39+ Activities For 5 Year Olds (Printables + Reels)

As a mother, I understand the importance of educational and fun activities to help in the overall development of our little ones.

When our kids become 5-year-olds, they transform into individuals who understand the world a little better, have developed their reading, writing, math, and literacy skills, are more creative, and can understand their emotions. 

At this age, engaging them in pre-writing activities, letter recognition activities, and math activities can further boost their skills and keep them entertained.

Activities for 5 Year Olds For Kids

Rhyming Activity

The Rhyming Activity helps children develop their phonetic awareness and matching skills by drawing lines to connect words that rhyme.

Materials: A rhyming worksheet or use our printable and a pencil.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with the rhyming worksheet and a pencil.
2. Ask them to look at each pair of pictures and identify which words rhyme.
3. Encourage them to draw a line connecting the rhyming words.

More & Less Activity

The More & Less Activity helps children learn about numbers by identifying one more or one less than a given number using a fun monster-themed worksheet.

Materials: A “More & Less Activity” worksheet, googly eyes, and a pencil or marker.

How to Do:

1. Give your child our worksheet.
2. Ask them to write any number in the “My Number” column.
3. Then, they have to write a number that’s one less (smaller) in one part and one more (bigger) in another part.
4. Finally, they get to have fun by putting googly eyes on a monster’s face based on the numbers they wrote.

Make Origami Activity

The Make Origami Activity introduces children to the art of paper folding, allowing them to create fun animal shapes using origami techniques.

Materials: Origami paper and marker.

How to Do:

1. Give your child square origami paper.
2. Show them how to fold the paper into different animal shapes, such as a cat or a dog.
3. Tell them to use markers to add facial features and details.

Coloring Activity

The Coloring Activity is a fun and creative way for children to explore colors and improve their fine motor skills by coloring a picture using a color-by-number guide.

Materials: A coloring worksheet and colored pencils or crayons.

How to Do:

1. Give your kid a coloring sheet and some crayons or markers.
2. Help them match the numbers on the sheet with the right colors using a color guide.
3. Then, tell them to color the picture, filling in each part with the color that matches the number they see.

Rolling Dice Activity

The Rolling Dice Activity is a fun way for children to practice counting and hand-eye coordination by rolling dice and placing beads on a bunny’s whiskers.

Materials: White and pink sheets, pipe cleaners, beads, dice, markers, and glue.

How to Do:

1. Use a pink and white sheet to make a bunny face and add details to the face.
2. Now place pipe cleaner as a whisker of the bunny.
3. Encourage them to roll the dice and count the number shown.
4. Ask them to thread the corresponding number of beads onto each pipe cleaner whisker.

Try a Magic Milk Experiment

The Try a Magic Milk Experiment is a fun and colorful science activity where children can observe how soap reacts with milk and food coloring to create swirling patterns.

Materials: Milk, plate, food coloring, and cotton swabs.

How to Do:

1. Fill the plate with a thin layer of milk.
2. Add drops of food coloring in different areas of the milk.
3. Dip a cotton swab and touch the milk’s surface.
4. Watch the colors swirl as the soap interacts with the milk.

Bingo Card Activity

The Bingo Card Activity is a fun and interactive way for children to recognize and match different objects on a themed bingo card.

Materials: Bingo cards, markers, and scissors.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with a bingo card and markers or chips.
2. Encourage them to identify and cover the matching items as they are called out.
3. Let them use the scissors to cut out the objects and create their own cards.
4. Continue playing until someone covers a row, column, or diagonal, and call “Bingo!”

Make Art and Craft with Handprints

The Make Art and Craft with Handprints activity is a fun and creative way for children to use their handprints to create beautiful flowers in a pot.

Materials: Colored paper, scissors, stick, glue, and markers.

How to Do:

1. Trace and cut out handprints on colored paper for the flowers.
2. Cut out leaves from green paper.
3. Glue the handprints and leaves onto green sticks for the stems.
4. Now, make a pot from the brown paper and add details with the marker.
5. Glue stems and flowers into the paper pot.

Spelling Learning Activity

The Spelling Learning Activity is a fun and educational way for children to practice spelling by matching letters to form words related to pictured objects.

Materials: A board, marker, glue, scissors, colorful papers, and pictures.

How to Do:

1. Put pictures on a board, write their names on paper, and cut them out.
2. Lay out the board and letter tiles in front of your child.
3. Show the pictures on the board to the child and ask them to spell the word related to each picture.
4. Encourage your child to select the correct letter tiles and place them in the appropriate order on the board.

Cutting Pasting Activity

The Cutting Pasting Activity is a great way for kids to develop their fine motor skills and creativity by cutting out shapes and pasting them onto a designated area.

