Kids Learning Activities To Try at Home

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~Maya Angelou

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne Gretzky

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~ Dalai Lama

You've always had the power, my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself. ~Glinda the Good Witch, The Wizard of Oz

Bounce a balloon in the air without letting it touch the floor.

Kinetic sand is great for any number of sensory activities for toddlers, but our favorite use by far has been to dump a bunch of it in a large plastic bin with mini trucks. My toddler and preschool boys could sit and dig with their mini trucks for hours! (Maybe not all at once, but they would sit for surprisingly long stretches at a time!)

Sticky note alphabet hunt! If you appreciate sneakily educational activities for toddlers that are also super entertaining, this one's for you. Just take a pad of Post Its and write the alphabet (or numbers), one letter or number per note. Then, hide all of the notes around the room, and send your toddler on a mission to find them. My 3 year old LOVES this game. Best of all, it keeps him busy for a while, it is super to prepare, and helps reinforce letter and number recognition to boot. Win-win-win!

Easter egg hunts are easy toddler activities all year round...it definitely doesn't have to be Easter! This is an absolute favorite activity for our toddler, all year long, indoors and out! We've learned to keep a bag of plastic eggs easily accessible for impromptu egg hunts, so we don't need to dig through the Easter box every time he requests one!

An OT told me this one: use small writing utensils such as golf pencils and broken crayons. This helps prevent children from grabbing the utensil with a fist and encourages the correct pencil grasp.

Peeling and placing stickers. Sticker books are great for this - we like the "paint by sticker" series, though it may be a little challenging for some little ones. My 4-year-old is awesome at it, but my 6-year-old (whose fine motor skills definitely need work) struggles a bit. I also really like the Phidal line of reusable sticker books - the quality is such that they truly are reusable!

Placing letters on a letter board. I discovered this one by accident, but I love how it keeps my 4-year-old sitting quietly for long stretches of time while he tries to get the plastic letters to stay in my felt letter board.

Dressing dolls, especially barbies. When my kids were really little this usually involved me sitting and playing/dressing dolls with them and then they gradually learned to do more and more on their own.

Picking weeds outside, watering flowers/plants/herbs and raking leaves is a chore that my kids find fun. (Added bonus if you buy their own gloves/watering can).

Disinfecting door handles is a good one, especially around cold and flu season. Once they're old enough to safely use disinfecting wipes, kids can walk around the house wiping down door handles and other high-touch spots like drawer pulls, light switches and faucets.

For very little, I have them sort laundry into piles for who it belongs to. The next ones are folding washcloths and carrying things to/from the dinner table. Watering plants is also good for little ones.

Loading and unloading the dishwasher is a daily chore for our older kids. When they aren't around to do it, my preschooler helps by handing me all the dishes from the bottom rack so I don't have to bend over as much! He's also really good at putting the silverware away - my least favorite part!

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle pees from its mouth.

Honey is the only food that never spoils.

Honeybees can recognize human faces.

Belugas are the only whales that can turn their heads.

My husband and I will usually take the day off work (when we can) so we can be there for drop off and pick up on the first day, which makes it feel extra special for all of us.

First day of school photos on our front steps, and couple more in front of the school too.

We have our daughter do a quick video of how her first day of school went and what she is most excited about for the year. Also, of course the first day of school sign.

Pizza for dinner! (Kids choice actually, it’s just almost always pizza!)

A mantis shrimp can throw a punch with the same acceleration of a .22 caliber bullet.

The horned lizard can shoot blood out of its eyes to defend itself! Check out this crazy video from Nat Geo Wild, https://youtu.be/xodVcgJ8bc0?si=xm1f_9ElTs3DRzFP

Frogs eat their skin after they shed it.

The Chinese soft-shell turtle pees from its mouth.

My boys pick out their clothes the night before, and always check what the weather will be like to plan for it, as well as if they have gym or not. It makes getting dressed in the morning much easier!

The kids are responsible for getting their backpacks ready before going to bed, and making sure they have all their homework, books, permission slips, etc in there, and that it is zipped up and ready to just grab and go in the morning. We sometimes need to remind them to do this, but as it becomes part of the nighttime routine it gets easier and easier!

I have my son put out his clothes for the next day the night before it makes it quicker in the morning to get ready for school.

Prepare lunches the night before. I have a fruit bowl and baskets with healthy snacks, so the kids can help prepare their lunches, too. If they help with preparation, they're more likely to eat it, too.