In today’s fast-paced world, carving out quality time with your preschooler is difficult. However, engaging in simple yet meaningful activities together can go a long way in developing a strong bond and supporting your child’s development. Whether you are a parent, caregiver, or involved in childcare or early childhood education, below are some easy and engaging ideas for connecting with your little one.
The classrooms and teachers here at Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center offer dynamic opportunities such as these to spark a passion for learning and encourage strong relationships. Enroll today to be a part of our CCLC family!
Storytelling and Reading Time
Reading together is an incredibly productive way to bond with your preschooler as well as enhance and support their literacy skills. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), reading aloud helps develop language, literacy, and emotional connection.
Choose books with engaging stories and beautiful illustrations and don’t be afraid to read them more than once–Young children often love stories they have seen before! Take it up a notch by taking turns adding silly voices to the characters or pointing out things you like or notice about the illustrations.
Pro Tip: Visit your local library or daycare center for book recommendations tailored to preschoolers. The teachers here at Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center are an excellent resource for this and would love to help! Schedule a tour today!
Creative Arts and Crafts
Allowing creativity to flow through arts and crafts not only provides an opportunity for connection but also encourages the development of fine motor skills and imagination. Simple activities such as finger painting, stamps and stickers, making collages with items from home, or decorating homemade greeting cards allow preschoolers to express themselves and their imagination freely.
Research Insight: Michigan State University asserts that arts and crafts are not simply fun but can encourage cognitive development and foundational math skills that are key within early childhood education. (source) Here at Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center we love getting children involved with arts and crafts—you can see the evidence of their handiwork proudly displayed within the classrooms. Schedule a tour to check out the latest creations and see what your child could look forward to while here at CCLC!
Outdoor Nature Walks
Spending time together outdoors not only sparks curiosity but also encourages and demonstrates physical well-being for you and your child. A leisurely walk, collecting leaves, or observing birds can be both educational and fun. Nature walks help preschoolers develop observation skills learn about their environment, as well as provide an opportunity to slow down and simply be together.
Fun Idea: Create a nature scavenger hunt with items such as a red leaf, a round rock, or a butterfly to make the experience more exciting.
Winter time? Look for the birds that stuck around through the cold, search for tracks in the snow, or feed your local bird population with some dried corn or oats and see what comes out for a winter treat.
Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center has multiple age-appropriate outdoor play options for getting kiddos out and enjoying nature! Schedule a tour to take a look or enroll today and secure your little one’s spot on the playground!
Cooking Together
Involving your preschooler in the kitchen is an excellent way to teach basic math concepts and set the foundation for the development of basic life skills. Simple recipes such as making sandwiches, mixing ingredients for cookies, or participating in assembling lunch can be both fun and educational
Did You Know? According to research published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, involving children in meal preparation encourages healthy eating habits from an early age.
Sensory Play Activities
Sensory play, such as playing with playdough, dried pasta, or kinetic sand, stimulates a child’s senses and enhances cognitive development. These activities encourage exploration and is a beloved pastime for many preschoolers, making it a great opportunity to connect with your little one.
Many childcare professionals recommend sensory play as a calming activity that helps improve focus and emotional regulation (source).
Pro Tip: Worried about a mess? Use a plastic or vinyl tablecloth under your child’s play-station. The tablecloth will catch dropped items (sand, play dough, etc.) and can easily aid in the sweeping of items into a container for use later or into the trashcan.
Sensory play is a huge piece of early childhood education. Schedule a tour to see how our teachers incorporate sensory learning into their lesson plans!
Singing and Dancing
Preschoolers can be fountains of energy. Music and movement activities provide an outlet for that energy as well as method to spark creativity and bonding between you and your child. Singing beloved songs and rhymes, creating new dance moves, or even making up silly songs together can strengthen emotional connections and support motor skills development.
Research Fact: Studies show that musical activities in early childhood improve language development, self-regulation, and social skills (source).
Fun Tip: Change the words of a song or rhyme to something silly that speaks to your family or classroom. Make up new dance moves together that go with a favorite song.
Schedule a tour and check out the musical opportunities here at CCLC!
Pretend Play
Children love to mirror what they see adults doing. Offering opportunities for pretend play is huge in the development of their social and physical selves. Pretending to run a grocery store, donning a doctor’s coat and giving the family ‘check-ups’ or even putting a baby doll down for a nap is not just great fun for the child, but it offers a multitude of benefits–encouraging problem-solving, social, and storytelling skills.
Parenting Insight: Many daycare centers incorporate pretend play into daily routines to help children understand real-world scenarios. The Child Mind Institue highly encourages pretend play, emphasizing that in creating and navigating fictional scenarios, children have the opportunity to practice and flex their creative thinking and problem-solving abilities, which are crucial for cognitive development.
Our teachers here at Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center know the importance of and provide ample opportunity for children to engage in pretend play. Schedule a tour today to see the classrooms and various pretend play centers first-hand!
Simple Science Experiments
Introducing basic science concepts through easy experiments like mixing colors or watching seeds grow in a jar can spark curiosity and encourage finer tuned observation skills.
Participating in science activities with your preschooler can be as simple or complicated as you have time for! Pay attention to the leaves changing color or watch the muffins you make together rise in the oven. Encourage a fascination with your little one’s environment and with science by being fascinated yourself. Enthusiasm is catching!
Educational Benefit: The National Science Teachers Association encourages that children’s early exposure to science can aid in building a curiosity and love for discovery the world around them and that this will lay the groundwork for science learning in the K-12 years. (source)
Want to see some science in action? Schedule a tour and let’s see if we can’t get you in one of our classes next science experiments!
Conclusion
Connecting with your preschooler doesn’t have to be complicated. Taking the time, even 5 minutes here and there, to implement easy and enjoyable activities such as these can strengthen your bond while supporting their development in various areas. Whether you’re at home or in a daycare setting, making time for quality interactions is key to building a loving and secure relationship with your child.
Families and building strong bonds are important to us here at Crestwood Childcare and Learning Center. It is our goal to build your child up not just for their first test in grammar school, but to set them up with a great foundation for their entire education. Check us out here at CCLC and let us help spark imagination and a love for learning in your little one!