Your little one is now a preschooler! Prepare for reading and writing with these fun activities.
Activities by Age for 4-Year-Olds
ON THIS PAGE
- Beginning Writing
- Letter Knowledge
- Oral Language
- Phonological Awareness
Gel Writing Bags
In this activity, your child will have fun making letters in a homemade gel bag.
Going on a Prize Hunt
Learning about writing includes the understanding that print carries a message. This activity uses clues to send your child on an amusing scavenger hunt.
Happy Face, Sad Face
This activity can give your child an opportunity to express herself while giving you a glimpse of what makes her happy or sad.
In My Town
Help children learn the power of writing by helping them create their own hometown book in this activity. It uses photos and fill-in-the-blanks.
Let’s Make a Frame
This activity is a fun, creative way for your child to practice both fine motor and beginning writing skills.
Mangos for Matilda
Extend your child’s learning through an imaginative writing activity designed to help her think about food allergies.
My Name Is Magical!
Kids enjoy seeing their names. They also like to write their names themselves. This simple tracing activity will seem like magic to your child.
My Writing Area
Just as you read daily with your children, set aside time and have a dedicated space for drawing and writing. This shows that you value their emerging skills.
Stamp the Road
This activity gives your child practice with left to right progression. The use of the stamps and stamp pad also help with eye-hand coordination.
That’s My Name!
Kids get better at writing letters when they see their name and have chances to write it in fun ways. Help your child create a name sign with this activity.
The Name Game
A fun activity for your child to draw and write.
Air Writing
Air writing is a process that gives children a whole-body experience when writing uppercase and lowercase letters in the air with their finger.
Erase the Letter
This fun game will use a rhyming chant to build letter knowledge.
Letter Balls
Some children need many repetitions before they really know letter names and sounds without hesitation. This entertaining activity uses ping-pong balls.
Let’s Go on a Food Hunt
When learning the letters of the alphabet, children often first recognize the letters of their own names. Why not go on a letter hunt with foods?
Match the Pins
This activity lets your child have some fine motor fun while reinforcing letter knowledge. Your child will match uppercase to lowercase letters.
Memory Game With Names
In this activity, your child will play a memory game using his name and the names of family members and/or friends.
Musical Letters
Add some musical fun to your child’s quest for letter knowledge. Your child will love marching around the alphabet letters while listening to music.
My Color Folder
Make a folder game to help your child practice color words. It’s an easy, inexpensive way to create a fun and interactive activity for your preschooler.
My Letter Is Lost
This activity gives your child an opportunity to practice pairing letter names and letter sounds.
Your Family Story
Help your preschooler understand that print is spoken words that are written down and that print carries meaning.
“See It” — Mirror Play
It’s most effective when children use all their senses to learn alphabet letters. One way to help your child visually connect to letter shapes and sounds is with a mirror.
Face Talks
This activity is a great way to find and identify facial expressions and leads to conversations about what the causes of certain emotions might be.
Hard or Soft? Rough or Smooth?
In this game, you’ll help your preschooler understand and use descriptive words as she collects and sorts common items by defined characteristics.
Little Chef
Pretend play is a great way for kids to strengthen creativity and oral language skills. In this activity you’ll transform your child into the next great chef!
Ready, Set, Action!
Here’s an activity to help make learning action words fun!
Sorting Treasures From Nature
Through this activity, you'll help your child develop observation skills, increase her ability to express herself and use mathematical and scientific language.
Story Bags
Inspire storytelling by putting items in a paper bag. Wondering what’s inside creates mystery and telling a tale involves creativity and oral language skills.
Storytelling With Pics and Sticks
This activity helps increase kids’ expressive vocabulary. You’ll let your child retell a favorite story with craft stick puppets you can create together.
The Gorilla Stands …
This activity uses a small plastic toy gorilla or other small toy to give preschoolers practice with prepositions (words that tell about a place or a time).
What Do You Think the Kid Should Do?
In this activity, you can help your child talk through some difficult scenarios that kids are likely to face when interacting with other children.
Who Am I?
Foster important language connections by playing a funny guessing game with your child.
Bowl of Nonsense
This fun and silly game helps your child pay attention to the ending sounds in words. Kids will discover what it means when you say that two words rhyme.
Circle Around the Rhyme
Your child can practice rhyming through this fun game that incorporates music, movement and rhyme.
Does It Rhyme With Your Name?
In this activity, your child will have practice identifying and isolating rhymes using a very special word — her own name!
Fun Words in the Kitchen
The kitchen is full of fun words like “mozzarella,” “zucchini” and “rutabaga.” The next time you open the fridge, play some word games with your child.
Guess My Word!
In this game, your child will learn to listen carefully to the first sound in a word and then “guess your word” by blending the remaining sounds together.
Name That Word!
Kids love games. You can teach little ones all about segmenting and blending sounds within words long before they learn to read with this fun puppet activity.
Nine, Ten, Big Fat Hen!
When children memorize and recite nursery rhymes, it helps develop their phonological awareness skills.
Rat and Cat Both End With ‘At’
In this activity, children will use their previous rhyming exposure and experience. Index cards help them practice doing some rhyming on their own.
Rhyme Basket
Use objects from around your house to play this simple rhyme game. Children benefit from fun rhyming activities to help them master this pre-reading skill.
Star + Fish = Starfish
Learning about compound words helps build your child’s phonological awareness. This fun activity uses oral and visual clues to help kids succeed.
Whack-A-Rhyme
A fun way to help your child learn about rhymes.