30+ Indoor Educational Activities for Preschoolers

We’ve all been spending more time at home recently, and that’s especially true in the winter. While outdoor play is healthy and necessary, sometimes staying indoors is the only option. But just because you’re inside doesn’t mean the fun and learning has to stop! We’ve compiled a list of over 30+ indoor educational activities for preschoolers that your 3 and 4-year-olds will love. From energy-busting gross motor activities to quiet-time threading and fine motor practice, you’ll find lots of fun options to keep your child engaged.

These easy indoor educational activities will save the day when you need an idea fast!

Indoor Educational Activities for Preschoolers

We have a lot of fun options for indoor activities that are engaging and educational. You’ll find some of our favorites below.

Let Your Child’s Imagination Soar: Fun and Educational Activities to Keep Preschoolers Busy Indoors

If you’re a mom of preschoolers, the wintertime might seem daunting– with all the extra hours spent inside. But did you know that staying indoors doesn’t have to mean less learning and fun? With some simple activities, you can keep your kids busy with creative ways to play and learn throughout the winter months!

From music time to science experiments and art projects galore, we’ve gathered some of our favorite ideas for indoor-friendly educational games that will let your child’s imagination soar. So break out those blankets and gather around—it’s time for cozy family fun!

Keeping kids busy and learning during winter with simple indoor activities.

Winter can be a difficult time for parents when it comes to keeping kids busy and learning. With the cold weather and shorter days, it can be hard to come up with ideas that will keep everyone entertained. However, there are a few simple indoor activities that can help make the winter months fun and educational for kids.

One great way to keep kids busy is to have them do arts and crafts. There are a lot of different crafts that can be done indoors, and most of them are pretty easy, so kids of all ages can participate. For example, kids can make snowflakes, create Christmas ornaments, or make winter-themed paintings.

Another great way to keep kids busy during winter is by having them learn new things. There are a lot of different educational websites and apps that can be used for this purpose. For example, Khan Academy offers various online courses in various subjects, such as math, science, history, and more.

There are also a number of fun games that can help teach kids new things, such as The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game, or Snug as a Bug in a Rug.

Finally, another great way to keep kids busy during winter is by taking them on educational trips. Several places can be visited in the wintertime, such as museums, art galleries, zoos, and more. This is an excellent way for kids to learn about new things while having fun.

science experiments that are perfect for indoors.

There are many science experiments that can be done indoors, and below are just a few examples. One experiment that is perfect for colder months is making ice bubbles. This experiment is simple – all you need is water, dish soap, food coloring, and a bowl. First, fill the bowl with water and add a few drops of food coloring. Add dish soap to the bowl and stir until it’s well mixed in.

Put your hand in the bowl and make bubbles. Once you have some bubbles, use a spoon to scoop them up and put them into another bowl filled with ice water. The bubble will freeze instantly, and you can watch them pop!

Another fun experiment that can be done indoors is making slime. This is an excellent experiment for kids of all ages. All you need is white glue, water, Borax powder, and food coloring (optional). Check out all of the fantastic SLIME RECIPES HERE!

Be sure to store your slime in an airtight container when you’re finished playing with it!

These are just two examples of fun science experiments that can be done indoors – there are many more out there! If you’re looking for ideas, be sure to check out this galaxy oobleck. These Kitchen Science experiments have many different ideas that can be done using everyday items in your home. So get creative and have fun experimenting!

Milk Magic Science Experiment

Our Milk Magic Science Experiment is a simple and fun way to introduce your preschooler to chemical reactions and colors. The fun thing about it is that you can do this every season or holiday, changing out the colors to make it look more festive. Red and blue are great for patriotic holidays, while red and green are perfect for Christmas!

Winter Preschool Themes

Need some inspiration for your homeschool or preschool classroom? Our Winter Preschool Themes post offers more than 35 fun winter themes that preschoolers will just love! Ideas include polar bears, hibernation, animal tracks, and much more. You’ll find plenty of interesting ideas to engage your little learners.

Unicorn Science Activity

If your child loves unicorns, you must try this colorful, fizzy Unicorn Science Activity. All you need is a unicorn mold and common household ingredients to set up this fun experiment for your preschooler. It’s your typical baking soda and vinegar reaction with a frozen, colorful twist.

Art project ideas that can be done during winter days.

One great way to keep occupied on a dreary winter day is by doing art projects. There are endless possibilities when it comes to art, so you can find something that appeals to you.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Draw or paint a picture of your favorite winter scene. This could be a picture of a snowy landscape, a Christmas tree, or anything else that reminds you of winter.

