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[Childcare] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Play ideas everyone can enjoy
Three-year-olds start interacting much more with friends and teachers.
You want to watch them grow through a variety of play activities, right?
But when you’re busy every day, it’s hard to come up with new ideas for play…
For teachers with that concern, we’ve gathered play ideas recommended for three-year-olds.
Each idea is something the whole group can focus on and enjoy, so try choosing based on the weather and your class’s mood.
If one becomes a favorite, the children might say, “Teacher, let’s do that again!”
[Childcare] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Fun group play ideas (1–10)
Free drawing
Free drawing, where children draw whatever they like, is perfect for three-year-olds who are just beginning to express their ideas freely.
Planned activities and crafts are great, but saying, “Let’s draw whatever you like today!” and starting a drawing session can be a wonderful chance to bring out children’s imagination and expressive abilities.
The main goal of free drawing is to enjoy expressing oneself! While watching over their unique use of color and style, talk to them a lot—ask, “What does this represent?” and say, “Your use of color is wonderful!”
playing ninja
Train in tiptoeing and dodging shuriken to become a full-fledged ninja! Ninja pretend play, where you imitate ninja movements, is a make-believe game that engages the whole body—walking softly on your toes, crouching, and jumping.
Freezing in place when someone calls “Who’s there?!” and listening for cues to judge the height of incoming shuriken help children practice careful listening to the teacher as well.
For children who ask, “What’s a ninja?” it may be easier for them to picture the movements if you start by introducing ninjas through a picture book or kamishibai (paper theater).
Fruits Basket
By the time children are three years old, they’re able to play while following basic rules.
That’s when “Fruit Basket” is a great activity to introduce.
One of the charms of this game is that it can be enjoyed in a lively, large group.
The rules of Fruit Basket are very simple: the “it” player shouts the name of a specific fruit, and only the people sitting in chairs who belong to that fruit move to a different seat.
During this time, the “it” player tries to take a seat.
It’s ideal if the teacher can really set the mood so that children who are just learning the rules can have fun too!
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.
playing store
A make-believe shop where kids can experience the whole process—from creating products using recycled materials to selling them to friends! Children bring items like plastic bottle caps and trays, then use them to handcraft products such as food items and small accessories.
In typical pretend play, toy sets often already include items like cakes and bread, so there aren’t many chances to make the goods from scratch.
Why not have fun while imagining things like, “Is this how this food is made?” and explore the process together.
Tag (or Tag, holding hands)
Hand-in-hand tag is a game we’d love to enjoy with three-year-olds who are starting to understand simple rules.
While there is a version where children run while holding hands, during the stage when their bodies are small and it’s hard for them to be considerate of friends, have the children who are holding hands stay in place.
The tagger taps the end of a line; the child on the opposite end becomes the new tagger and goes to a different line.
Kids can have a blast feeling the thrill of not knowing when the tagger will come and cheering on their friends who are running!
Rolling Dodgeball
As the name implies, rolling dodgeball is a version of dodgeball where the ball is rolled.
Dodging a rolling ball is very effective practice for tracking moving objects with the eyes.
And because a rolled ball is slower than a thrown one, it’s less likely to cause fear such as “it hurt when I got hit” or “I was scared.” Another plus is that rolling dodgeball is perfect for indoor play.
Choose a spacious area with non-slip flooring, such as where mats are laid out, and make sure there’s plenty of room before you start.
Drop the Handkerchief
Here’s a game I recommend that can be played both outdoors and indoors: “Dropping the Handkerchief.” The rules are very simple.
Everyone except the ‘It’ sits in a circle facing inward with their heads down.
‘It’ runs around the outside of the circle and secretly drops a handkerchief behind someone.
When the person notices the handkerchief, they chase ‘It’; if they manage to tag them, they’re safe.
If they can’t tag ‘It,’ they switch and become the new ‘It.’ Players try to spot exactly when the handkerchief is dropped, while ‘It’ can pretend to still be holding it even after dropping it—making for a fun game of bluffing and strategy.
Color-finding game
This is a color-hunting game where children can learn color names while having fun! Place pieces of colored paper of various colors on the floor, and have the children collect the color the teacher calls out.
If you play the game to the song “What Color Do You Like?”, their interest in colors will grow as they wonder, “What color is next?” As an introduction, it’s recommended to talk about colors while looking at picture books or drawing pictures, or to move around the colored papers in circles to music.
After the game, you can have a discussion about favorite colors or try drawing pictures with the crayons of the colors they learned.
big-game hunting
Mōjūgari is very simple: at the end of the chant “Let’s go hunting for wild beasts,” the teacher says the name of an animal, food, or something similar.
Then the children form groups with as many people as the number of syllables in that word.
For example, if the teacher says “raion” (lion), the children form groups of four.
Before forming groups, there’s also a part where everyone has fun together—teacher and children do the chant with choreography while calling out various names.