There appears to be increasing pressure upon parents today to put their preschool kids into all kinds of new learning schemes. There is swimming and music lessons, craft facilities, and movement, motor skill, or sporting capability activities.
Did you know that some of the best learning resources for your children are at your fingertips, quite literally! We as the main carers and thus the initial teachers of our children prior to them attending school. Without all the lessons and activities that we would pay for our children to undertake, simply playing basic games for children, your children will receive all the stimulation and encouragement that they require to get off to the best possible start.
By giving them a stimulating environment with free activities centered in your school and locality, you will receive quality time with your children and at the same time enhance their creativity and imagination.
Top 5 Child Games / Activities- Indoors
1. Storytelling– Telling your children stories builds language, listening, and imagination. Don’t get stuck reading books; talk to your kids about a special family story that makes them realize their place within the world. How mum and dad met, how great grandpa traveled across the seas aboard a tall ship to make a new home in a foreign land, or the tale of their birth. These stories will entertain them again and again, perhaps you have pictures to enable them to put names to faces.
2. Dressing Up- As kids, the dress-up box was always our go-to treasure chest for making up characters for a play or story. Playing at being dinosaurs, truck drivers, doctors, zoo keepers or even mum can entertain children for hours. The more props the better so always have a supply of blankets for cubbies or tents and various boxes for cars, doll beds, or wherever their imagination leads them.
3. Music– Children enjoy an opportunity to dance and bounce around. At the age of three, they will already have some favorites, which will likely have actions to go along with them. With the opportunity to march, stomp, clap or any other loud action, will be gladly followed by any musical instruments that you have in the house. If you don’t have any, a pot and a wooden spoon will work just as well!
4. Craft– By using recycled materials, you just need some glue, a little inspiration, and your child’s creativity will do the rest. Materials can be used to create collages, space rockets, animals, and a whole lot more. Keep a ready supply of recyclables by keeping cereal boxes, toilet rolls, candy wrappers, magazines,s and yoghurt containers. Other crafty ideas can involve play-dough, paint, crayons, chalk, and modelling clay! The ideas are endless.
5. Board Games and Card Games- Fun for the whole family or just two bored kids looking for something to do on a rainy day. For younger children, these games help them with numerical skills, taking turns, and gamesmanship, as well as the concept of chance and that anyone can win the game. Super for holidays as they are easy to set up and can last for hours. There are many card games to learn from easy kids games right up complicated ones for teenagers and adults. Best of all, the only equipment needed is a deck of cards. Board games like Scrabble and Monopoly have been played for generations and will continue to be, unless everything becomes computerised!
Most of these activities will be known to everyone, but have children played them all? If not, then get out there and enjoy some child games with your tribe, they’ll love you all the more for spending some one on one time with them.
