Interactive & manipulative preschool activities to do with your child at home

A great way to engage your preschooler at home is to create activities that build upon skills they’re learning in their classrooms - sensory bins, water work, sorting, and tracing, among others.

We’ve shared a few ideas below that we use in the Village Montessori & Preparatory School preschool classrooms and can be easily replicated at home.

Pouring Water Activities

Pouring water activities allow children to finesse their fine motor skills, sense of measurement and depth, and eventually learn to pour water and drinks for themselves. 

At school, we do this on small trays to catch overflow and splashes.  At home, you could do this outside, in a sink, or on a baking pan.

Simply fill small cups with water (it’s fun to color it slightly too with food coloring) and provide different sized containers to transfer the water.  Your children can learn to pour from containers that are the same sizes or learn that some sizes require different amounts of water to be filled and emptied. 

When they are done, invite them to help empty all the containers, wash/dry them, and put the items away until they want to use them again.

Sorting Items By Color

Sorting items by color helps your child develop the ability to recognize colors, color gradients, comparison, difference, and order.

Simply gather items from your home and place them in a box or on a pan. A mix of items creates an interesting array to sort.

Invite your child to choose one at a time and begin to sort them by color.  They can place them in colored bowls, boxes or even on brightly colored paper that matches the colors of the items. 

You can evolve this activity into sorting items by size, shape, use, where they are found in the house, etc. Or invite your child to create their own categories to sort from what has been gathered. 

When they are done sorting items, invite them to help put items back and clean up!

Tracing Letters & Numbers

In our classrooms, children utilize a number of different materials to build literacy, letter and number recognition, and strengthen their fine motor skills.

One activity that is simple to replicate at home is having your child trace their name, letters, numbers, lines, and even pictures or coloring sheets. Not only does it help them develop their recognition, but it also helps develop hand control, their pincer grasp, and their ability to ultimately string letters together into words.  

To do this activity you can print number and letter sheets, coloring pages, or a document with their name on it and slip them into a clear sheet protector. Choose colorful dry-erase markers for them to use and a small cloth for them to clean their surface between uses. 

If you don't have clear sheet protectors you may also simply have them trace items with colorful crayons or markers.

To learn more about our Classroom Activities and Montessori Curriculum, we invite you to Schedule a Tour to visit our Fort Mill, SC location.  We would love the opportunity to show you our school in motion!