10 activities to entertain pre-schoolers

Blow bubbles

Always keep a tub of bubble solution handy in the kitchen as a wonderful solution to boredom. You can buy them very cheaply from 'pound' shops and they often come with lots of different size and shaped pipes to make unusual bubbles which your little one will love popping or catching or blowing.

Or make your own bubble solution from washing up liquid to save yourself some money. Let your child play in the sink with some bubbles too and let them have fun looking at the rainbow colours.

Make a necklace

Making necklaces and bracelets is a brilliant way to have fun but it is also a great way to develop your little one's dexterity.

You can buy large beads or buttons from the Early Learning Centre which they can thread onto coloured threads or wool. I remember letting my kids just play with my spare button box.

Remember to tape the end to make it easy to thread and at the other end to stop all the beads from falling off! Also, make sure they are old enough not to put the beads in their mouth.

The magic paint brush

I remember my own kids playing outside with a bucket of water and some paint brushes and having enormous fun just making pictures with water that dried up easily with no mess. They can also paint in the bath too!

Make a person

Draw round your child onto a large sheet of paper and let them colour in and draw their own clothes, hair and face. Glue on some wool for hair and use old fabric for their clothes and use real buttons or even real shoelaces on their shoes or trainers.

Keep a supply of things like toilet paper tubes, old boxes, buttons, feathers, sequins and glitter around for creating, particularly on wet days.

Just keep an eye on your children when they are working with small parts as you don't want to end up in A & E if they've popped something up their nose!

Finger paint

Kids love finger painting but have you thought of doing it with shaving cream or squirty cream on the kitchen table or in the bath?

Or fill a tray with sand, salt or flour and let them draw pictures or trace letters in it.

Scissor fun

Pre-schoolers love to cut and stick, so get out all your (and their) old magazines, Christmas or birthday cards and help them cut and stick the pictures onto a collage.

Just remember to buy plastic safety scissors designed just for young children's fingers to avoid any injuries.

Read a book

Read to your little one everyday and sing nursery rhymes. Children love being read to and it develops their language and vocabulary skills too.

Point to words so they begin to get the idea that we read from left to right across the page. It's a good idea to make sure you have baskets of books always around at their level so they can dip in and out of a book when they feel like it.

Paint hard boiled eggs

Get some hard boiled eggs, some wax crayons and some food colouring and draw pictures or designs onto the eggs. Then dip the eggs in the dye and the dye won't soak through the crayon so your child will love discovering their patterns.

Pots and pans

Give your kids some clean, empty pots and pans and some wooden spoons and let them play. They will spend hours having fun with this old fashioned idea.