Interesting Offbeat After School Activities For Your Preschooler (3-5 years)

"I am bored!"

These are the three words every parent dreads hearing from their child. School eliminates boredom by introducing routine into your child's life, and provides an enriching experience through learning-based activities. However, how your child spends their time after school also impacts their educational growth and has a bearing on their character development.

According to a study titled 'After School Programs in the 21st Century: Their Potential and What It Takes to Achieve It' by Dr Priscilla MD Little et al, published by the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) in 2008, there are many benefits to engaging your child in after-school activities. The study states, 'A decade of research and evaluation studies, as well as large-scale, rigorously conducted syntheses looking across many research and evaluation studies, confirm that children and youth who participate in after-school programs can reap a host of positive benefits in several interrelated outcome areas-academic, social/emotional, prevention, and health and wellness.'

Following are some ways that after-school activities can benefit your preschooler:

• Help develop social and life skills
• Build confidence and self-esteem
• Make your child happier
• Teaches how to manage time better
• Help in learning how to set goals
• Help in academic growth
• Teach about teamwork

Now that you know the benefits, we tell you about some offbeat activities that'll engage your child in a constructive way and make sure that they are having fun too.

Offbeat activities for preschoolers

Snack art: Is your child a fussy eater? Then this activity is sure to get them interested in food and teach them how to be creative. Make a banana boat or a watermelon porcupine (with the help of toothpicks) and take their help in decorating the snack. There are many websites that give step-by-step instructions on how to create snack art.

Making an alphabet book: This activity will teach your child the letters of the alphabet and they will also have fun learning in the process. Cut out letters from different colored paper and assist your child in gluing them onto a notebook. You can even draw images corresponding to the letters, like 'A for apple' and 'B for ball,' etc.

Create a color and shape collage: Take white chart paper and divide it into zones based on colors. Ask your child to color in the different zones with primary colors. Then cut out different shapes (squares, triangles, and circles) from regular paper, color them, and ask your child to put them in corresponding color zones. For example, in the red zone, paste red heart-shaped cutouts, in the blue zone, paste blue circle cutouts and in the green zone, paste green triangles.

Enact a story: Story times are usually fun times for the child. However, you can add your own twists to the story-telling session by acting out different characters in the story. If there are animals in the story, make the animal noises. If possible, engage the entire family by assigning different roles to each member and ask your child to imitate the noise to engage them in the process as well.

Use building blocks: Rather than asking your child to play with their building blocks, help them build a castle or a train with it. Get creative and develop a storyline to go along with the items you build and see your child's creativity unfurl.

Wall art: This might sound a little messy, but with proper planning and precaution, this activity can not only be fun but also help your child develop their motor and creative skills. Stick a big sheet of chart paper on the wall, buy some child-friendly finger paint, and ask your little one to paint whatever they want on the paper, using their finger or brushes. You can join in on the fun and create a masterpiece together!

Build an obstacle course: Before you start worrying about the space and the effort you would need to put into building an obstacle course for your preschooler, let us enumerate the skills they can develop by mastering an obstacle course. This activity will enhance their sensory input (picking or shifting heavy or light objects), help build their strength, memory, and sense of balance (moving, climbing, and crossing obstacles), strategize and plan their movements, and increase bilateral coordination.

To build an obstacle course at home you will need big pillows, sofa cushions, floor mats/yoga mats, objects of different weights your child can lift, and a creative bent of mind. Draw the obstacle course on a sheet of paper before you build it. Base it on your child's age and their skills.

The important thing to remember here is that it is okay sometimes to let your child get bored. Unstructured playtime is as important as doing constructive activities with them. However, try not to hand over your phone to them as soon as they are bored as this will not encourage them to think creatively and independently.

Also Read

Offbeat After-school Activities For Your child (6-9 years)