2. Make a snowman out of paper mache or other materials. You could also make a snow woman, snow dog, or any type of winter-themed sculpture.

3. Create a card or gift for someone special. This could be a simple Valentine’s Day card or something more elaborate like a handmade holiday present.

4. Make a batch of homemade cookies or other baked goods. This is an excellent project with your family or friends, and it will bring cheer to everyone’s day.

5. Create a story or poem about winter with your kids. This could be about their favorite memories from the season or about a fictional character who loves wintertime adventures.

Snowflake Art

Children who love art will have a blast with our Snowflake Art Activity. Kids can trace large decorative snowflakes and fill them in with paint or simply paint their own designs freestyle. There’s no wrong way to do this simple art process activity. It’s simply an invitation to play with snowflakes, to study their design, and just be creative!

For even more ideas to engage your curious preschooler, check out the indoor educational activities below!

More Fun Indoor Educational Activities

STEM Challenges with Popsicle Sticks from teachingideas.ca: Use plastic or paper cups and popsicle sticks to see who can build the biggest tower! This STEM activity works at home or in the classroom and can be a great team-building exercise for students or siblings. Popsicle sticks help stabilize the levels, particularly for younger children who have never stacked cups before. Allow plenty of time for the children to explore the materials and learn how best to stack them.

Moving Body Gross Motor Game from lifeovercs.com: Wiggle your elbow, twist your hips, and point your foot! It may sound silly, but kids will get a kick out of this fun gross motor game that gets them moving from head to toe. And it’s simple for busy moms to set up, too. Just print the paper dice, assemble them, and you’re ready to play!

Dinosaur Tangrams from simpleeverydaymom.com: Tangram puzzles are a fun way to get your kids thinking about early math skills such as shapes. Use them to work on problem-solving, sorting, counting, and other valuable skills.

Caterpillar Pom Pom Mats from craftplaylearn.com: Practice color matching and work on fine motor skills simultaneously. Use tongs or tweezers to grab pom-poms to place on the appropriate color on the caterpillar mat. Of course, your child can use their fingers, too.

Printable Penny Spinner from littlebinsforlittlehands.com: Spinners are a lot of fun for kids, and you probably remember spinning pennies yourself when you were a kid. Make that activity a little more colorful and fun with these printable penny spinners! Color each section a different color or draw designs on them. Insert the penny and take them for a spin.

Name Hop Gross Motor Activity from fantasticfunandlearning.com: It’s so important for kids to practice the spelling of their names. This name hop activity is a fun way to do it! Put the letters of your child’s name on paper plates, put them on the floor, and let your child hop to it! This is also an engaging way to practice the spelling of sight words with older children.

Number Treasure Hunt from team-cartwright.com: Number sense activities like this one are important for building early math skills. Adding numbers to a sensory bin provides preschoolers with fine motor skills practice, number recognition, and sensory stimulation. It’ll also keep the kids busy for a while, which is perfect for keeping kids away from screens!

Music-based activities that keep kids entertained and engaged.

There are many music-based activities that can keep kids entertained and engaged. One example is singing along to favorite songs. This can help kids learn new songs and lyrics, as well as improve their singing skills. Another activity is playing musical instruments. This can help kids develop their musical abilities and understand how different instruments work.

Additionally, dancing to music is a great way to get kids moving and have fun. It can also help improve their coordination and rhythm skills. Listening to music is a great way to relax and calm down. It can also give kids exposure to different types of music worldwide.

Fun Educational Activities

Polar Bear Activities and Books for Preschool from thepreschooltoolboxblog.com: The free polar bear resources available here will help you make a fun polar bear unit for your preschooler. Read lots of polar bear books, count polar bear paws for some math practice, and follow polar bear tracks to get the kids moving indoors.

Preschool Math with Magnetic Numbers by fromengineertosahm.com: Introduce numbers to your preschooler in fun, simple ways. Magnetic numbers help kids identify and learn to recognize numbers. Make sure your magnetic set has more than one of each number to practice number matching.

Cars Color Learning Activity from lorenaylennox.com: Practice colors in Spanish with toy cars! Odds are, if you have preschoolers at home, you probably have plenty of toy cars, too. Use them to practice the colors in Spanish (or any other language your little one is learning). Park cars on the appropriate color name. Isn’t that easy and fun?

DIY Balance Scales from gosciencekids.com: Which item weighs more? This simple balance scale is easy to set up, and your child will enjoy running around the house to find different things to put on the scale. It’s a cute way to introduce your toddler or preschooler to physics concepts, i.e., the bucket that is heavier is lower.

