Top 8 Educational Activities for 4-Year-Olds

The first 8 years of a child’s life play a tremendous role in determining who they grow up to be. As a parent, you mustn’t take the formative years of your child’s upbringing for granted. This is the time children are most open to learning. It is important to take full advantage of this by providing proper care to a child’s education.

4 is an interesting age. By this point, your child is no longer a toddler who lacks an understanding of patterns or rules. Nor are they old enough for direct textbook learning. The balance you must strike is something playful yet educational and meaningful. Thus the best way to teach a 4-year-old is by using educational activities.  

Most children these days get absorbed by technology and show a lack of interest in real-life activities. To help you find new ways to engage your child in something other than a blue screen, we have written this article about the best educational activities for 4-year-olds that you can use to bond with your child.

What Should You be Teaching Your 4 Year Old?

Four is around the age at which a child should start forming original thoughts and preferences. This is the key age at which children start properly learning about themselves and the world around them. The educational activities prescribed to 4-year-olds should be reflective of this mental developmental fact. 

According to medical professionals, by the age of 4 most children should be able to recognize basic shapes, colors, animals, numbers, and more. This is also the age where most learning occurs through observation. So the use of visual aid such as pictures or videos or auditory components such as music is highly effective. 

However, it is important to remember that like adults children are also individuals who develop in different ways. Every child is unique and gifted in their way. What captures the interest of one child may not work for another. It is important to be patient when teaching children and to take notice of how they prefer being taught. 

Top 8 Educational Activities for 4-Year-Olds 

Children respond well to fun things. When deciding to begin their education, it is important not to lose sight of this fact. To help you plan out fun activities to do with your child, here is a list of some educational activities 4-year-olds may enjoy.

• Coloring 

Coloring is an excellent educational activity for children. The use of colors and pictures helps capture their attention. To take it a step further, you may even consider printing out images of your child’s favorite animal or cartoon character for them to color in. 

Coloring is a good way of introducing your child to the names of colors and shapes. It also helps in developing a child’s artistic sense and attention to detail. Coloring in between lines also helps a child gain control over their hands which can help when they learn how to write.

• Mazes

Mazes are another activity that puts your child’s brain to work. Figuring their way through a maze can help improve a child’s strategic thinking abilities. Being presented with a challenge that has a clear correct answer can also help your child learn about dedication and goals. 

There are many maze printables you can find online. Print one out and hand it to your 4-year-old to observe how they respond to a challenge. You can also print several mazes and arrange them in order of difficulty. This can make this activity feel more like a game which may make it more fun for your child.

• Flashcards

Flashcards are a useful activity to sharpen your child’s memory and introduce them to new objects or themes. The best thing about flashcards is that they are very versatile. Flashcards can be used to introduce children to a multitude of things such as planets, emotions, vocabulary, and more. 

The task of making flashcards can also be another project in itself. By gathering some chart paper and glue you can introduce your child to a new craft project by making flashcards. Learning from flashcards they helped make may also help reel in your child’s interest.

• Reading

At 4 years old it is unlikely that your child can read themselves. This, however, does not mean you cannot read to them. Reading can help facilitate a child’s creativity. You can use picture books or audiobooks to introduce your child to stories they cannot yet read themselves.

Reading can also help build up a child’s empathy towards others and learn important lessons about morals. Reading can also introduce a child to new ambitions and a spirit for adventure. Instilling reading as a hobby from a young age may also help your child later on in life when they grow up. 

• Drawing

Drawing at 4 is a difficult yet liberating experience. Let your child unleash their creativity by asking them to draw. Aside from freehand drawing, you can also play a drawing tutorial for your child and ask them to follow along. This can help improve your child’s ability to promptly understand and respond to instructions.

You can also help your child learn drawing through connect the dot drawings. This can help improve your child’s free-hand drawing skills later on.

• Music

Children respond quickly to rhythms and songs. Learning instruments from a young age is also something that can improve a child’s ability to multi-task and separate thought from action. Incorporating music into learning activities can help keep lessons interesting. 

Songs are also a good way of helping your child memorize things. Whether it be days of the week or months of the year, everything is easier to remember when you put it in a song.

• Writing

At age 4, there are great limitations to what your child can write. You can help them get started by giving them lines to trace to gain better control over their pencils. Tracing over the same lines over and over helps the child gain muscle memory. This later allows them to be more natural when they try to write by themselves.

This is also a great way of introducing your child to numbers and letters. However, this task can sometimes feel monotonous and boring. You can combat this problem by getting nice stationery and introducing a reward system to get your child motivated.

• Building Blocks

Many parents may think of this activity to be more of a game than an educational activity. It is precisely this aspect of this activity that makes it so intriguing to young children. Blocks are a great way of improving a child’s spatial intelligence. 

Blocks with letters and numbers on them are also great for teaching new words or simple math. Asking your child to write a certain word with blocks can be a great way of helping them learn new vocabulary.  

Conclusion

Above all else, the best educational activities for 4-year-olds are the ones they do with someone they love. 4 is an important age in a child’s formative years. While it is important to ensure that your child is getting an education. The learning process should always be inclusive of things they enjoy and find interesting. 

We hope this article has helped inspire you about the different activities you can use to educate your child. For more content about child development and learning, consider subscribing to our newsletter. Thank you for reading and have a nice day!