How Do I Keep My Preschooler Busy?

Instead of popping your pre-schooler in front of the TV or giving them a tablet, I’ve compiled a list of over 25 activities that your pre-schooler can (on the whole) get on with independently giving you a bit of time to do what you need to do.

Why Should I Let My Pre-Schooler Play Independently?

Encouraging independent play from an early age allows your child to become more resilient, builds their focus and let’s them experiment and learn on their own terms. It also prepares them for social situations when their main caregiver may not be around, e.g. in Nursery.

How To Get My Toddler To Play Independently

Playing independently isn’t something that just happens overnight. It’s a skill that needs to be learnt.

I remember being a first time mum to a toddler and thinking, “Why can’t she play by herself and give me a few minutes? I see other children playing nicely by themselves, but mine won’t.”

I read up about it and found out that there are so many ideas about what independent play really is. For some, it’s their child being able to play in another room for hours on end. For others, it’s their child focussing on one activity for five minutes with an adult in the room. It varies so much. It also varies by age so the younger the child, the less time of independent play they are generally capable of.

Teaching your toddler to become more independent during play involves a number of steps.

1. Sit with them as they play and only interact with them when they pass you something, speak to you or make it obvious that they want your involvement. Don’t take over, allow the child to lead their own play. Adults will inadvertently limit a child’s play by showing them the answer or solution or showing them a specific way a toy “should” be played with. This isn’t helpful. Children will learn better by finding things out for themselves. For example, building a tower. We could easily just show them how to do it, but isn’t it more fun for it to tumble a few times and then to rebuild it slightly differently to see whether we can improve on our previous efforts?

2. Provide them with open-ended tasks which don’t have a set outcome and mean that they can keep playing with the toy/game without needing to show you or check with you for confirmation.

3. Limit their screen time. When children are bored, they actually think of the most amazing activities to do. My daughter would love to spend all day on her tablet watching videos of dolls talking to each other…and can get quite upset if she’s told her time is up. But, when she’s had her cry and she’s told me ten times that she doesn’t like playing, she will go off and find her own dolls and come up with some great imaginary play with them. Dressing them, putting them in her doll caravan, cooking them dinner in her play kitchen. She has such great ideas. None of which I’ll have given to her. She just sees what she’s got in front of her and uses her imagination.

What Can You Do With a Toddler Besides TV?

I know how it is, it’s so much easier to hand the remote or tablet over to your toddler or pre-schooler. They stay out of your hair for a bit and you can get on with cleaning, getting yourself ready, a bit of work or some other activity that needs doing in peace. But, is it really what’s best for your toddler?

They may be able to recite some songs and spout out phrases that they’ve learnt off Youtube, but what happens when you’re not around or when they get to go to school? They won’t have this support there and may not know how to engage with real people or how to try things by themselves without the constant help of an adult. The tablet or TV becomes a crutch and they become dependent on it. We, as parents and carers, could change this. We can provide them with better opportunities in the home to better them and help them become the best person they can be.

Sensory trays, providing open-ended toys, getting children to help with age-appropriate chores and teaching your children independent play are just a handful of ways in which parents and carers can keep their young children busy and engaged.

25 Ideas For Keeping Pre-Schoolers Busy Instead Of The TV

1. Create a sensory tray. Get a bowl or baking dish and fill it with rice or split peas or sparkly beads (my daughter’s favourite) and pop some small toys in for them to play with. They could also have scoops and spoons and cups to move the rice around.
2. Thread pasta. Give them some string and get them to thread pasta onto it.
3. Set up a picnic tea party on a rug in the living room. Let them choose which toys to invite and make tea for.
4. Make a quiet basket for them which may include things like books they can “read” themselves and a Yoto and headphones (this is a fab audio player for kids).
5. Provide Duplo or Lego and let them make something.

6. Give them a whiteboard and a pen and let them “write” or draw something for you. You could also provide examples of lines they could copy. Provide a rubber too so they can practise over and over.
7. Get them outside with a bike, scooter or ride-on or football in your garden and let them have a run around.
8. Ask them to fold any clean laundry and place it in a clothes basket ready to take back to the bedrooms.
9. Give them a toy toolkit with screwdriver and screws and let them make something for you.
10. Make them into a photographer. Give them a task such as to take photos of all the flowers in the garden or all the squares they can find in the house.

11. Give them a jigsaw of their favourite characters. Something over 20 pieces would last a reasonable amount of time.
12. Provide colouring pages on their favourite TV show or film or the season and let them colour as they like. My daughter colours everything pink and purple which is completely fine.
13. Give them some paper cups and see how tall a tower they can build. You may need to lead up to them doing this independently.
14. Give them a duster and send them around the house dusting everything they can reach. (Obviously dependent on the child!)
15. Make a blanket fort and provide a torch. Get them to choose some books which they can “read” under the blanket.

16. Provide a doll’s house and dolls or characters and let their imagination run wild.
17. Get them to create patterns in sand or shaving foam.
18. Give them a bubble machine and let them chase the bubbles.
19. Put a Wendy House up and let them play house.
20. Have a party. Put some pre-chosen music on and let them dress up for a party. Put some twinkly lights on and let them dance. No need for guests or food. Just lots of fun music.

21. Play in an outdoor sandpit. My daughter loves the usual bucket and spade but her best sandpit toys are her ice cream cones, which she fills over and over.
22. Get some twigs, mud and leaves and set them free in a mud kitchen.
23. Play with Jenga bricks or any wooden blocks and build towers and houses or whatever their imagination wants to.
24. Play with playdough! This is a favourite in this house! Provide cutters and shapers.
25. Play shop. We have a till and play money and play food items. My daughter loves to shop and then pay for the items using her till.
26. Play in a ball pit.

What Do You Do With Pre-Schoolers All Day?

Create a structure to your day and things are likely to go better for all concerned. Work out when your child wakes up usually, when they need a nap and when they need to eat and work around those times.

Pre-Schoolers don’t need a day filled with constant adult input. Leave some time slots for quiet time, free play and outdoor play. This will ready them for going to Nursery, Kindergarten or Reception class.

Break your day up into small chunks. Children of this age won’t be able to concentrate on one task for very long. Go with the flow. If they have no interest in what you’ve laid out for them, direct them towards something else you’d like them to do. But, choose your battles. Some pre-schoolers just aren’t ready to learn all the numbers up to 100 at the age of 3, whereas others will be. Don’t compare your child to others.

A day at home with a pre-school aged child isn’t like being in primary school. They aren’t going to be happy sitting down for hours on end, doing worksheet after worksheet, flashcard after flashcard. 3 and 4-year-olds need play to help them learn.

Learning through play is so vital at this age. Their brain is starting to make connections, they’re learning social skills, problem-solving skills, language skills and so much more purely from playing.

Ideas for splitting up a day with a pre-schooler are:

Have fun with these ideas and let me know on social media how you’ve got on!