Your games for three year oldsGames for three year olds submitted by visitors to the site include pretending games, teaching games with colors and shapes, hiding and finding games and more! What with monsters, more familiar animals, garden activities and treasure hunt games, cooking games and a simple idea for stacking plastic cups... ...your three year old will be totally amazed at your ability to come up with a superb range of games to play at home ;) And of course we'll be adding new games and activities for three year olds as they come in - I'm sure there'll be yet more fun and inspiration thanks to your never ending creativity!
Making pies and pudding I have put all these items into containers, and when my three-year old granddaughter comes over I give her a large soup pan, wooden spoons, and numerous plastic bowls. She makes pies and pudding for me throughout the day. We have lots of fun "eating" her creations, and talking about how good it is. All of the items are kid-safe, and things I have laying around the house. Low cost, easy fun...and it's always her favorite thing to play. Catch, dribble, shoot!
I've found that the kids love playing with balls, so I've been teaching them using a small kids basketball. I have them dribble the ball and then say "I can dribble the ball" or "I like to dribble." And the other kids watching will say, "He/She can dribble the ball." I've taught them PASS, CATCH, ROLL, SPIN (I'll spin the ball on my finger and the kids love it; and they will spin the ball on the ground), and SHOOT. I'll make my arms into a big hoop and the kids will try to shoot the ball into it. If they make it they will say "I made it!" If they miss they'll say, "I missed!" and the the other kids will say "Try again!" All the kids I've taught absolutely love this game. Rhyming game Hi Renae, thanks for this super-simple and oh-so-practical idea! Other one syllable words that little ones can think about are:
Find more suggestions for rhyming games. Tour of the world
"I have a little plane, it flies all around, but it ran out of gas and landed in..." "Italy!" says my son. "And what do we do there?" I ask. "Eat pizza!" he answers. Try to find fun or familiar things for each country or place, such as elephants in Africa, cowboys in America, uncle Tom (if you have one) in London, etc. You'll need a book or other source of information and visual material. Thanks Ilia, here is a shot of one of our souvenirs from Paris, France :) Driving car to shops 1st we open the door then get in, put on SEAT BELT, then we make car sounds with bibbing the hooter. We play drive to the shop, when we get out we pretend to cross the road looking left and right, ROAD SAFETY, when in the shop we decide what we're going to buy and he will get it for me off the shelfs. Then we pay the shop keeper COUNTING pennies, then use MANNERS please and thank you, goodbye, then cross the road back to car and repeat roleplay back on the journey home. Great for safety skills and vocabulary. Fun in the garden You can keep planting new things according to the seasons. He will not only love the messiness but get lovely fresh air as well. Cup pyramid Buy plastic solo cups in a LARGE BAG. Children stack the cups as high as they can go. It is really fun to watch when the whole thing goes KABOOM...never fear they begin again. What a confidence builder knowing that all is not lost and they can begin again. Hot cold game Pretend to be an animal
So we pretend to be some animal (say frog) and then hop around the house saying "Croak croak croak". We keep changing the animal, action and sound (walk like an elephant and trumpet, fly like a bird waving your hands and running, saying "koo koo"). It helps him learn all the animals, how they move and what sound they make. Sometimes I also keep some toy vegetables/fruits scattered around the house - so that when we pretend to be a rabbit we find the carrot and pretend to eat it (banana for elephant etc). You can keep adding other stuff (apart from movement, sound and food) to this animal theme for older kids. Crumbed sausages You all get into the water and get as "wet" as possible, then you all run to the sand hills and the driest sand, and roll in it, getting sand ALL OVER. Then the fun part, run back into the water, and wash it all off. Its great fun, and sand is also great for the skin, gets all the dead skin off! =)
Story telling drawing idea I randomly drew and colored a straw house on a chart paper, cut it out and had the door flap in and out. I just related it to one of the houses built by 1 of the 3 little pigs....and phew ! he was so thrilled - he wanted me to read him the story, and then made me turn on the DVD that has this video, and later even sat down to color and make another house! I have never been able to make him do all this in a day :-) It was really good fun. Zoo fun
Emma, England Hi Emma, thanks for reminding me of this idea! This kind of game is great for a bit of simple enjoyment, or a quick five minute diversion until something else you've planned to do takes place... or even if your little one is in a grumpy mood. Once they see you pretending to be an animal, they usually cheer up no end and want to join in! Here are some other animals to have fun with:
Kids like to "guess the animal" as well of course, in a kind of animal charades. It's quite fun trying to give clues such as stripes for zebras, or pretending to dive into an icy pool for a penguin! Dictating a monster You will start to dictate the parts of the body if you have taught them some adjectives and feelings you can use like: "Ok, now our monster is ready let's let him or her happy by drawing a big smile." Afterwards, you can practice the communicative approach by asking them the monster's name, age, likes and dislikes, etc... Kids treasure hunt game Draw pictures on 3x5 cards (or pieces of paper) of various places they recognize in (& out of) the house, e.g. refrigerator, desk, toy box, toothbrush holder, washing machine, front walk... Stick figures are fine. Then place these cards in various places around the house recognizing that one must lead to the next. You can make the child go up and down the steps of the house several times to use up extra energy. E.g. start in the living room and hand the first card to the child of their toybox, upstairs. There they will find a card with a picture of the washing machine in the basement. There they will find a picture of the toothbrushes... The treasure can be whatever you like, a bit of candy, a story book, a balloon, a toy. Doesn't have to be new. Could even be a big Hurray and a big hug and kiss. My grandson asks for this to be repeated several times, so the cards are used with the same route or a different route. They now know what the pictures are supposed to represent (you may have to help them the first time) and enjoy it even more. We played it at the little park at the end of our street for a birthday party with pictures of swings, slides, trash can, basketball net, picnic table, etc. Slightly older children loved it just as much. Switch to the music! Then, I call out "SWITCH" and they give their paper to the kid (or adult) next to them. When we are finished, we expose our artwork on the kitchen wall or on the fridge. Thanks everyone for your ideas, they are much appreciated :)
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