No prep needed! Indoor activities for 3-year-olds, including movement play and group games.
Here are some fun indoor activities to get three-year-olds moving, even on rainy days! There are lots of games you can start right away with almost no preparation, including variations on rock-paper-scissors, balloon play, and balance exercises.
We’ve also included group activities tailored to the developmental stage of three-year-olds, so their interactions with friends will naturally grow.
Get creative and enjoy the time with the children while helping them develop their motor skills and imagination!
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Group Games and Indoor Play (1–10)
Mukkuri Kuma-san
Let’s enjoy traditional nursery rhymes! Here’s an idea using “Mukkuri Kuma-san.” Warabe-uta are traditional Japanese children’s songs that are fun because adults and kids can sing and play together.
They have a good rhythm, simple lyrics and melodies, and are easy for children to remember.
For Mukkuri Kuma-san, choose one child to be the bear, and have the other children hold hands and walk in a circle around the bear.
When the song ends, the bear chases everyone.
The person tagged by the bear becomes the next bear.
Train play
A recommended “train play” activity for around age 3! There aren’t any strict rules, so let them play freely.
If you make something to serve as the cars—like hula hoops or square rings out of cardboard—the kids will get excited.
If you pretend mats or balance beams are the tracks, a simple game suddenly becomes much more fun!
Rock-paper-scissors is fun even in the rain
Here are some rock-paper-scissors games you can enjoy indoors with kids even on rainy days.
“American Rock-Paper-Scissors” reverses winning and losing, so it makes you think.
“Body Rock-Paper-Scissors” is a game where you use your whole body to show rock, paper, or scissors.
It’s recommended to decide in advance what movements will represent rock, scissors, and paper before you start.
In “Newspaper Rock-Paper-Scissors,” you stand on a sheet of newspaper while playing; if you lose, you fold your newspaper once and make it smaller each time.
In “Rock-Paper-Scissors Train,” the loser lines up behind the winner, and the train of players gradually grows longer.
Try these and find your favorite rock-paper-scissors game!
Treasure Hunt
“Maybe it’s in the toy box?” “If we open the drawer, it might be inside!” This is a treasure hunt game that keeps kids buzzing with excitement! Hide treasures all around the classroom and have the children find them.
You can use stories from picture books you usually read aloud, or say, “Actually, your favorite characters are hiding in the classroom!” and incorporate things the kids love to grab their interest even more.
Will everyone notice the subtle changes in the classroom that they see every day without thinking? The teacher may be repeatedly surprised by how children spot the most unexpected places.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Train
A great game to recommend for preschools and kindergartens is “Rock-Paper-Scissors Train.” While singing, the children in the class play rock-paper-scissors.
The child who loses lines up behind the winner like a train, and in the end, the one who keeps winning becomes the leader of a single long train.
The key point is that everyone can enjoy a sense of unity by singing together and forming the train.
It’s a game where children can have fun while learning rock-paper-scissors.
Let’s all get excited together!
big-game hunting
Get the fun going! Here are some ideas for the game “Mōjūgari” (Wild Beast Hunt).
It’s a great way to explore number concepts while playing, so we highly recommend it! The call-and-response is done by having children repeat the teacher’s or caregiver’s lines, so keeping it simple and easy to understand is key.
Rules: The teacher or caregiver tells the children the name of an animal.
The children then form groups and sit down in numbers that match the number of letters in the animal’s name specified by the teacher or caregiver.
Start with animals that have fewer letters, and once they get used to it, switch to animals with more letters so they won’t get bored.
Moving House Game
Let’s move to a distant base! Here’s an idea for a “Moving House” game.
In this game, the cue word is “Moving House,” and children simply move from one mat to another.
Once they get used to it, teachers or guardians can try to interrupt them along the course.
The fun part is seeing whether they can complete the move while avoiding the teachers or guardians! It’s also a great idea for deepening bonds among the children by giving them a shared goal.