What are the best activities for 4-year-olds?
If you’re like most parents, you’ve probably asked yourself this question a few times. That’s because you know how important it is for your child to continue learning and growing.
Keeping your child entertained for a while also means that you get time to do some of the other essential things on your long to-do list. So finding the right activities for 4-year-olds is a win-win for both you and your child!
In this article, we’ll share some of the most creative ways to help keep your 4-year-old learning and entertained while at home.
Skills Your 4-Year-Old Is Developing
There are lots of interesting milestones your child is reaching during this time. Being aware of them will help you choose the most relevant activities for their continued growth and development.
Creativity
One of the best things to witness during this period is your child’s growing imagination. Four-year-olds often develop imaginary friends and love to play dress-up. They can also get their friends, siblings, or even mom and dad involved!
There are many reasons why creative thinking is essential — it allows us to be more innovative when solving problems, it opens our minds to new possibilities, and it can be a form of self-expression.
When choosing activities for 4-year-olds, it’s essential to ensure that some games encourage creative thinking to help your child continue developing this important skill.
Cognitive Development
At the four-year mark, you’ve likely already seen your child’s growing cognitive abilities. Here are some common things most kids this age can do:
- Memorize the names of shapes and colors
- Understand the idea of counting
- May write or read a few written numbers
- Recall parts of a story
- Write their first name
In addition, children at this stage are getting better at problem-solving and processing information into understanding.
As you continue to incorporate the right activities for 4-year-olds, there’s so much more exciting cognitive development to come!
Gross And Fine Motor Skills
At age four, your child is developing a few new gross motor skills. These may include jumping on one leg, skipping, throwing and catching a ball, kicking a ball, climbing, and hopping while running.
Some fine motor skills are also improving. At this stage, your child may be able to complete puzzles, use child-safe scissors, write some letters, and draw some figures.
Since children love being active and welcoming new challenges, there’s no surprise at the development of some of these incredible motor skills.
Sensory Skills
At HOMER, we encourage lots of sensory play because this is how children explore and learn about the world around them. Kids do this by touching, smelling, seeing, hearing, and tasting.
Sensory play has an important role in many aspects of a child’s development, including:
- Cognitive development
- Social skills
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Language development
- Problem-solving skills
With this in mind, it’s beneficial to incorporate sensory play when you choose activities for 4-year-olds so that your child can continue developing these important life skills.
Physical Strength
We’ve already covered some of the gross motor skills your 4-year-old has learned (or is learning). As they continue to be active every day, their physical strength will naturally increase.
Four-year-olds should ideally get about three hours of physical play per day. This can include light, moderate, and vigorous activities.
Some parents may choose to help their children achieve their physical needs by signing them up for various organized sports.
If that’s what you’re considering, remember that at this stage, it can be challenging for children to wrap their heads around some of the rules of the game. If you’ve ever witnessed a child running or kicking a ball in the wrong direction, you know exactly what we mean!
If you choose to enroll your child in sports to help with their physical development, opt for early childhood sports programs that focus on healthy fun and engagement, rather than being competitive.
7 Creative Learning Activities For 4-Year-Olds
1) Indoor Obstacle Course
What You’ll Need:
Creating an indoor obstacle course is all about using some of the everyday items around your home. To get started, you’ll need to come up with a list of challenges and then build the course around that.
Look around the house and see what movable items can help bring your obstacle course to life. Chairs, cushions, books, and even blankets can all add to the fun!
What To Do:
It’s always fun to get the kids involved in the building of your obstacle course. As a parent, your main role can be maintaining safety.
If you’re stuck on which elements of an obstacle course to create, here are some ideas.
Tunnel — An indoor tunnel can easily be created by lining up a row of chairs that your child can crawl through.
Balance Beam — Got some painter’s tape? Place a long strip on the floor and encourage your child to walk in a straight line.
Maze — Children can create an indoor maze by lining up some books and using them as a low wall.
Obstacle courses are great to encourage physical activity, problem-solving, and creativity while having lots of fun!
2) Hopscotch
What You’ll Need:
- Chalk
- A small rock or pebble
- A paved area outside
What To Do:
Our list of activities for 4-year-olds would be incomplete without hopscotch! (Check out the detailed instructions for hopscotch and other games here.)
For some 4-year-olds, you might want to make the game a bit easier than the usual version to begin with. You can do that by:
- Making the squares with numbers closer together
- Letting your child jump to one number at a time
- Creating a board that goes from one to six (this can increase as your child gets more adept at the game)
- Letting your child place the stone on the number rather than toss it
As your child gets better at the game, they can move closer step-by-step to the original rules.
Besides getting some exercise in, your child will also be practicing their math skills. You can help by counting their hops out loud and then celebrate the total hops once they reach the other side.
3) Outdoor Letter And Number Hunt
What You’ll Need:
- 10 index cards
- Marker
What To Do:
Start by writing the numbers 1 to 5 on five individual index cards (one number per card). Then write 5 letters — maybe your child’s name or another significant word — on the remaining cards.
Finally, hide the cards in various places in your yard (behind a tree, in the garden, under your welcome doormat, etc.). Tip: Be sure to place the cards underneath or attached to something in case the wind blows!
The aim of the game is simple — encourage your child to find a number card (“Let’s see if we can find a number”). If they find a number, celebrate this moment (“You found a number!”). If not, turn the card over and encourage them to try again. You can then do the same with letters.
You can find more details here. To make it a bit more challenging, ask your child to find a specific number or letter.
4) Dance Festival
What You’ll Need:
- Pots
- Wooden spoons
- Fun costumes
What To Do:
Attending a music festival can be a fun experience. So why not bring that fun to your household?
You can turn pots over to create drums, hit wooden spoons together (they can also be a pretend microphone), and dress in fun costumes to really get into the mood.
This is a great activity to get the whole family involved. Needless to say, there should be lots of singing and silly dancing here!
5) Craft Box
What You’ll Need:
- A box
- Pipe cleaners
- Glue
- Cotton Balls
- Colored Paper
- Any other craft supplies you have around the house
What To Do:
This activity is straightforward. All you need to do is fill the box with the craft supplies and then encourage your child to create anything they want.
Will they draw a house? Create a rocket ship? Who knows what their imaginative minds will come up with!
As simple as the task may sound, this is a great opportunity for your child to continue developing their creativity.
6) Color Mixing Sensory Bag
What You’ll Need:
- Icing or shaving cream
- Food coloring
- Two small bowls
- Toothpick or spatula
- Large zip-top bag
What To Do:
You can follow these detailed instructions for creating a color mixing sensory bag for your 4-year-old. In a nutshell, your child will need to use their fingers and hands to squish and mix the different colors.
This activity is a great way to help your child continue learning colors. They’ll also enjoy squishing and squashing the soft icing or shaving cream!
7) Shared Story Map
What You’ll Need:
- Our story map
- Crayons or pencils
- Toys (preferably stuffed animals)
What To Do:
Encourage your child to tell you a story, using the story map as a guide. They can fill the map out with their creative drawings, or you can help them write the story out.
Sometimes it can be challenging for a child to think of a whole story by themselves. This is where you come in! First, you can start the story, and then your child can add on (and other family members, too).
Once you’re confident the story is complete, it’s time to act it out together using the toys!
Language development, storytelling, and creativity are some of the skills your child will continue developing with this activity.
Bust Boredom With Activities For 4-Year-Olds!
Children are constantly learning and growing. Help your child continue developing into the best version of themselves through some or all of the above activities for 4-year-olds.
We also recommend checking out the HOMER website for more fun and engaging activities for children. With these ideas, being bored at home will be a thing of the past!
