Free Preschool Activities

I love making gingerbread houses! Over the years, we’ve made several different kinds. Some were a lot of work, but the results were beautiful. Others were a lot of work, and the results were disastrous! (They still tasted good, though.)

After all this trial and error, here is my favorite way to make gingerbread houses with young kids. They can even do a lot of the work on their own.

What You Need:

500 mL empty milk cartons, with the top taped shut to form a roof.

Graham wafers

Icing

Candies to decorate

What You Do:

Using the icing as glue, cover each side of the milk carton with a graham wafer. Attach graham wafers to the top for the roof.

Decorate as you like, using the icing to make the candies stick. Your preschooler can easily create an entire village of these.

If you’re more daring than I , and want to spend more time building your gingerbread house, a gingerbread house cookie pan can be a lot of fun too. All the pieces of your gingerbread house will come out perfectly shaped… and you can even make a gingerbread man and gingerbread tree to go along with it. (Much better than rolling out a big sheet of cookie dough, and cutting the shapes out by hand… which we have also done!)

Whatever method you choose, building gingerbread houses with preschoolers is a blast, and tasty too.

One of my favorite Christmas activities to do with kids of ANY age is baking cookies. It’s a fun way to spend time together, and your kids can learn a lot about measuring and following instructions. All the pouring, mixing, and molding is also a good way to help develop your child’s fine muscle coordination.

Even very young preschoolers can have fun baking cookies, you just have to be well-prepared! I found this fun article written by a mom who enjoys cookie baking with kids as much as I do. There’s also a great cookie recipe you can make with your preschoolers. To turn them into Christmas cookies, just use holiday-themed cookie cookies and add Christmas-colored sprinkles.

Bonding over Cookie Play by Dominique Goh

When one thinks about baking and cakes you normally visualize kids age 5 or 6 and above doing the activities. This activity can actually be taken down to toddlers aged 2-4 and done under parental supervision.

This weekend my boys and I had great fun attending a cookie baking playdate with his friends. They enjoyed squishing their hands through the cookie dough and pressing out the various shapes using the assortment of cookie cutters that I have.

The boys learned and practice how to share with their friends as we had limited cookie cutters and all of them were eying the Thomas the train cutters. They took turns and shared what resources we had.

This activity is very easy to prepare as you can do the dough before hand and store it in the fridge.

Recipe Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar - lightly packed

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

Put the butter, both sugars, salt and the baking soda in a large mixing bowl and beat with a mixer for about 3 minutes. Blend in the eggs and vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed and add the flour gradually.

This cookie dough is best used when chilled so try to mix it up ahead of time to allow for a couple hours in the refrigerator. Chill between batches.

Bake at 375° for 10 to 12 minutes on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Do try it out with your kids. They will certainly enjoy it.

Dominique Goh, elementary school educator and mom to two active boys. Catch my writings at my blog- http://www.dominiquegoh.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

I hope you have some a great time baking cookies with your preschooler! A delicious way to serve your freshly baked cookies is with hot cocoa, and a candy cane as a stirring stick.  Candy cane flavored hot cocoa! Yum. Enjoy!

There are lots of good recipes for playdough. You can even make chocolate playdough! Some recipes need to be cooked on the stove, and some don’t. I prefer the texture of cooked playdough, but you can decide for yourself which is best.

Here are recipes for both cooked and uncooked playdough for children.

Play Dough Recipes for Children by Nancy Murphy

Are you looking for some art projects for your children to do? Do your children want to play with play dough, but there’s none around the house? Would your children like to make presents for their friends? Are you trying to teach your children their colors? Would you like to hand out party favors for your child’s birthday party without spending a lot of money? Here’s an answer to these questions. Make your own home made play dough for the kids!

Children love cooking and creating projects with play dough. They will have so much fun and be so proud of their creations.

Here are a few of my favorite play dough recipes to make with my daughter. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do.

