How to Plan Activities for Preschoolers at Home -

You decided you are keeping your preschooler home and tackling learning yourself… now what?

Plan activities based on what concepts a preschooler should learn; letters, numbers, problem solving, motor skills and social skills. Plan activities based your child’s interests and skill set. Set learning goals break them down to be easily achievable.

There is a lot of thinking and planning that goes into teaching. It is fundamental to pre-plan activities to do with your preschooler. Here are some things to consider in making that plan.

What Concepts Should a Preschooler Learn?

Preschoolers will find something to do, or play with independently when left to their own devices. It is also really easy to steer them in the direction you want them to go. There is no set way you need to plan on teaching them. Often times as you see how your child learns you will adapt and customize your planning. There are some basics skills you want to consider when coming up with a plan:

Letters and conversation skills
Numbers and math skills
problem solving and independent thinking
movement, gross motor skills and fine motor skills
personal and interpersonal skills

Children at preschool age have learned basics through observation and play. We are now focusing on the basics and building upon them. We are aiming to further develop the foundational skills of reading and math. Teaching them at home should be play based, fun and focused on what your child enjoys most. Whenever possible encourage your child to play with others and develop their social skills as well.

First Step: Planning Mindset

Planning what you want to teach your child is the first step in being intentional about their learning. I like to think about what main concepts I want to touch on through the week and then break down days with different skills and activities. Here are a few things to consider before you make a lesson plan:

First think about the big picture. What you want your child to know by the end of the year. How far along in those skills should they be each month. Breaking a big picture goal down monthly helps make the task not seem so challenging. It also give you and your student smaller tasks to accomplish and keep motivated towards the big goal.
Know what skills your child is starting with. Can they say the ABC’s, can they recognize numbers and shapes. To pick useful activities and lessons it is important to know what skills and knowledge they already have. Know your child’s baseline for letter awareness, number awareness, gross and fine motor skills, and social and emotional development.
Be flexible. Kids love to know what to expect for the day. My daughter loves to ask what is happening for the day first thing. We usually tackle school work in the morning after everyone has dresses, eaten and gotten ready for the day. We don’t keep to a strict time, and we can vary a day if needed but generally we are most focused and sharp in the morning.
Let your child help make choices. Whenever possible I love to allow my kids the chance to make choices. Decision making is a crucial skill towards independence and I want to help develop it! When thinking of activities and lessons to teach your child think of ways they can make choices. Can they pick the materials, colors used, location of an activity? You can also allow some free choice time, have a few ideas at the ready when you start encouraging this skill.
Keep the activities age appropriate for your child. Some ideas you come across online may need to be adapted to your child. Think about their attention span, developmental abilities and need to use movement more than an older child.

Second Step: Making a Plan

With your child in mind it is time to plan. Preschoolers have short attention spans, so preparing in advance will be a key to successful preschool at home. Here are some things to think about while planning and selecting activities to teach your child:

What is the purpose of the activity? When picking an activity ask yourself what skills is it targeting. Are you at a point in your teaching goals that this skill is appropriate?
Keep activities simple. Simple is going to make your life easier. You don’t want to read through pages of directions… and your child doesn’t want to listen to pages of directions. Simple activities will be easy to set up and explain so the learning can begin. If an activity does have a long explanation I recommend showing your preschooler through modeling or play. They will want to mimic what you are doing and get involved.
Pick activities that will interest your child. Keeping your child interested is very important. Motivating them to be interested can be a struggle so save yourself a headache and pick activities you know they will love.
Choose how to approach topics. Lessons can be focused in different ways. Some activities are play based or pencil and paper skills. Some need to be directed by you or can be done independently by the child. Some activities are a mixture of all these approaches. It is good to use variety, just remember your child’s abilities and skill set.
Write the plan down. I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten what the plan is… It’s too many to count. Make a list, or write in detail. But make sure you write it down to refer back to!
Add in movement when possible. Preschoolers have energy for days. Physical activity is good for them and important to encourage while they are young. If you can get them moving throughout the day they will be having fun and hopefully go to bed easier. Teach them that moving their body can be fun. They will find activities they enjoy and that can help them make choices for sports or group activities in the future.
Listen to your child’s feedback. When you are doing an activity and they are upset, or unhappy, or do not enjoy it pay attention to why. See if you need to tweak an activity or nix from your plans all together. If they love it also take note and keep it in mind to adapt to more topics in the future.
Plan activities that take multiple days to complete. Set up activities that can continue over several days or be done in steps and spread out. If the project is something they enjoy they will look forward to continuing the next day.
Change the environment. If an activity did well at home, consider adapting it to the park, or a family members home as well. They will learn new facets of the lesson in a new environment.
Have more materials at the ready. Numerous times I have planned an activity for one child and a sibling sees it and wants to participate as well. Or My child finishes the activity and wants to repeat it immediately. Most often this is the case when we are doing crafts. I try to have extra materials ready for when this happens.

Final Step: Doing the activities

Now that your activities are picked and the plan is made, read through the plan a few times. Think of the supplies and materials you will need and purchase or assemble them. I like to keep a cupboard full of school and craft supplies ready for various activities.

When I make the plans for the day (usually the night before but sometimes morning of) I stack all my supplies and activities in the order I want to complete them. Keeping the activities organized is sometimes a challenge. I try to keep supplies in the same spot so I can find them, and also so my children can get them independently if needed.

I tend to plan our activities for the week on Saturday. Print out anything I need on Sunday and then prep each day the night before. You could easily prep fo the whole week on one day as well. I would suggest using bins or boxes to keep organized.

I hope we have given you some tools to come up with an effective plan to teach your preschooler at home. Please let us know how it is going in the comments.