Get ready for a list of preschool fun in the kitchen! These simple activities can provide a variety of learning experiences for your little one.

The inspiration for this really started a few weeks back when I could really sense that my almost-four-year old was eager to start learning more. I previously told myself I wasn’t going to start anything formal this year, because I wanted her to just be a kid and PLAY and have fun and pretend with her sisters! However, I was really feeling a push to work with her a bit because I knew she was excited for it.

Of course, I immediately began thinking of what kind of work she could do, but wasn’t sure how I’d fit in the time to sit down with her while also keeping my 2 year old happy. And then it hit me, “Jaimie – stop taking this so seriously, and just PLAY with her!”

So that’s what we did. I was so inspired that I spent all last week coming up with fun things for us to do in the kitchen together, her favorite place to be with me. Some of these activities include the option of different learning manipulatives, but others are just kitchen tools. We had such a blast, and you know what? It was perfect! The best part – when my two year old was with us, he joined in as well! That’s a win-win!

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Why Kitchen Tools?

I don’t know what it is about my kitchen tools, but my kids are always taking them and playing with them. Is that just in my house? They pretend and do who-knows-what with them, and unfortunately I lose a few.

What is so intriguing about the kitchen stuff? Maybe there’s something about it that makes them feel “big” or just like mom. It’s just the perfect, simple hands-on fun that requires no prep!

Take it from an experienced mother that is missing tools on a regular basis. (ha!) Set some rules and boundaries. We eventually had to do this, and they are pretty good about asking permission and caring for my kitchen stuff now. OR! If you don’t want them using your things, head to the dollar store. Make a kitchen tub full of utensils that you can pull out and play with at any time! (Here’s an inexpensive set from Amazon – but maybe take out the cheese grater and can opener for safety reasons!)

Mixing and Scooping

For this activity we used a mixing bowl, puzzle pieces, a whisk, and a measuring cup. Place all of the puzzle pieces in the bowl. Encourage your child to mix the pieces around with the whisk. Next, scoop a piece (or more!) out of the bowl. Talk about what it is – are you doing letters? numbers? colors? maybe animals? Ask questions about what was chosen. Then, place it in the correct spot in the puzzle.

We used two puzzles. One was shapes and the other was letters. If she drew a shape we talked about the name of the shape and it’s color. If she drew a letter, she identified it and we practiced the sound and gave some examples of words that start with that sound.

This was so fun, and she played until all the pieces were out!

Sorting

One morning I placed three identical bowls on the table and gathered up my magnetic alphabet letters. I picked three colors and set the rest aside. We mixed the three colors of letters in a cooking pot and used a cookie scoop to scoop them out and sort them into a bowl.

A cookie scoop! Something so simple, but it was such a hit. She did it over and over and loved popping the letter out by squeezing the scoop. I placed one letter of each color in the bowl when we started so she would know which color went to which bowl. We would talk about the letters she scooped. Sometimes we’d say the sounds. It was so fun!

My two year old saw the action and wanted in, so I just gave him a bowl of letters and the cookie scoop to explore. The cookie scoop now in his hands, my daughter begged to continue playing, so she settled for an ice cream scoop instead and had just as much fun.

I’m not sure why, but using real tools in the kitchen is a blast to them!

You don’t have to use letters. Craft poms would be great or if you have counting bears, that would work also. You could honestly take a sheet of paper, cut it into squares and crumble the squares in a ball. Don’t make this complicated. Use what you have! Here’s a fun idea! Write a color or shape on that crumbled paper and have your kiddo open it up and then sort it! I may do this again and try that!

Pretend Restaurant

Ok, so this one was a little silly, but we had a ball! You’re going to have to get in there and pretend right along with them. They’ll love it!

So we pretended to be at a restaurant while in our kitchen. My preschooler was the waitress/cook (I was her helper) and she seated her siblings at the kitchen table.

I prepped very quickly. First I had a big pot of colored blocks on the stove with a big spoon. Second, I had a baking sheet with the magnetic letters (A-Z) stuck to the sheet in a random order. I put that baking sheet in the oven – seriously! It makes the pretend play so real!

Do we need to have a safety talk? Please please please make sure your kitchen stove and oven are off. Also, be clear to your children that they can’t be touched or open without your permission in the future. OK, let’s keep going.

I told my big girls they could choose one thing – blocks or letters, and their order could be something like this…

• “I’d like 4 blue blocks please.”
• “Yes, I’d like an E and an X”

My preschooler was in heaven. She took one order at a time and then went to “her kitchen” and prepared them on a paper plate.

