There seems to be more and more pressure on parents these days to enroll their preschool children in all sorts of innovative learning programs. There are music and swimming classes, craft centers, and activities to promote movement, motor skills, or sporting ability.
Did you know some of the best learning tools for your kids are right at your fingertips, literally! We as parents are the primary carers and therefore the first teachers of our children before they start school. Without all the classes and activities that we could pay for them to do, just playing simple free child games, your kids will get all the stimulation and encouragement that they need to get the best start.
By providing them with an enriched environment with free activities based around your home and neighborhood you will get more quality time with your children while enhancing their imagination and creativity.
Top 5 Free Child Games / Activities- Indoors
1. Storytelling- Telling stories to children promotes language, listening skills, and imagination. Don’t feel confined to reading from books, tell your children a special family story that helps them to know their place in the world. How mum and dad met, how great-grandpa sailed in a tall-ship to start a new life in a new country, or the story of their birth. These tales will delight them time and time again, perhaps you have photos to help them put faces to names.
2. Dressing Up- As children, the dress-up box was always our favorite treasure trove for creating characters for a play or story. Pretending to be dinosaurs, truck drivers, doctors, zookeepers or even mum can keep children entertained for hours. The more props the better so always have a store of blankets for cubbies or tents and assorted boxes for cars, dolls beds, or wherever their imagination takes them.
3. Music- Children love a chance to dance and jump around. By the age of three, they will already have some favorites which will probably have actions to match. Given the opportunity to march, stomp, clap or any other loud action will be happily accompanied by any musical instruments that you have around the house. If you don’t have any, a pot and wooden spoon will do just fine!
4. Craft- By using recycled materials you just need some glue, a little inspiration, and your child’s creativity will do the rest. Materials can be used to create collages, space rockets, animals, and a lot more. Keep a ready supply of recyclables by keeping cereal boxes, toilet rolls, candy wrappers, magazines, and yogurt containers. Other crafty ideas can involve play dough, paint, crayons, chalk, and modeling clay! The ideas are endless.
5. Board Games and Card Games- Fun for the whole family or just two bored kids looking for something to do on a rainy day. For younger children these games help them with numerical skills, taking turns, and gamesmanship, as well as the concept of chance and that anyone can win the game. Super for holidays as they are easy to set up and can last for hours. There are many card games to learn from easy kids games right up to complicated ones for teenagers and adults. Best of all, the only equipment needed is a deck of cards. Board games like Scrabble and Monopoly have been played for generations and will continue to be unless everything becomes computerized!
Most of these activities will be known to you, but have you played them all? If not, then get out there and enjoy some free child games with your tribe, they’ll love you all the more for spending someone on one time with them.
The place to go for all your game needs for 0-6-year-olds is Kids Fun and Games. Educational baby and toddler games, party games, crafts, indoor and outdoor games, festivals, and more.
