Activity ideas for Parents/Carers to do with pre-schoolers aged 2.5-5 years old.
Warning: some activities may contain items that are choking hazards. Children should be supervised at all times during the activities. For food activities Startwell recommend chopping food into finger shapes/sizes. No not chop into circular/disc shapes as this increases the risk of choking.
Active Azra wants us to move more and sit less, by getting our ‘belly buttons on the move’.
Go on a treasure hunt. Create a list of things you want your child to find from around the house or even when you go out to the park e.g. something that is green, something that is the size of your hand, something that makes a noise when you squeeze it.
List of items in your house/garden/park for children to find.
180 Katie wants us to remember that walking children should be active for 180 minutes spread throughout the day. For the over 3s this should include 60 minutes of high energy activity, which makes the heart go ‘boom’.
Try and incorporate periods of high intensity activity throughout your day. Think of ways you could incorporate it into your routine – Put some music on before every meal time to have a dance and get moving.
Music
Sammy Skills wants us to develop physical skills. Skills are learnt, developed and then mastered.
Criss-cross string or tape across a hallway at different heights. Ask the children to navigate through it without pulling down the string.
Skill: Twisting, bending, balancing, crawling, avoiding, height, distance, spatial awareness and core stability
String or tape
2 snacks Max helps us to remember that 2 healthy snacks and 3 healthy meals a day are needed to keep children healthy. Base snacks on fruit/vegetables and carbohydrates.
Set up a café for your child at home using real or plastic food. What healthy snacks can they create to serve you? They could even draw a menu for you.
Real or plastic food.
Micky me size is all about portion control – remember that children’s tummies are small and don’t need a lot to fill them. If they are over fed their tummies stretch, need more to fill them and can lead to obesity.
Ask your child to lay the table for lunch or dinner. Can they pick the correct size plate for all the family members? Explain that the bigger people in the family need bigger size plates as they need to eat more food.
Own plates and cutlery.
Fay 5 a day wants everyone to eat a minimum of 5 pieces or fruit or vegetables every day. Fruit and vegetables are our protective foods that help to keep our bodies healthy and fight off illness.
Scrub the veg – add some fruit and vegetables (real or plastic) to a bowl of water with some brushes. As the children clean them ask them what they are, what colour they are etc. See if the children can sort them into fruits and vegetables.
Bowl of water, real of plastic fruit and vegetables and some brushes.
Smiley Shen is all about keeping teeth healthy by cleaning teeth twice a day and limiting sugary food and drink. It is important that you supervise tooth brushing up to 7 years of age.
Start encouraging 2 minutes of teeth cleaning. This can seem like a long time initially. Think of fun ways to keep your children brushing. You could us a timer or find a two minute song which you can brush to.
Timer or 2 minute song.
Suzy Startwell is all about being a good role model for our children. Children learn from copying the behaviours of those they see around them. As a parent, practitioner or adult who is in close contact with children it is important that the behaviours they see and copy are positive.
