After a horrendously cold and ridiculously long winter, I refused to spend a lot of time at home over the summer. So when my daughter and I weren’t racing to summer camp or music class, chances are we were out doing something else, like riding on the subway, walking around Toys R Us, eating popcorn at Starbucks, running errands, or visiting the splash pad.
It was glorious.
But my need to be doing something 24/7 wore the poor kid out, and once the weekend hit, all she wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch Dora the Explorer on her LeapPad while my husband watched poker on TV.
And that’s cool.
It gave me some guilt-free time to do fun stuff by myself.
(Like grocery shopping and scrubbing the toilets.)
But now that the days are getting shorter, the weather is starting to get a bit cooler, and cold and flu season is just around the corner, I’m in dire need of some educational activities my 3-year-old and I can do together at home.
So I poked around on Pinterest and found some fantastic shape activities for preschoolers, and since I know there are other parents out there who are in need of boredom busters, I absolutely had to share them with you!
1. Bust out the craft foam (construction paper will also work) and try this fun build a truck preschool activity I found on Little Family Fun.
2. Gather some colored masking tape and building blocks and set up this awesome table top activity I found on Teach Preschool to help your preschooler explore shapes and colors!
3. Before you put the masking tape away, tape a few large shapes to your living room floor and try out these fun activities from Teach Preschool!
4. Grab some popsicle sticks and colored markers and try this making shapes activity I found on education.com.
5. Print off a couple of copies of this free color-trace-connect shape printable I found over on Coloring Pages for Kids. And while you’re there, make sure to poke around a bit. They have heaps of cool printables!
6. This is a cool idea. Grab some household items that resemble basic shapes (squares, circles, etc.) and set your kids up with this awesome shape graphing activity I found on Imprints From Tricia.
7. Make one of these block puzzles busy bags by All Our Days!
8. Get out the paints and let your kids get messy with this contact paper shape art activity I found on Mess for Less.
9. Why didn’t I ever think of this? Grab some old building blocks and tempera paint and try this wooden block print activity I found on Popsugar!
10. If you need a few minutes to scrub the toilets or fold a load of laundry, send your kids on a shape-themed scavenger hunt!