Educational Kids Activities

Educational activities teaches kids vital life skills and educational skills such as reading, math, fine motor skills, cognition, eye-hand coordination and more. Kids learn through play so play is the way with toddler and preschool educational activities.

This is a collection of our favorite educational activities for kids, including toddlers, preschoolers and older children. Depending on the activity, it may even be suited for babies too.

Plastic Easter egg painting

This activity is a fun way to paint if you have saved plastic Easter eggs from Easter. Kids can make different designs and patterns with the circle shape of the Easter eggs.

Bead threading fine motor math activity

This activity is a fun way to teach addition (math) to your kids. You only need beads and pipe cleaners and they can play with the beads and pipe cleaners in different ways. You can add different amounts of beads to each end of the pipe cleaner and they can add the numbers together or they can add the beads to the pipe cleaners themselves. Great for fine motor skills and addition (early math skills).

Sequencing printable puzzle

I like print and play puzzles like this sequencing because it only takes a few minutes to make. My son loves puzzles so it's great to keep him busy and it's a great tool to teach kids counting.

Velcro blending

I like this activity because you get to make a fun educational toy for your kids and you only need a few supplies to make it. This activity teaches your child the basics of reading by getting to know sight words.

White crayon art

I bet it’s fun for kids to see words, shapes or pictures form when they paint over the drawn on white crayon. And you can repeat this activity as over and over again with different designs.

Dot sticker shapes

In this activity your kids get to play with dot stickers while your they learn shapes. You can teach them shape names. You can write the shape’s names on the paper and point to every letter. It's a good idea to keep a stash of these dot stickers for loads of fun times.

Pom pom color sort

In this activity your kids will use pom poms and a serving tray (or muffin tin) to sort the pom poms by color.

They will add all the red to one space of the serving tray and repeat it for each color, filling all spaces of the serving tray until the pom poms are sorted.

This activity uses only a few basic supplies and if you buy pom poms and a serving tray, you can repeat this activity as often as you like.

Kids can sort the pom poms by color and size and explore the textures of the pom poms in this quiet time activity.

Pipe cleaners and plates quiet bin

This pipe cleaners and plates quiet activity is really simple and engaging. You just need plastic lined paper plates and pipe cleaners for your kids to play in different ways. You take the paper plates, poke a few holes in and add it together to a quiet bin.

Pipe cleaners quiet bin

This is a one ingredient quiet bin - just pipecleaners. Kids can twist the pipecleaners into chains for bracelets and other jewelry. Just cut the pipecleaners into smaller bits and it's ready to go.

Ice cream Sunday quiet bin

I like the idea of making a fun and educational diy toy for my kids that they can play with over and again. In this activity you get to make a cute ice cream felt play set from felt with pompom decorations. Kids build different types of ice cream. You can also ask them to build ice cream with different number of scoops.

Matching socks game

Just print out this socks printable,cut it and optionally laminate it. Then your kids can play match it with the socks.

ABC paint match

I like this activity because it is a very simple activity where you only need paint, paper and paint brushes to do the activity with your kids.

Drawing to music art

This activity takes art to a higher level by letting the kids listen to music first, then drawing what the music makes them feel.

It's a simple activity where you only need art supplies and paper with no setup. Because it is so simple, you can do this activity with your kids tonight.

Cardboard rolls flower printing

I always have paint and cardboard rolls in the house so this is a nice and simple activity to do with kids. You can make different cuts in the roll and have different designs.

Lint roller worm pickup

If you have a lint roller and some pipe cleaners in your home, you can easily do this activity. Or just buy some supplies and have an activity that your kids can repeat again and again.

Felt button quiet bin

Sometimes it is really worthwhile to make your own diy toys and activities for your kids, like this felt button quiet activity. With a few simple steps and supplies you can make a fun and educational toy for your kids to keep them busy and away from screens.

Color match clothes pins quiet

This color match clothes pins activity is great for learning different shades of color and it is tricky enough to keep kids busy for a long time.

