Autumn Activity Ideas for Pre-schoolers

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.

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Active Azra wants us to move more and sit less, by getting our ‘belly buttons on the move’.

Activity:


Play Little Bo Peep’s Herd and Seek Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep (teddies and soft toys) so you need to help her get them back.  Get the children to race around and find them all and bring them back to pen (Towel on the floor). You can limit the sheep to 5 and take it in turns of hiding and finding them.

This was taken from the Change 4Life app or website: https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/ There are many more activities you can choose from on their website. Have a look.

What you need:


Teddies or soft toys and a towel.


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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’.

Activity:


To raise the heart rate and achieve your 60 minutes of high intensity activity play a game of cat and mouse. Tuck a tea towel or pillow case into the back of the skirt or trousers to create the mouse tail and then one person is the cat who has to run and catch their tails. Repeat until everyone is out of breath and has had a turn of being the cat or the mouse.

What you need:


A few tea towels or pillow cases.


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Sammy Skills wants us to develop physical skills. Skills are learnt, developed and then mastered.

Activity:


Play the age old classic of egg and spoon races. Set up some cushions that they have to go over whilst not dropping the eggs to make it harder. Skill – moving with items transporting/balancing, developing core stability.

What you need:


Soft small balls or rolled up socks, large spoons and cushions.


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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.

Activity:


Make some fun shaped food snacks such smiley faces or flowers using tomatoes, celery, spinach and hummus. Check out our Character – 2 Snacks Max board on Pinterest.

What you need:


Tomatoes, celery, spinach, hummus, rice cakes, food likes grapes/cucumber to make a flowers.



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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.

Activity:


The size of the plate you should be eating from is the same as your outstretched hand. Do some hand prints of family members hands, then cut them out and test them on your plates. Are you using the correct size plate for your age?

What you need:


Paper, paint/pencil, your own plates.



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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.

Activity:


You can’t beat a good old fashioned bit of fruit/vegetable art. Use carrots/ celery/leeks as a paintbrush or cut potatoes/apples etc in half and print them onto paper. Remember to name all of the fruit and vegetables that you are using so children know about them and where they grow etc.

What you need:


Carrots/ celery/ potatoes/ leeks, potatoes.



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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.

Activity:


Take it in turns to practice blowing and popping bubbles. Blowing bubbles helps strengthen muscles for good speech, eating and blowing hot food. With an old toothbrush you could pour a bit of bubble mixture onto a small tray/plate or use washing up liquid and an old toothbrush, can the children make small circular movements that we need to clean our teeth – remember practice makes perfect.

What you need:


Bubble mixture, old toothbrush, tray or plate



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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.