Materials: White sheets, colored paper, scissors, and glue.

How to Do:

1. Draw shapes on the white sheet.
2. Start by showing your child the sheets with outlined shapes.
3. Let them choose a piece of colored paper and help them cut out the shapes according to the outlines.
4. Apply glue on the back of the cut-out shapes.
5. Paste the shapes onto the corresponding outlined area on the sheet.

String Beads on A Thread

The String Beads on A Thread activity is an enjoyable and educational craft that helps children develop fine motor skills, pattern recognition, and creativity.

Materials: A variety of beads, string or thread, and scissors.

How to Do:

1. Cut a length of string suitable for the project. If creating a bracelet or necklace, measure it around the wrist or neck first, leaving extra length for tying knots.
2. Allow your child to pick their beads. Discuss the colors, shapes, and sizes to encourage learning.
3. Show your child how to thread the string through the beads, pushing each one to the end of the string.
4. Challenge them to create specific patterns with the beads, such as alternating colors or sizes.
5. Once all the beads are strung, help your child tie the ends together securely.

Make a Paper Plane Activity

The Make a Paper Plane Activity is a classic, fun, and educational experience for kids, allowing them to engage in hands-on creativity and explore basic aerodynamics.

Materials: Colorful Paper

how to Do:

1. Fold the paper in half lengthwise to form a long rectangle.
2. Bring the top corners to the center crease to create triangles.
3. Fold-angled edges toward the center to form a large triangle.
4. Fold the paper in half along the centerline.
5. Crease angled sides toward the center to create wings.

Action Words Activity

The Action Words Activity is a fun way for kids to learn verbs. Using interactive cards, they match words with actions, boosting their language skills.

Materials: Action word cards and scissors.

How to do:

1. Stick action word cards on thick paper and cut them out.
2. Explain to the children that each card represents an action performed by people in their daily lives.
3. Show each card and demonstrate the action, or have a child demonstrate it to the group.
4. Scatter the cards on the floor or table. Call out action words and have the children pick up the correct card.

Parts of Plants Activity

The Parts of Plants Activity teaches kids about plant parts with visuals and hands-on activities. It helps them understand plant structure and function in an engaging way.

Materials: Craft papers, markers, glue, scissors, and straws.

How to Do:

1. Write each plant part on the sheet.
2. Draw and cut out shapes representing leaves, stems, and roots from different-colored craft papers.
3. Introduce each plant part and discuss its role and function.
4. Have the children place the correct plant parts in the designated area on the paper, using glue to fix them.
5. Now stick the straw to make a frame.

Learning Direction Activity

The “Learning Direction Activity” is a fun task for kids to learn left, right, up, and down. It boosts spatial awareness and directional skills in an enjoyable way.

Materials: Colored paper, markers, and scissors.

How to Do:

1. Stick colored paper on square cardboard; now make circles and draw arrows in circles pointing in different directions (up, down, left, right) with other colored paper.
2. Cut these circles into individual circles.
3. Now, make some small cards with colored paper, and draw the same arrows with different directions on the cards.
4. Place the direction cards one by one in front of your child and have your child place the right arrow on the corresponding spot on the board.

Complete Word Search Puzzles Activity

The “Complete Word Search Puzzles Activity” is a fun and educational game where kids find hidden words in a grid. It boosts vocabulary, spelling, and pattern recognition skills.

Materials: A word search puzzle sheet or simply use our printable, a pencil or marker, and an eraser.

How to Do:

1. Give your child the sheet.
2. Let your child look at the bottom of the paper. There’s a list of words you need to find in the puzzle.
3. Choose one word from the list and find the first letter of that word in the puzzle.
4. Once the first letter is found, look adjacent to it in all directions (up, down, left, right, and diagonal) to find the rest of the word.
5. When the word is found, circle it or highlight it. Continue this process until all words are found.

Make a Paper Crown

The “Make a Paper Crown” activity is a fun craft for kids, letting them design their own royal crowns with basic materials. It sparks creativity and adds a regal touch to parties or playtime.

Materials: Colorful construction paper, scissors, glue, and stickers.

How to Do:

1. Measure and cut a long strip of construction paper to fit around the child’s head. This will be the base of the crown.
2. Cut triangles from the construction paper along the top edge of the strip to create the peaks of the crown.
3. Before assembling, decorate the paper with stickers.
4. Wrap the strip around the child’s head to measure the size, and use tape or glue to secure the ends of the paper together to form the crown.

Drawing Pictures Activity

The “Drawing Pictures Activity” is a fun way for kids to express creativity. They draw and color shapes and figures, improving hand-eye coordination while having fun.