Yarn and sandpaper kids activity

I like simple activities like this one where you only need a few items to make a great educational toy. You take sandpaper and yarn to create a yarn drawing board. You can also create pattern boards for your kids to replicate. Or they can create designs on their own.

Cutting busy box

Cutting is a skill that is important for kids to learn in a safe and fun way. It teaches fine motor skills and hand eye coordination and kids enjoy the thrill of playing with scissors.

Shape match post it note activity

This activity is easy enough for younger kids to do, since shape matching is not that difficult.

Plus it’s a great activity for me because it uses items that I have in the house, plus it is a great way to use up old paper shopping bags (I use them instead of butchers paper).

Popsicle stick clothespin blending

I like the idea of making a fun and educational toy for my son that he can play with over and over again and that actually teach him something. This activity will teach reading and practice fine motor skills.

When we played it we simplified it by writing every letter but the first letter of the sight word on the Popsicle stick. Then we wrote a letter to the clothes pin. That way you can easily teach words with the same ending such as cat and bat.

Paper plate rhyming memory game

At first I thought this activity is a bit complicated for younger kids but it's actually great for introducing them to rhyming in a fun way. The pictures are bright and colorful and will be a delight to turn around. This activity also includes a beautiful printout.

I-spy tray

Your kids can play with items they already have with this I spy tray activity where they learn vocabulary skills. You just need a tray or bin of some sort and some toys or household items to play. They take turns and say what they spy.

Easter egg sensory bin rescue

This activity is an adventure for your kids: to discover what is hidden in the Easter eggs that they’ve rescued. Is it a letter? A number? A fun toy?

Tape a few plastic Easter eggs in a sensory bin in a few different ways and let your kids rescue it with a laddle. For Easter you can add a few chocolate eggs to the bin.

I like this activity because you can use any Easter eggs in this activity but plastic eggs are best because you can add interesting items to the plastic eggs such as letters numbers and other small items. It's great hand eye coordination practice and are sure to keep your kids busy for a while.

Summer alphabet coloring book

This printable coloring book is great for teaching the alphabet and for letter recognition. It includes big, inviting pictures to color. You can give one page at a time to your kids or make a book of it.

ABC paper chains

You only need colored paper, a marker and Velcro to make awesome abc paper chains where kids can learn the alphabet and form words with the chains. They can also go crazy and chain together random letters just for fun.

Outdoor color changing volcano activity

Explode. Color change. Wow! “Let’s do it again, mommy”, your kids say as they watch the magic of a color changing volcano unfold.

Most kids have seen and participated in traditional volcano eruption kids activities but most haven’t seen a color changing volcano activity. It’s so easy to take two colors and let the volcano change to the mixed colors.

Cardboard roll quiet activity

Any activity that uses a few easy to find supplies is great in my eyes. Dot stickers and cardboard rolls are all you need to play this game.

Sticker busy bin

Give your kids a container filled with stickers with their favorite character and fun shapes and images and it’s sure to entertain them for a while.

Stickers are great for practicing fine motor skills and creativity. You can buy different types and shapes of stickers for kids to play with. Add crayons or markers for drawing and they are ready for quiet time.

Alphabet tracing worksheets

These tracing worksheets are great for teaching kids the alphabet and for some handwriting practice. Laminate them for durability so kids can play with them again and again.

Color hop

I like this activity because it involves kid’s large muscles in a gross motor activity and it is also educational, teaching them colours.

You just draw large coloured circles on concrete, or you can use DIY sidewalk paint. Then your kids can hop around the colours of their choice or the colours you call out. Either way, you and they can have a lot of fun with this easy kids activity.

Pipe cleaners stickman copy

This pipecleaners stickman activity is so cute because kids get to copy the printout and bend the stickman according to the printout. Move the arms up, legs down etc. You make the pipe cleaners men and then kids get to bend it in different ways. Free printable included.

Feed the turkey

In this activity you get to make a simple and fun toy for your kids. They get to scoop and transfer pom poms into the turkey's mouth.