🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop
- 🎨 Creativity & Imagination — Open-ended activities that let children direct their own play grow creative thinking, original problem solving, and the confidence to express personal ideas.
- 🎯 Focus & Attention — Sustaining engagement with an activity long enough to complete it builds the voluntary attention control that children need for listening in class, reading, and all forms of academic learning.
- 📐 Spatial Reasoning — Thinking about how objects relate in space — fitting shapes together, building structures, filling containers — develops the spatial intelligence that predicts success in mathematics and STEM fields.
- 🔁 Cause & Effect Thinking — Noticing that one action produces a predictable result — mixing colors, toppling a tower, adding water to powder — is the earliest form of scientific and logical thinking.
If you’re the parent or grandparent of a preschooler, no one has to tell you that the need for spontaneous entertainment often arises. Whether you’re taking a long car ride, visiting a relative at the retirement home or just plain making an impromptu stop at the park, having something – anything – to occupy your preschooler is an absolute necessity!
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could somehow prepare in advance for all your preschooler’s entertainment needs? Good News! There is a way: It’s called Activity Preparedness.
The Cure for Your Preschooler’s Boredom Away from Home
Much like an earthquake preparedness kit, you can make your very own On-the-Go Activity Kit stocked with all the supplies you need to entertain your preschooler in any situation. Your preschooler may actually look forward to long waits at the doctor’s office or rush hour traffic just to get their hands on the coveted activity kit, which is only reserved for mom’s “special occasions.”
To keep your bases covered, it’s best to keep two activity kits on hand; one for indoor activities and one for outdoor activities. And the ideal place to store your kits is in the back of your car so they’re handy whenever the need arises.
How to Make an On-the-Go Activity Kit
It’s as simple as purchasing a small laundry basket or other medium to small plastic container, and filling it with fun games, toys, activity books, etc. that you know your preschooler will enjoy.
Acitivity Kit Tip: Purchase new items for your activity kit. Don’t use stuff your preschooler already has in his/her room. New items that your preschooler doesn’t normally get to play with will add to the thrill – and goal of impromptu entertainment – of the activity kit. In this same regard, it’s important to always reserve the stuff in the activity kit for on-the-go entertainment, not for use at home.
Suggestions for an Indoor Activity Kit
-Coloring Books and Crayons
- Drawing Paper and Markers
- Story Books
- Activity Books, such as Word Searches, Paper Dolls and Dot-to-Dot
- Handheld Video Games
- Travel Games
- Modeling Clay
-Barbie Dolls or Action Figures
Suggestions for an Outdoor Activity Kit
-Sporting equipment, such as balls and a Frisbee
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Bubbles
- Sand Toys, such as shovels, buckets and molds
- Trucks, such as a bulldozer for sand play
- Remote Control Cars, Airplanes, etc.
- Kite
-Airplane Gliders and Parachute Toys
Summer Activity Kit Variation
Spend a lot of time at the beach or pool during the summer? Put together an activity kit that’s sure to make a big splash with your preschooler. Instead of a plastic container, use a beach bag – if you can find a waterproof bag that’s even better - to house your kit.
Sunglasses, splash balls, squirt guns, diving rings or sticks, and a beach ball are just a few suggestions to get you started. Surf’s up!
Do you have a creative idea for an On-the-Go Activity Kit? Contact us with all the details, and will post it here for our PreschoolRock.com readers!
I’m
Julie Pirkle, the Preschool Activities writer for PreschoolRock.com. As the mother of two young and imaginative boys, preschool activities are a standard part of my daily routine. The preschool years are a wonderful time of discovery and amusement that parents and preschoolers will cherish for a lifetime. I am thrilled to share this journey with you by combining my love of writing with my passion for kids. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions for Preschool Activities, please
contact me.
Helpful Tips for Parents - Set out activity materials before you invite your child to play — a prepared space is more inviting and leads to longer, deeper engagement. - Narrate what your child is doing during activities: "You're sorting the red blocks from the blue ones." This vocabulary exposure accelerates language development. - The clean-up is part of the activity. Involve children in restoring the space — it develops responsibility and makes future activities easier to launch. - Photograph your child's activity setups and creations — the photo record becomes a source of pride and helps children revisit and extend earlier play ideas. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do I get my preschooler to try new activities? New activities need low-pressure introduction. Set the activity up invitingly and let the child approach at their own pace — forcing participation in new activities creates resistance. Joining the activity yourself (playing with the materials in their presence) is the most reliable way to ignite curiosity. A child who watches a parent enjoy something usually wants to try it. Related reading: See also our pretend play guide and our sorting activities for more ideas on this topic.