Materials: Drawing sheets, pencils, erasers, and colored pencils or crayons.

How to Do:

1. Ask your kid what they want to draw. It can be easy stuff like circles, animals, or anything they like!
2. Use a pencil to draw the main lines of what they picked. Make sure the lines are light so you can fix them easily.
3. When the sketch looks good, let your kiddo use colorful pencils or crayons to add color and make it pop!

Shapes Matching Activity

The “Shapes Matching Activity” is a fun educational game for kids to learn and match shapes. It improves visual perception and helps them recognize basic geometric shapes.

Materials: White sheet and buttons.

How to Do:

1. Draw different shapes on cards and also draw the shapes as outlines.
2. Give your child the cards. They have to find the outline that matches the shape on the card and put a button on it. For example, if there’s a picture of a clock with a square shape, they need to find the outline that’s also a square and put a button on it.
3. Mix up the shape cards. Then, ask your child to pick one. They have to find the matching shape on a board and put it in the right spot.

Balloon Pop Subtraction Activity

The “Balloon Pop Subtraction Activity” is a fun game for kids to practice subtraction. Using colorful balloons, it helps them understand the concept of “taking away” in an interactive way.

Materials: A subtraction worksheet, eraser, colorful playdough, and a pencil

How to Do:

1. Give your child a paper with some math problems where they have to take away numbers.
2. Put some playdough on a balloon and then pop as many balloons as the number you want to take away. For example, if you want to take away 3 from 7, pop 3 balloons.
3. After popping the balloons, count how many are left to know the answer.
4. Write down the answer on the paper.

Handmade Clock Activity

The “Handmade Clock Activity” is a fun craft project where kids make their own clocks while learning to tell time. It’s a hands-on way to blend creativity and learning in a visually appealing manner.

Materials: Cardboard, colorful paper, glue, markers, wool, and scissors.

How to Do:

1. Cut out a circle from the cardboard. If you’re making an animal face, like a panda, cut out shapes for ears or other parts.
2. Glue some wool onto the cardboard.
3. Draw numbers on colorful paper, cut them out, and put them on the clock.
4. Draw the minute and hour hands and put them on the clock.
5. Add extra decorations like a nose to make the clock look even cooler!

Puzzle Activity

The Puzzle Activity is a fun and educational task where you assemble pieces to complete an image or pattern. It’s great for boosting problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and spatial awareness.

Materials: Puzzle sheets..for that use our printable, scissors.

How to Do:

1. Print the desired images or designs on paper.
2. Use scissors to cut the printed image into puzzle pieces. You can cut them into traditional jigsaw or simple geometric shapes like squares and rectangles.
3. Shuffle the puzzle pieces and encourage your child to combine them to form the complete image.

Match the Pattern Activity

The “Match the Pattern Activity” is a fun educational game that boosts kids’ observation skills and pattern recognition. It’s great for improving attention to detail and logical thinking.

Materials: Wool, cardboard, glue, a white sheet, and colored markers.

How to Do:

1. Draw some cool designs on the white paper.
2. Poke holes in the cardboard and attach some wool.
3. Take the paper and roll it up, then put it in the wool and color it with markers.
4. Show the kid a picture of what they’re making and explain it.
5. Now let them try making the same design on the cardboard.

Play with Toy Cars Race Track

“Play with Toy Cars Race Track” is a fun activity for kids to boost hand-eye coordination. They race toy cars down a homemade track, learning about motion and speed as they play.

Materials: A box, white and black sheets, scissors, glue, cardboard, toy cars, and a white marker.

How to Do:

1. Put a white sheet over the box like a blanket.
2. Give your child scissors to cut the cardboard into a road shape.
3. Stick the cardboard onto the box. Put a black sheet in the middle and use markers to add details.
4. Now your kid can have fun with their own race track!

Sink And Float Activity

The “Sink and Float Activity” is a fun experiment teaching kids about density and buoyancy. They sort items into sink or float categories, introducing scientific inquiry in a playful way.

Materials: Sink and Float worksheet, scissors and glue.

How to Do:

1. Give your child the worksheet.
2. Show them the cut out of the things that float and sink in water.
3. Explain the concept of sinking and floating to your child. You can say that things that are denser than water will sink and those that are less dense will float.
4. Ask your child to guess if each picture will sink or float before trying. They can put each picture in the right spot on the paper.

Stack Cups Into Towers

“Stack Cups into Towers” is a great activity for kids to improve fine motor skills and spatial awareness. By stacking cups, they explore balance and stability, fostering creativity and problem-solving as they build taller and sturdier towers.

