Activities and Projects for Young Children

The following activities are suitable for home and school alike. Be creative and use household items such as toilet paper rolls, foil, and more. Have fun!

Igloo: Print out an igloo or draw it in thick marker. Have the child spread glue over the surface, using Q-tips or a popsicle stick, then stick cotton over the glue to simulate snow or ice. Extra: Paint the 'snow' the next day or as soon as the glue dries.
Alternative: Use Styrofoam instead of cotton.

Snowflakes: If the child is comfortable with scissors, take a paper cup and draw vertical lines from top to bottom, about ¼ of an inch apart or a bit more. Show the child how to cut along each line, from the rim of the cup until the bottom. Next, show your child how to bend each strip backwards so it looks like a sun, and twirl and let fall to simulate snowflakes.

Winter clothes: Have any old magazines or catalogs sitting around? Great, cut out clothes for all seasons, then have the child pick out those that are appropriate for winter and glue them onto figures in a coloring book or printed out from the net.

Drving Experiment: Freeze water in a wide pan. Once you have an ice surface, hand the child a matchbox car and let him slide it on the ice. Ask him whether the car slides easily and smoothly. Is it a dangerous thing? Next, spread kosher salt on the ice and ask child to 'drive' again. Do the cars slide as easily as before? Why not? Why does the city put salt on the road when it snows?

Houses: Have the child build a house or castle using small boxes and empty toilet paper rolls. The child could then paint the house or decorate it with scraps of paper, foil, etc.

Sea Water and Floating: Add salt to warm water. Insert potato. Potato will float!

Volcano: I usually do this with small paper cups only, but you could make a small volcano structure using playdo and put it in a plastic bowl. Pour 1 tablespoon of baking soda into the cup. Add a few drops of red food coloring and mix. Now add vinegar, and watch as your volcano erupts!

Favorite foods: This works best with a small group of children. Ask each child what their favorite food is, and write it down. The next day, hand each child a bit of his/her chosen food, and have the kids mix it together in a bowl to make one original salad!

Numbers and Family: How many brothers and sisters do you have? Hand each child a paper with a thick line down the middle. Then, give them blue and pink faces (they could cut them out themselves if capable) and ask them to paste a pink face on one side of the paper for each sister they have, and a blue face on the other side for the brothers. Then have them add a face for themselves and count all the faces in various ways (girls, boys, girls+boys, etc).

Grape Juice: Roll up sleeves and let children squeeze grapes with their fingers through a strainer. Delicious!

Bird: Using a wooden peg as a beak, have children stick two bird cutouts to the peg, making sure enough sticks out for beak. Add feathers or cotton for decoration.

Recycling: Talk about the concept of recycling. Teach children to say the word by making them clap with each so called syllable (Re-cy-c-ling). Line up bins in the appropriate colors and demonstrate with actual glass, paper, plastic and general items. Then remove items and have children try it out and match the items with the appropriate bins.