Abbotsford Preschool
Preschoolers are amazing creatures with amazingly short attention spans. Any activity that you choose to keep them engaged must be short term at best.
That said, there are many great ways to keep them engaged and occupied without going stir crazy. Consider a quick game where they all sit in a circle. Games like “Duck, duck, goose” and “Simon Says” are both ideal for keeping them engaged for a short period of time.
Other ways to keep preschool children engaged is to give them something hands on. Play-doh and other fun activities come to mind for this task. Preschoolers have very vivid imaginations and can be counted on to come up with some fantastic ideas that will keep them occupied.
Focus on a theme each week in the classroom and let them lead the way and you’re sure to have a lively discussion and be able to come up with some age appropriate activities in the classroom that match the week’s theme.
One important thing to remember is that if you’re prepared for 3 hours, you likely only have about 2 hours of things planned, it is amazing how quickly some preschool classrooms can go through the planned out activities and speed up the process.
You’ll want to have some extra ideas on hand to keep them going. Focus on dress up ideas with clothing that is appropriate for the theme, color activities where they can color their own version of the theme.
Divide up into groups and have the kids act out a specific scene regarding the theme. Other hands-on activities can include dance, building things with blocks, legos, lincoln logs and other such props that make it more fun and exciting to do things.
To have some wind-down times, be sure to include some books that you all read together as a class. You could have easy picture books, large print books where you’re teaching the kids the words and more.
You could even have students get up and act out the book as you read it. That’s sure to have them collapsing in giggles when you’re done.
Include some music and songs and you can round out a preschool day very effectively. Students will look forward to your class if they are engaged and find that they are actually having fun while they are learning. It is amazing how well students learn when they think they are just playing.
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