Materials: Colorful popsicle sticks, and Thermocol cups.

How to Do:

1. Give your child some cups and colorful popsicle sticks.
2. Show them how to put one cup on the table and then use a popsicle stick as the base.
3. Now, let them build a tower and make a pattern using the cups.

Make a Snowman with Playdough

“Make a Snowman with Playdough” is a fun activity where kids use playdough to sculpt snowmen, encouraging creativity and fine motor skills.

Materials: White play dough, small stick for arms, colored buttons, small fabric pieces for a scarf, google eye for eyes, and a carrot-shaped piece for the nose. Additionally, a small colored play dough hat.

How to Do:

1. First, make some balls out of play dough. Make one big ball for the bottom of the snowman and one medium-sized ball for the middle.
2. Put the big ball on the table first, then gently put the medium-sized ball on top of it.
3. Now, take a stick and poke it into the sides of the middle ball to make the snowman’s arms.
4. Get some buttons and stick them on the front of the snowman to make a coat.
5. Use googly eyes for the snowman’s eyes, and use a small piece of orange play dough for the nose.
6. Take a small strip of cloth or green play dough and wrap it around the snowman’s neck like a scarf.
7. Lastly, you can make a small hat out of play dough or paper and put it on top of the snowman’s head. Voila! Your snowman is ready!

Counting Activity

The “Counting Activity” helps kids practice counting in an interactive way. They count school items and write down totals, improving number recognition and arithmetic skills with fun visuals.

Materials: Counting activity worksheet or simply use our printable, pencil or crayon.

How to Do:

1. Start by giving your child the counting activity worksheet along with a pencil or crayon.
2. Ask them to look carefully at the worksheet and identify the different items displayed.
3. Encourage them to count each type of item (pencils, erasers, books, bags) carefully, making sure they point to each item as they count to keep track.
4. Have them write the total number of each item in the blank boxes next to the questions on the worksheet.

Math Plant Activity

The “Math Plant Activity” is a fun way for kids to learn addition and subtraction. Using plant-themed visuals, they solve math problems with flower pots and plant sticks, turning abstract concepts into hands-on learning.

Materials: Math plant board with slots for flower pots and yarn, numbered pots, and yarn with flower heads representing different numbers.

How to Do:

1. Cut a rectangular piece of blue paper as the base.
2. Cut small squares/rectangles for flower pots, and draw fun faces on them.
3. Cut colored circles for flower heads and glue them to craft sticks or straws.
4. Attach the straws vertically behind the pots.
5. Cut numbers for watering cans and form a simple equation (e.g., 3 + 3 = 6).
6. Arrange flowers in rows of three with matching numbers above the pots.
7. Add stickers, glitter, or designs for decoration.

Ticket Collage Activity

The Tickets Collage Activity lets kids create vibrant artwork with ticket stubs, enhancing it with color mixing. It’s a great chance to recycle old tickets creatively.

Materials: Collection of old ticket stubs (from buses, trains, planes, events, etc.), large sheet of paper or poster board for background, glue or glue stick for attaching tickets.

How to Do:

1. First, put your tickets on the big board to decide how you want your picture to look before you stick them down.
2. Now, put glue on the back of each ticket and stick it onto the board.
3. Put the tickets on top of each other in different ways to make the picture look cool and fill up all the space.
4. Push down on each ticket to make sure it stays in place nicely.

Big And Small Activity

“Big and Small Activity” helps kids grasp size differences. They compare similar items, identifying bigger and smaller ones. It’s a fun way to develop observational skills and learn about comparison.

Materials: Big and Small activity worksheet, pencil or crayon.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with the Big and Small activity worksheet along with a pencil or crayon.
2. Show them the pairs of items on the worksheet. Each pair includes one big item and one small item.
3. Instruct them to circle the bigger item in each pair and square the smaller item.

Geometric Shapes Activity

The “Geometric Shapes Activity” is a hands-on way for kids to learn about shapes. Using colorful connectors and sticks, they construct shapes, exploring concepts like sides and symmetry visually and tactilely.

Materials: Drawing pins, a rubberband, and cardboard.

How to Do:

1. Put the cardboard in front of your kid.
2. Use a drawing pin to make shapes on the cardboard.
3. Let your child stretch rubber bands onto the drawing pin.

Shadow Activity

The “Shadow Activity” teaches kids about shadows and their formation. They match colorful pictures of actions with their shadow images, improving visual discrimination and shape recognition skills.

