specific routine needs in any time-slot as needed. 

Activities

Kids are faster than we think. Kids are smarter than we think they are. Kids need variety in just every thing but again they have to be inside the expected schedule zones. 

I am more than happy to share some of the tricks that I am using with my little girl to keep her busy, get her play by-herself and let me have a sip of coffee with my tele-health work. 

1. Paint with WaterBalloons

Focused Skills for the task: Balance, Bilateral Coordination, Visual Motor, Fine Motor, Color recognition, Memory, Planning, organization and sequencing abilities.

We are stuck inside home. Shelter-in-Place orders are pretty strict. This is just when you see the weather is nice at least for 1 hr and you are thinking about what-to-do. 

Step 1: Get out and have your child fill the water-balloons. 

Step 2: Place a brown paper on the backyard floor, stick it with painter’s tape (so it does not fly away in the wind. 

Step 3: Take out any washable paint. 

Step 4: Instruct “Just have fun!” and trust me child is smart enough to understand what is expected. (just look at the picture above!) 

Step 5: Do some crunches in the backyard or rope or have your cup of coffee. Trust me, you’ve got at least 10 minutes of “me-time”! 

2. Sensory Bin + Messy Play

Focused Skills for the task: Tactile sense, texture identification, tripod grip (when she picks up animal from the mud), Visual motor, Figure Ground perception development and improving sitting attention.

Want to accomplish some chores? Laundry? Cooking? List is long. 

Messy plays are fun. I know when I say Messy play just after “chores” trust me I am not adding any chore to your list but giving you enough time to do those chores without worrying about anything to get messy. how?

Step 1: Make Mud. Cocoa Powder + water + whisk till it turns into Muddy texture. 

Step 2: Add different grains into a large container. 

Step 3: Get those tiny farm or wild animals and put them in front of these bins.

Step 4: Instruct “Please, have your animals walk in the mud! They can also visit stoney well. Try it out!”

Step 5: Take a deep breath, and enjoy your next task. Child is busy for quite sometime. 

3. Cutting on the Lines 

Focused Skills for the task: Finger and hand muscle strengthening, Bilateral coordination, Visual discrimination, In-hand manipulation, Visual Motor, Visual Tracking, Color Identification, Postural stability, Attention span, Sequencing, and memory.

Target oriented tasks are very important. Cutting skill is very important during 2-3 years of age. They start to open/shut scissors, snip and play with scissors, and by age of 3, kids learn to cut straight lines, across lines and simple shapes. 

Step 1: Get toddler’s scissors

Step 2: Draw straight lines on the paper in different sizes.

Step 3: Instruct: “Cut on the lines”. You may have to hold paper on the opposite side to provide support, but once child gets hold on it, they just love cutting activity. 

TIP: Please keep your important mails out of reach once you start doing this activity. (I don’t want you to blame me for finding your documents haphazardly cut after doing this activity. Lol!) 

4. Spray bottle fun

Focused Skills for the task: Finger and Hand muscles strengthening, Bilateral coordination, Eye hand coordination, In-hand manipulation, Visual Motor, Visual Tracking, Color Identification, Postural stability, Attention span, Balance and Sequencing skills.

Indoors again. How about bringing some extra fun with bath foams? 

Step 1: Get a spray bottle and fill it with water. 

Step 2: Get bath foams on the floor.

Step 3: Instruct ” Stick these foams on the glass!” 

Trust me its fun!!

5. Cooking fun

Focused Skills for the task: In-hand manipulation, Visual Motor, Visual Tracking, Color Identification, Postural stability, Attention span development, Pincer grip (tip to tip grip).

Cooking is fun with kids. Honestly cooking task is one of the best task to share with your kid. 

Step 1: Get dry noodles. (10-15 max) 

Step 2: Use strainer. Put it upside down.

Step 3: Instruct: “Pass noodle piece from the wholes and lets fill every whole with noodle!” 

6. Modern art on an old Box

Focused Skills for the task: In-hand manipulation, Visual Motor, Visual Tracking, Color Identification, Postural stability, Attention span, Balance and Sequencing skills.

Do you have any old box? Small or big? 

Step 1: Get that box. (indoor or outdoor) 

Step 2: Get one or two washable colors on the plate with one paint-brush.

Step 3: Ask your cutie to paint the way he/she likes or give them some areas to paint such as make circles on the box (as I have made in above picture), make rectangles. 

Are you ready to try these activities? I will be happy to see you and your child doing these activities. Please share your pictures with me by tagging #OTPARK in your social media posts. 

Thank you so much!