40 activities for five-year-olds

Reading and writing (1-10)

1. Reading the shopping list in the shop. 2. Labelling their own drawings. 3. Writing a two-line postcard to a cousin. 4. Making a comic strip with speech bubbles. 5. Reading a recipe step aloud while you cook.

6. Hidden treasure with written clues. 7. Silly-sentence writing — the more absurd the better. 8. Word ladders: cat, cot, cop. 9. Reading a joke a day at dinner. 10. Keeping a weather diary for a week, one line a day.

Maths and science (11-22)

11. Doubling a recipe with measuring cups. 12. Counting change at a shop. 13. A number hunt around the house — find a 7, find a 12. 14. Card games: snap, memory, higher-lower. 15. Building the tallest tower that will hold a book.

16. Sink or float with predictions written down. 17. Growing seeds in cotton wool and measuring daily. 18. Shadow tracing outdoors in the morning and again at noon. 19. Sorting recycling and counting each type. 20. Making a rain gauge from a cut bottle.

21. Symmetry paintings — paint one half, fold, open. 22. Simple magic tricks that involve counting or arithmetic.

Movement, making and social (23-40)

23. Skipping practice. 24. Hopscotch and langdi. 25. Obstacle course they design themselves. 26. Cycling with training wheels coming off. 27. Balloon volleyball. 28. Statue and freeze-dance.

29. Cooking a whole simple dish with supervision. 30. Sewing with a blunt needle on card. 31. Cardboard construction — a shop, a rocket, a doll's house. 32. Origami boats and planes with a distance contest.

33. Board games with rules: ludo, snakes and ladders, carrom. 34. Cooperative games where nobody loses. 35. Puppet show with a plot. 36. Pretend restaurant with a written menu. 37. Teaching a younger sibling something.

38. Looking after a plant or a pet independently. 39. Planning and packing their own bag for an outing. 40. Being bored for twenty minutes with no screen — which is where the best play starts.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Should a five-year-old be doing worksheets at home? — Not much. Reading aloud together, real-world maths and free play build school readiness better than worksheets at this age.

Q: How much screen time? — About an hour a day of good content, co-viewed where possible, none at meals or in the hour before bed.

Q: He wants to do everything himself and makes a mess. — That is the developmental task. Build in extra time, let it be imperfect, and have him help clean.

Q: What if my child prefers one type of activity entirely? — Follow the interest and add variety around the edges. Depth in one thing at five is a strength rather than a problem.