Materials: Shadow activity worksheet or you can print our printable, scissors, glue stick.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with the shadow activity worksheet along with scissors and a glue stick.
2. Show them the colored pictures and their black silhouette shadows on the worksheet.
3. Ask them to carefully cut out the colored pictures and the shadow images.
4. Challenge them to match each colored picture with its corresponding shadow by observing the shapes and the poses of the characters.
5. Once they’ve found the correct matches, have them glue each pair next to each other in the provided spaces on the worksheet.

Growing Worms Activity

The “Growing Worms Activity” offers kids a sensory and educational adventure, mimicking worm habitats to showcase their movement through soil. Children explore and understand worm ecosystems using tactile materials in a fun setup.

Materials: Sandbox or large shallow container, play sand, decorative items like pebbles and leaves, and tissue to represent worms.

How to Do:

1. First, put sand in a box or a container to make the ground for your worms to live in.
2. Next, you and your child can twist tissue paper into shapes that look like worms.
3. Then, add small rocks, leaves, and tiny shells to the sand to make it like where worms usually live. Talk about how each thing is important for worms.
4. After that, bury the tissue worms a bit under the sand so it looks like they’re crawling through the ground.

Heavy And Light Activity

The “Heavy and Light Activity” teaches kids about weight and comparison. They explore pairs of items to identify which is heavier and which is lighter, improving cognitive skills and understanding of basic physical properties.

Materials: Heavy and Light activity worksheet, pencil or crayon.

How to Do:

1. Hand over the Heavy and Light activity worksheet to your child along with a pencil or crayon.
2. Go through each row on the worksheet with them. Each row has two different items pictured.
3. Discuss with your child which item they think would be heavier and which would be lighter if they were real objects.
4. Encourage them to mark the heavier item with a checkmark in the provided box.

Number Counting Activity

The “Number Counting Activity” is a fun way for kids to learn numbers and counting. Using physical objects to represent numbers, it helps them connect numerical values with quantities, improving number recognition and early math skills.

Materials: Number counting board, small objects like beans or beads, icecream stick, and marker or stickers.

How to Do:

1. Set up the number counting board on a flat surface. Each number from 1 to 10 (or more) should have a corresponding line or slot next to it where objects can be placed.
2. Provide your child with a pile of small objects beans, beads, or similar items.
3. Now stick beads on the icecream stick.
4. Show your child how to place the correct number of objects next to each number. For example, one object next to the number 1, two objects next to the number 2, and so forth.
5. Encourage your child to count out loud as they place each object to reinforce their understanding of number sequences and quantity.

Tracing Activity

The “Tracing Activity” is a fun way for kids to improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. They trace and color a ship, practicing control and precision with pencils or crayons.

Materials: Tracing worksheet with a ship outline, crayons or colored pencils, eraser.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with the tracing worksheet featuring the ship outline.
2. Give them a pencil to trace the dotted lines of the ship carefully.
3. Once the tracing is complete, hand them crayons or colored pencils to color in their traced ship. Encourage them to choose colors creatively and fill in the lines neatly.

Scissor Skill Activity

The “Scissor Skill Activity” is a crafty way for kids to improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. They cut paper strips to create a textured hairdo for a character, fostering precise cutting and creativity.

Materials: Character worksheet with a head outline, colored paper (preferably black for the hair), child-safe scissors, glue.

How to Do:

1. Provide your child with the character worksheet and black paper.
2. Once they have a good pile of paper strips, instruct them to start gluing the strips onto the character’s head on the worksheet.
3. Show them how to safely use the scissors to cut the paper into small strips.
4. They should place the glue on the small end of each strip and stick it to the worksheet, allowing the strips to stand up and create volume.

Dot To Dot Join Activity

The “Dot to Dot Join Activity” is a fun puzzle that enhances kids’ numerical and fine motor skills. By connecting numbered dots, they reveal a hidden image, like a cute cat, while learning to count and follow sequences, improving hand-eye coordination.

Materials: Dot to Dot worksheet featuring a cat, pencil, eraser, and crayons or colored pencils.

How to Do:

1. Hand the Dot to Dot worksheet to your child along with a pencil. Make sure the numbers on the dots are clear and easy to read.
2. Instruct your child to start at dot number 1 and draw a line to dot number 2, and so forth, following the numbers in order.
3. Encourage them to continue connecting the dots until the full picture of the cat is revealed.
4. Once all the dots are connected, they can use crayons or colored pencils to color in their completed picture.

Conclusion

My son loved doing these activities when he was a small and curious 5-year-old boy a few years ago, and I’m sure your little one will love doing these activities, too. 

I hope you enjoy reading the above list of hands-on and engaging activities that you can do with your 5-year-olds.

Please leave a comment below if you have more activities to add to the list or have any questions for me to answer – I would love to hear from you! ❤️