Indoor Games for Kids

Solar System Button Snake from schooltimesnippets.com: Learn about the order of the planets and practice threading at the same time. Kids will get fine motor practice while threading the button and ribbon through each of the planets in order. This is a wonderful quiet-time activity to wind down for a bit.

If I Built a House Preschool STEM Activity by fromengineertosahm.com: Are you working on getting your preschooler to listen to longer stories? This activity pairs beautifully with the book If I Built a House. This STEM activity keeps kids engaged with the story even after reading and is a fun way to build vocabulary related to the story. If you’re doing this activity at home, kids can even paint and decorate their houses once you’re finished “building” them.

Car STEM Experiments for Kids from taminglittlemonsters.com: Start introducing physics to your kids from a young age. This simple STEM activity beautifully illustrates the need for energy to move and the concept of gravitational potential energy. Of course, your preschooler may not understand the technical vocabulary, but you’ll be surprised at how quickly they catch on to the concepts!

Learning Activities for Preschoolers

Bilingual Painters Tape Activities from chalkacademy.com: Do you have painter’s tape on hand? It is a valuable learning tool with lots of potential. Make a hopscotch grid, practice forming Chinese letters, organize cars by color, practice shapes, and so much more. Line jumping is another fun activity for preschoolers that’ll help them get their wiggles out when you’re stuck indoors.

Sun and Planets Matching Game from simplefunforkids.com: Practice matching the sun and the planets to learn their names or put the cards in order to learn where each planet is in the solar system. You’ll find so many creative uses for these matching cards.

Learn Numbers with Tape from howwelearn.com: Here’s another fun option for painter’s tape. Practice number sense using tape and gross motor activities like walking or jumping to each number or fine motor activities like tracing them with a paintbrush.

DIY Stethoscope for Kids from team-cartwright.com: Preschoolers are just learning about how their bodies work, and they’ll find listening to heartbeats fascinating! You can do this by building your own simple stethoscope using funnels, paper towel tubes, and a bit of tape to hold it all together. Kids can use paint, markers, or stickers to decorate their stethoscopes. Fun!

Walk the Line Activity from littlebinsforlittlehands.com: Who knew painter’s tape was so versatile? Here are more ideas for using it, including walking the line, jumping, rolling a weighted ball, following the lines to collect Easter eggs, and so much more.

Indoor Activities at Home

Lego Color Sorting Toss from lorenaylennox.com: Grab some bins and your kiddo’s Lego Duplos to set up a color sorting station. Simply toss the like colors with like in the bins. You may want to label the bins with the appropriate color if your bins are the same color.

Ocean Pattern Block Mats from simpleeverydaymom.com: Perfect for an ocean-themed preschool unit, these pattern block mats will give your preschooler a much-needed break from worksheets while still engaging their problem-solving and math skills. Laminate them to use year after year with your kids at home or in the classroom.

Bird Eating Worms Activity from prekinders.com: Work on fine motor skills using pipe cleaners and clothespins. The segmented pipe cleaners serve as the worms, and the clothespin is the bird. Move each to the basket until they’re all collected.

Preschool Activities

Rainbow Bears Color Printable from simplefunforkids.com: If you have a toddler or preschooler, you probably have counting bears on hand already! Use them along with this free printable to practice color matching. If you don’t have the rainbow bears, pom-poms, toy cars, and other household objects work just fine, too.

Dinosaur Color Match from craftplaylearn.com: And here’s another color match that’s perfect for preschoolers! This one features colorful dinos, which boys and girls will love.

There are a lot of benefits to staying inside on a rainy day. Kids can still have fun and learn while they’re cooped up. One great way to keep kids entertained is by reading books together.

Reading aloud is a great way to improve literacy skills and bond with your child. You can also explore new worlds by watching documentaries or interesting shows together. If you get creative, there’s no shortage of things to do indoors.

Wintertime doesn’t have to be boring just because you’re stuck indoors! There are plenty of fun and educational things to help them stay busy. From making music to doing science experiments, there are lots of indoor activities that will keep your little ones entertained. So next time it’s cold outside, and you’re looking for something fun to do as a family, try one of these ideas and see how much fun learning can be – even when you’re stuck inside!

Not ready to set up an activity yet? Pin this list of indoor educational activities for preschoolers so you’ll have plenty of ideas handy when your little one wants to play.

Educational Activities for Kids

Click Here for Over 60+ Indoor Games and Activities for Kids

Winter Preschool Activities

Studies have shown that you will also love the following ideas if you like them. I have pulled them together for you right here!