Once she got the hang of it, I encouraged her siblings to challenge her without frustrating her. So, maybe 2 red blocks and 4 green blocks. Or, an “A” and 1 blue block. We went back and forth ordering, and I’ll tell you what – guess who else wanted to play?! Her big sisters!

Want to know how I changed it for them? I made a quick menu of 6 CVC words for my first grader. She gave the menu to her siblings and they ordered a word. My daughter wrote it down, went to the oven, and made the word from the letters on the baking sheet and sent it to them. So fun!

My third grader (Yes, even she wanted in on it!) is fun to challenge. I gave her a pencil and paper and started ordering lots of things. She quickly wrote it down and then organized it on a plate. We had a good time making her work hard 😉

Sink Play

This is the one thing that will keep my toddler (2yo) busy for a long time, and my almost-four-year old loves it just as much. I have a big, wide sink, and I put two large mixing bowls inside of it. I put soapy water in one and water in the other.

Collect toys around your house that you don’t mind getting wet. Most recently we’ve done cars or dinosaurs. Do you have those floating bath letters? That would be fun, as well!

I place a good, sturdy chair in front of the sink for them to stand on and show my them how to wash the toys and rinse them off. I also make sure to give them a spot to set them to dry.

Their clothes may get a little wet and you might get some extra water around your sink, but the mess is worth it. This is a winner! It’s important to stick around nearby as some of the splashing can get slippery, so a hand towel on-the-ready would be a good practice.

Kitchen Tongs and an Egg Carton

I always have empty egg cartons handy. They’re great for paint because you can just throw them away, but one morning we used them to sort blocks.

I gave my daughter our bucket of colored blocks and a pair of kitchen tongs and showed her how to grab a block and put it in the egg carton. It’s so simple, but once again, so entertaining for little ones. My two year old joined her and they moved blocks from one place to the other while I got ready for the day.

Once she filled the carton we tried filling it with only one color. Then we tried one row red, one row, green, and one row blue. You could also do patterns or finding the same shape.

Just like some of these other activities, the colored blocks isn’t a must. Try unifix cubes or counting bears or Legos. All you need is something small enough to fit in the egg spot.

Flipping Pancakes

I found this idea online a few years ago, and it is the cutest! I did it with my older girls when they were little, and I was so excited to do it again.

First, I used a cup to trace a few circles on a brown colored sheet of paper. Then, I stacked about 3 sheets behind it so I could cut them all together to make lots of circles! Now, you have pancakes.

Write whatever you want on the circles. To be honest, all three of my girls begged to do this when I got it out, so I changed it up for each child.

For my preschooler, I wrote a letter on each brown circle. On the back of a few of them I drew a shape. (This was a little surprise for her) I spread the pancakes out on our griddle and got her all set up with a chair so she could reach. I called out a letter and she flipped the pancake with a spatula. I told her some of them have a surprise shape on the back, and she thought that was the best!

You can change up the surprise – make it a sticker or a stamp. She loved flipping them to find out. I think she played three or four times before I finally had to stop her so her older sisters could try.

Setting it up for the older ones was simple. I just put some of their math problems from the lesson of the day and wrote the answer on the other side. (Then of course we skipped that part in the workbook! The game took it’s place)

Float or Sink

This demonstration is very simple. I use a clear container, but you could also just fill up your sink. Fill the container with water and go around your house finding items to put in the water. Before you put an item in the water, make a prediction. Will the item float or sink?

This has to do with density. If an item is more dense than water, it will sink. If it is less dense it will float. You could talk about what density is, but that may be over their head. Take it as far as you want though. You never know how much they’re soaking in!

Pouring Water

This is one you definitely want to do when you have some space in your day. It can end up quite messy, but it’s only water so it won’t hurt!

I usually lay a couple of towels on the kitchen floor (or outside) and gather a variety of bowls, scoops, spoons, and cups. Next, I’ll fill one or two of the items with water. I show my child how to pour back and forth between bowls and cups, and then let them be!

There will be spills! But it’s just water. There are times when I just let them be on their own to explore and play but you could definitely be more intentional about it as well. For example, pouring 1/4 cup of water into one cup four times to demonstrate what 1/4 means. We like to play a game where I say something like, “How many of this cup do you think it will take to fill that bowl to the top?” We make predictions and test it out.

When you’re done and the towel is soaking wet, just use it to mop your floor up a bit! 😉

Playing is Learning

I had so much fun with my littles (and bigs!) in the kitchen this week. It’s crazy to me how much you can learn just by playing with a few letters or blocks. The best part – basically no prepping! (The pancake one took maybe 3 minutes to get ready) It was so easy to just grab this stuff in my kitchen and go!

Let me know if you try any of these out! Leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @simply.learning.together I love hearing from you guys!