Play Dough Cooked Recipe:

You will need:
Food coloring
2 Cups of Water
2 Cups of Flour
1 Cup of Salt
½ Cup of Cornstarch
2 T. Vegetable Oil
1 T. Powdered Alum
Here are the steps to follow to make the play dough:
1. Pour the water into a saucepan.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring
3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
4. Cook the play dough over medium heat until it is thick.
5. Remove the play dough from the pan, let it cool, and knead until smooth.
6. Store the play dough in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Play Dough Uncooked Recipe:

You will need:
Food Coloring
4 Cups of Flour
2 Cups of Salt
Water (enough to make the dough soft and workable)

Here are the steps to follow to make the dough:
1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the water slowly to the flour and salt mixture. Just add the water until the dough is a little damp and you can work it by hand.
3. Add your favorite color food coloring to get the color you desire.
4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Play dough makes a great party favor for a child’s birthday party. Just put the play dough in a small container for each child with their name on it. They will be so excited by this unusual present.

Enjoy your playdough!

You can find more helpful parenting articles like this at www.Blooming-Babies.com. Nancy Murphy is the owner of http://www.Blooming-Babies.com an online baby and children store. She is the proud mother of two little girls.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

by Rachel Paxton

Planning a birthday party for your preschooler? Party games are a great way to keep young children entertained and engaged in the party. Make sure every child gets a prize of some kind so every child goes home a winner!

Bean in Your Shoe

One player goes out of the room. A dried bean is given to one of the players to put in his or her shoe. Play some music and have all the players dance, each child pretending to have a bean in their shoe. The player that left the room comes back and tries to guess who has the bean in their shoe. If they guess right, the person with the bean in their shoe gets to guess next. If they guess wrong, they get to leave the room again and try again. If they guess wrong a second time, they get to choose who gets to leave the room next.

Hot and Cold

Have the players hide an object while one player leaves the room. When the object has been hidden, the player that left returns to the room and guesses where the object has been hidden. This player must move around one step at a time while the other players call out “Warm!” or “Cold!” or “Colder!” or “Warmer!” or “Boiling!” until the player finds the object. The closer they get, the “warmer” they are. The further away they get, the “colder” they are.

Lucky Number

Give each child five buttons. The players go from player to player, exchanging buttons with each other. They can give away as many or few as they want, but they cannot refuse buttons from other players. After approximately 2 minutes the leader calls “Stop!” The leader then calls out a “lucky number” between one and twenty. Whoever has that number of buttons wins.

Cat and Rat

This game is best for 10 or more players. The players hold hands in a circle. One player is the rat on the inside of the circle, and one player is the cat on the outside of the circle. The cat tries to break through the circle to get to the rat. The players in the circle try to prevent the cat from getting to the rat. When the cat succeeds in breaking through the circle, the players the cat broke between are the next cat and rat.

Balloon Race

Give each child a self-addressed postcard. Have the children dictate to an adult notes to write on their postcard that state they are having a contest to see whose balloon travels the farthest. Also ask that the location, date, and time that the balloon is found be written on the postcard by the person who finds the balloon and that the person drop the postcard in the mail. Place the postcards in ziploc bags and attach them to the balloons. Set a date for when the contest ends, and launch the balloons!

Farm Animals

Secretly give the name of a farm animal to each player. The leader yells “Go!” and each player acts out their animal at the same time. At the end of 2 minutes, each player calls out as many of the animal names as they can remember. The player that remembers the most animal names correctly wins the game.

Dog Bone

All players are seated in a group. One player is selected to be the dog. The dog sits with his back to the rest of the players. A bone (eraser, ball, or some other object) is placed on the floor behind the dog’s back. One at a time, each player tries to sneak up behind the dog and steal his bone. If the dog hears a sound from the player trying to sneak up behind him, he “barks” and the other player returns to their seat. If someone is successful in stealing the bone, that player returns to their seat and hides the bone. All of the players then say, “Dog, Dog, where’s your bone?” The dog has three chances to guess who stole his bone. The person who stole the bone gets to be dog next.

Break the Balloon

Each child receives a balloon. The first child to blow up their balloon and pop it wins (show the children how to tie the balloons before the game begins).

Blind Man’s Bluff

Choose one child to be blindfolded. Let the child wander around the room until they touch another child. The blindfolded child tries to guess who they have touched. If they are correct, the other child gets to blindfolded next. If they are wrong, they get to be blindfolded one more time. If they are wrong a second time, they get to choose who gets to be blindfolded next.

Penny Dropping

Give each player 5 pennies. Place a jar on the floor behind a chair. Have the players take turns kneeling on the chair and trying to drop their pennies into the jar. Their hand should not go lower than the top of the back of the chair. Whoever gets the most pennies in the jar wins the game.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For more inspirational articles and tips for everyday living, visit http://www.christian-parent.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com