Play is an important part of your child's development, so offer him plenty of time for games to help foster growth and show him a good time. According to Kids Health, your preschooler is ready to play games with simple rules, and he probably relishes any chance to be active with his friends. Games can help preschoolers interact with one another, so introduce a few games next time your child has friends over. They will be entertained and will be learning important skills at the same time.
What Time Is It, Mister Fox?
Kids Health recommends this game as an entertaining way to teach preschoolers how to listen and follow directions. Choose one child to be the fox and have her stand on one end of the room. The other children line up facing her on the opposite side of the room. The children call out, "What time is it Mister Fox?" and the fox tells them things such as, "time to hop" or "time to crawl." As the children hop and crawl closer to Mister Fox, she may say, "midnight" when they ask her what time it is. When the children hear "midnight," they try to make it back to the other side of the room without getting tagged by the fox. The first child tagged becomes the new fox. Kids Health recommends changing Mister Fox to Sleepy Bear or Big Baby, depending on what the kids like.
Keep It Afloat
Rae Pica and Mary Duru, authors of "Great Games for Young Children: Over 100 Games to Develop Self-Confidence, Problem-Solving Skills, and Cooperation," recommend Keep It Afloat as a game that encourages children to cooperate with one another and work towards achieving a common goal. Divide the preschoolers into teams of two and give each team an inflated balloon. Explain that each pair of children must keep the balloon afloat as long as possible by tapping it back and forth with their hands. You can challenge the preschoolers by asking them to use different body parts to tap the balloon, such as their head, elbows or knees. To make the game even more cooperative, try having all of the preschoolers stand in a circle to see how long they can keep one balloon in the air.
Run for Your Supper
This is a game recommended by Debra Wise and Sandra Forrest, authors of "Great Big Book of Children's Games: Over 450 Indoor and Outdoor Games for Kids," as a way to teach children patience and endurance. Have all the preschoolers, except for one, form a circle by sitting down and holding hands. The remaining child is "it" and begins walking around the outside of the circle. All of a sudden, "it" grabs the hands of two players and pulls them apart, shouting, "run for your supper!" The players who had their hands taken apart begin running in opposite directions around the circle, while "it" takes one of the vacated spots in the circle. The two players try to get to the remaining spot in the circle first. The one that does not make it becomes the new "it."
References
- Kids Health: Game for Preschoolers
- "Great Big Book of Children's Games: Over 450 Indoor and Outdoor Games for Kids"; Debra Wise and Sandra Forrest; 2003
- "Great Games for Young Children: Over 100 Games to Develop Self-Confidence, Problem-Solving Skills, and Cooperation"; Rae Pica and Mary Duru; 2006
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