20 simple educational games for children 4-5 years old
Miscellaneous / / April 02, 2023
Help your child expand vocabulary, improve memory and attention.
Most children of 4–5 years old already speak well and actively replenish their vocabulary, can count to 10, are able to name colors and shapes, recognize simple rhyme.
With the help of games, you can help a preschooler expand their knowledge of the world, learn new words and concepts, develop logic, memory and attention, work on fine motor skills and movement accuracy.
We have collected 20 games that do not require long preparation, purchase of special devices, applications or recipes. Most of them can be carried out literally on the go. For example, while walking, long trips or waiting in line.
Educational games for children 4–5 years old to develop memory and attention
1. I see
One of the participants looks around, finds an object of a certain color, such as green, and says: “I see something green.” The second must guess what it is.
The number of attempts is unlimited - the child can list all the objects of a suitable shade until he finds the right one. Then the players switch roles.
Instead of colors, you can think of shapes, for example: "I see something square."
2. What changed?
For this option, you will need 5-10 toys or other small items such as a hairbrush, mirror, phone, book.
Place your chosen items on the table. Suggest to the child count them and remember the location. Then ask him to close his eyes and turn away or go into another room.
Remove a few items - start with one or two. Ask the child to carefully examine the remaining things and say how many of them are now, what exactly has disappeared and from where.
If the preschooler did a good job, next time you can remove more toys or add new ones.
3. Listen and clap
Read a book to your child and invite him to clap his hands every time he hears a certain word. For example, it could be the name of the main character fairy tales or some action that is often repeated there.
4. Caravan
Determine the category in which you will come up with words. It can be animals, fruits, colors or something else.
Then come up with a word and invite the child to name his version, repeating yours first. Then, in turn, pronounce the entire previous chain, each time adding a new word.
- You: "Cat".
- Child: "Cat dog".
- You: "Cat, dog, giraffe."
The game continues until someone fails.
5. name it all
Ask your child to name everything that is round in the room. You can also use color generalizations (yellow, green, red) or be guided by tactile sensations (soft, hard).
Games for children 4-5 years old for the development of speech and deepening knowledge about the world
1. Finish the sentence
Start a sentence and let the child finish it. Here are some examples:
- The children went outside and... (began to play).
- Masha dropped the ball into the river and... (she cried, tried to get it).
- Vasya picked up a pencil and... (drew a typewriter).
2. Make up a story
Say a few words to your child and ask them to tell a little story with them. You can also use pictures, such as illustrations for fairy tales or even metaphorical cards.
Try to choose words from which it is quite easy to create some kind of plot. For example, "children", "snow", "bucket", "carrot".
3. come up with a rhyme
Speak simple words to the child and ask them to come up with a rhyme. After he does this, switch roles.
If you do well, you can go even further and come up with quatrains: you compose the first three lines, and the child the last.
Most likely, it will be not only useful, but also fun.
4. What happens
Ask your child to list things that are long, short, certain colors (such as red or green), hot, hard, spicy, and so on.
5. Call it the other way around
Offer to remember opposite in meaning words: "hot - cold", "loud - quiet", "smooth - rough" and so on. You can use the ball to throw it to each other during the answers.
6. Who was who
A ball is also useful for this game. But this is not necessary: you can conduct it without inventory, just by asking questions. Name the child an animal or object and ask them to guess what or who the name was before:
- chicken - chicken;
- cat - a kitten;
- the book is a tree;
- oak - an acorn;
- clothes - cloth;
- cotton fabric - a plant;
- boots are leather.
7. good and bad
Name the child a phenomenon or event and offer to tell why it is good. When the task is completed, ask them to think about why the same thing could be bad.
Here are some examples:
- Rain. Good, because he waters the earth, refreshes the city. It’s bad, because puddles and dirt appear, you can wet your shoes.
- Winter. Well, because you can make snowballs, ride a hill, celebrate the New Year. It’s bad, because you can freeze, you have to dress for a long time.
- Candies. Well, because it's delicious, you can please your friends if you share it. Bad, because you can ruin your teeth, and if you eat a lot of sweetthen your stomach will hurt.
Educational games for children 4–5 years old for the development of logical thinking
1. How to find out?
Ask your child questions about how something can be determined. For example:
- How do you know if it's warm or cold outside? Stick your hand out the window, look at the thermometer, check the weather in phoneto see what people are wearing.
- How do you know if you have salt or sugar in front of you? To taste.
- How do you know if someone is at home? Knock on the door, call the phone, in the evening - see if the windows are lit.
- How to know if there is a toy in a closed box? Shake the package and listen.
- How do you know it's New Year's Eve? Winter; parents buy a Christmas tree, decorate shops with garlands.
- How do you know if it's a weekday or weekend? Parents are at work or at home, the child goes to kindergarten or not.
2. What is superfluous
For this game you will need picture cards. You can print images from the internet and cut them out.
Offer the child a series of pictures with objects from a certain category and one extra. For example, images of an airplane, a car, a train, and a horse. Or banana, apple, pear and cucumber.
Ask them to choose the odd one and specify why the child decided to exclude this particular picture.
3. lie or truth
Tell the child a story, intentionally making some mistakes, and invite him to point out what is wrong.
For example: “Winter has come, the first flowers have bloomed in the meadow. In the morning the green sun rose and the children went out for a walk. Sparrows meowed merrily on the branches. The New Year will come very soon and a Christmas tree will appear in every house. Children will decorate it with balloons, garlands and sausages.”
4. What does it consist of
Choose an object and offer to name what parts it consists of. For example:
- Closet: doors, shelves, handles, walls, top panel (lid), shelf mounts and so on.
- Tree: trunk, branches, leaves, roots, buds.
Educational games for children 4-5 years old for the development of fine motor skills
1. Touch and define
For this game you will need a box or container with a variety of small items. You can use toys, pieces of cloth, some household non-hazardous things like combs or mirrors.
Ask the child to close his eyes, put his hand into the container and feel for the object he grabbed.
2. Who is bigger
It will be more interesting if two or more children of about the same age participate.
Place a pile of small items in front of the players. You can use buttons, dry beans, or coins. Stop for a minute and ask participants to move one item to another pile. You can complicate the task: work only with your left hand or with your eyes closed.
When the time is up, count how many items you managed to shift. Whoever has the most slide wins.
3. Catch and Collect
This game is also more interesting to arrange for several participants of about the same age.
Put on the table, for example, pebbles or coins. Each player will need to toss one of the items and catch it, while simultaneously collecting the little things left on the table in a hill with the other hand.
If to kid succeeds in doing so, the collected pebbles are counted as the number of points. Whoever reaches 20 first wins.
4. cup tower
For this option, you will need plastic or paper cups.
Ask the children to build a tower out of them as quickly as possible by arranging the "bricks" in a checkerboard pattern. To avoid quarrels, determine in advance how many cups each player is allowed to take.
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Text worked on: author Iya Zorina, editor Natalya Murakhtanova, proofreader Olga Sytnik