Are you looking for easy and engaging activities for 3 year olds? From indoor activities to outside fun find a complete list of fun and easy to do activities with your kids.
Although trying to keep a 3-year-old entertained sounds easy, but it can get extremely difficult at times. I have often found my daughter bored of doing the same things again and again. From getting her new toys to trying new art and craft activities at home, I often find myself running out of fun ideas to do with her.
3-year-old kids are demanding and always need something to keep their little minds working all the time so that you as a mom can keep your sanity in check. In this blog post, I am sharing some fun and very easy-to-do learning plans and activities for 3-year-olds, both indoors and outdoors.
Running out of ideas to keep your little ones engaged at home for long. Download this FREE 45 list of activities that you can do with your kids to keep them engaged for long.
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Indoor Activities for 3 year olds
If you are stuck indoor with your little one on a rainy day and you have nowhere to go, don’t worry about it. Pick a few fun activities from the list below that are very easy to do and have your little one have some fun with them.
1. Playdough – Let your little kid imagination run wild with creating fun shapes using playdough. It is one of my daughter’s favorite activities. I also give her a few playdough tools like a rolling pin, cutters, etc and she spends hours having fun with it. If you are looking for an easy to make homemade playdough then you can check out my recipe here.
2. Building blocks – They are another great engaging activity for 3 year olds. Give them a set of easy to build lego kit or building block set and let them have fun building new structures with it. My husband and I love to playing Zenga and my daughter has a lot of fun building towers using the Zenga blocks too. Great game for adults as well as kids!
3. Sensory bins – Toddlers love to dip their hands in sensory bins. If we are indoors I like to make dry sensory bins for my daughter using these plastic boxes with some plastic toys, flour, lentils, etc mixed in it. If we are playing outside then I add slime, soapy water or sometimes kinetic sand to her sensory bin so that she can create as much mess as she wants.
4. Coloring – Another great activity that keeps my daughter engaged for hours is coloring. I usually give her plain white construction papers, crayons, pencil colors or even glitter glue sometimes. We usually do our coloring activities on her high chair or our dining table but I really like this small drawing table set for toddlers which I have been thinking of buying lately. You can also get this coloring book for your kids to help them get started to coloring.
5. Handprinting washable watercolors – Another great activity for kids. I have them in four colors and give them to my daughter. She loves printing her hand on the paper or painting with her fingers. Caution – this activity does create a lot of mess, so I usually do this activity with my daughter when she is sitting in her high chair.
6. Glue stick – Playing with a glue stick and colorful paper cutouts is a great motor skill for toddlers. Cut out fun and small pieces of colorful paper using a craft scissor and let your kid stick them on a sheet of paper. This activity is highly engaging and can be helpful in teaching kids fine motor skills.
7. Cardboard boxes – Do you have old cardboard boxes lying around in your home? Then instead of piling them in your basement give them to your kids. I love playing peek-a-boo with my daughter while she hides in the cardboard box or to let her play by herself decorating the cardboard box using colors, paints, glue sticks, stickers, etc.
8. Painting – Coming back to coloring painting is another highly engaging activity for 3 year olds. The only drawback is that it creates a lot of mess. It is best to use washable paints that can easily come off and make sure to do it while your kid is sitting on a plastic mat or a high chair. You can check out these easy to hold brushes that little hands can grasp easily.
9. Household chores – Keeping young kids engaged while giving then some easy to do household chores teach them the sense of responsibility and gives them confidence once they complete their chore. I usually include my daughter simple household chores like helping me unload the dishwasher, put her toys back in the bin or wipe the glass windows with a tissue paper. She loves doing them and it helps me keep her engaged for long.
10. Bubbles – I think bubbles are every kid's favorite thing to do. You can do them indoors as well as outdoors. Blow some bubbles using these and let your kid run after them or you can also go for this bubble making machine for some independent playtime while you can get some work done.
11. Puzzles – They are engaging but they do require initial help from parents to help the kid get started to solving simple puzzles. You can get a simple puzzle set with a few pieces that your kid can put together like this one or this.
12. Board games – Did you know that there are amazing board games available for toddlers as well. Games like Zingo, Chutes and ladders and Candy Land are a big hit for the younger ones.
Outdoor Activities for 3 year olds
This list contains easy outdoor activities that you can do with your little one. These include simple activities that you can do in your driveway or your backyard and some that include a small drive to a local place in your city.
13. Sidewalk chalk – This is a fun activity to do with your kids on a sunny day. Get them a box of colorful chalks and let them have some fun drawing fun shapes in your driveway.
14. Hopscotch – It is another fun activity to do with kids of any age. Draw a simple hopscotch pattern using chalk and give your kids a small block or a toy to throw and let them have some fun. You can also create a fun hopscotch pattern indoors using painters tape.
15. Exercise – Involve your little one in your exercise routine by doing jumping jacks or high knees etc. Play some music in the background to have fun while doing this. This is a great physical activity for kids.
16. Collect stones and leaves – Give your little one a small basket and ask them to collect leaves, stones or pinecones lying in your backyard. I often do this with my daughter and once she collects them, I clean them and we spend some time painting them. It’s a fun and engaging activity and I am always surprised by the new things that she collects from our backyard to paint.
17. Walk around the blocks – Go for a walk around the blocks in your household neighbor. We love walking around household blocks after dinner and take our daughter’s scooter with us so that she can ride it while can we get some walking done.
18. Explore a nearby park – This is always a great and fun activity to do as a family. Look around for kid-friendly parks around your neighborhood and spend some time exploring it. Maybe grab your kid's tricycle or sidewalk chalks for some fun.
19. Visit to the zoo – Going to the zoo is never boring also for the adults. Pay a visit to all your animal friends in your neighborhood zoo on a sunny day and let your kids have fun running from one animal exhibit to the other. A great activity to do as a family as well as it can get you some good physical exercise.
20. Children's museum – These museums are great to teach your kids about science as well as your little one can get some good hands-on activity trying out some easy kid-friendly experiments in the museum.
There is always a ton of activities to do with 3 year olds. All you need is a few things and a good routine in place to keep those little minds occupied. Make a simple plan of easy to do activities daily with your kids and keep switching them up with new things so that they don’t get too bored.
This is very nice!
I actually have a 3 year old daughter who is currently enrolled in the online learning of an international school in the Philippines ( http://www.georgia.edu.ph) and I am preparing activities weekly so that we can practice counting, reading and writing since she is already in the pre-kindergarten level. Your suggestion about these playful activities are really nice and we’ll definitely try these at home during Art time. Please share more activities like these soon. More power to your blog!