Free printables

Build a little mountain and make it erupt with foamy "lava".

You need

• A small cup or bottle
• Play dough, sand or foil to make the mountain
• 2 spoons of baking soda
• Half a cup of vinegar
• A drop of dish soap
• Red food colouring (optional)
• A tray

Steps

1. Put the cup on the tray and build the mountain around it.
2. Put the baking soda, the soap and a few drops of colouring in the cup.
3. Count down together: 3, 2, 1…
4. Your child pours the vinegar in. Eruption!
5. Add more vinegar to make it erupt again.

What your child learns

Vinegar (an acid) and baking soda (a base) react and make a gas: carbon dioxide. The soap traps the gas in bubbles, so it foams up.

Colours dance and swirl in a plate of milk with just one drop of soap.

You need

• A plate
• Milk (whole milk works best)
• Food colouring, 3 or 4 colours
• Cotton swabs
• Dish soap

Steps

1. Pour milk into the plate to cover the bottom.
2. Add drops of each colour near the middle.
3. Dip a cotton swab in dish soap.
4. Touch the milk in the middle with the swab and hold it still. Watch!
5. Try touching other places.

What your child learns

Soap breaks the "skin" on top of the milk and grabs the tiny drops of fat. The milk moves fast and carries the colours with it.

Which ice cube melts first? Salt, sugar, warm water or nothing?

You need

• 4 ice cubes
• 4 small plates
• Salt, sugar, a little warm water

Steps

1. Put one ice cube on each plate.
2. Add salt on one, sugar on another, warm water on the third, nothing on the last.
3. Guess the winner together.
4. Check every 5 minutes and point to the fastest.

What your child learns

Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, so salty ice melts faster. That is why salt is put on icy roads.

Blobs of colour go up and down in a bottle like a real lava lamp.

You need

• A clear bottle or glass
• Water and cooking oil
• Food colouring
• A fizzy vitamin tablet or a pinch of baking soda and a little vinegar

Steps

1. Fill a quarter of the bottle with water and add colouring.
2. Fill the rest with oil and wait until it separates.
3. Drop in a piece of the fizzy tablet.
4. Watch the coloured blobs rise and fall!

What your child learns

Oil is lighter than water and they do not mix. Gas bubbles carry coloured water up; when the bubbles pop, the water sinks again.

Turn boxes into a castle with towers, a drawbridge and flags.

You need

• Big and small boxes
• Toilet paper and paper towel rolls
• Tape and glue
• Scissors (grown-up)
• Markers or paint
• String, a straw and paper for flags

Steps

1. Choose the biggest box: that’s the castle.
2. The grown-up cuts a door that opens down: the drawbridge. Tie string to lift it.
3. Tape rolls at the corners: the towers.
4. Cut little squares along the top edge (battlements).
5. Decorate together: stones, windows, a coat of arms.
6. Make flags with a straw and paper.

What your child learns

Building teaches planning, shapes and balance, and your child practises cutting, sticking and telling a story with what they made.

Safety

⚠️ The grown-up does the cutting with sharp scissors or a cutter.

Fold planes together, then see whose flies the furthest.

You need

• Sheets of paper
• Tape measure or footsteps
• Markers to decorate

Steps

1. Fold the paper in half the long way, then open it.
2. Fold the two top corners to the middle line.
3. Fold the new slanted edges to the middle again.
4. Fold the plane in half, then fold each wing down.
5. Decorate and name your planes.
6. Throw from the same line. Measure who flew furthest!

What your child learns

Your child learns to follow steps, fold precisely and test ideas: change one thing and see what happens.

How tall can you build a tower with paper cups before it falls?

You need

• 20 or more paper or plastic cups

Steps

1. Build a tower together, one cup at a time.
2. Try different patterns: pyramid, straight up, rings.
3. Measure it against your body.
4. Count down and knock it over with a soft ball!

What your child learns

A wide, strong base holds the weight of the cups above. Builders use the same idea for real towers.

Make little boats from sponges and race them by blowing.

You need

• Kitchen sponges
• Straws or sticks
• Paper for the sails
• Tape
• A tub or tray of water

Steps

1. Cut a sponge into a boat shape (grown-up).
2. Tape a paper sail to a straw and push it into the sponge.
3. Float the boats.
4. Blow on the sails to race to the other side!

What your child learns

Wind pushes on the sail and moves the boat. A bigger sail catches more wind.

Hide a small treasure and lead your child to it with clues.

You need

• Paper and a pencil
• A small treasure (a sticker, a drawing, a snack)
• Tape

Steps

1. Hide the treasure.
2. Write 5 clues. Each clue tells where the next one is (for little ones: draw them).
3. Examples: "Where we keep cold food" (fridge), "Where you sleep" (bed).
4. Hide the clues, give the first one to your child.
5. Read and solve together until the treasure!
6. Swap: your child hides a treasure for you.

What your child learns

Clues build reading, logic and memory of places. Writing clues for you is great practice too.

Act out an animal without words; the others guess.

You need

• Small papers with animal names or drawings
• A bowl or a hat

Steps

1. Write or draw 15 animals on papers. Fold them into the bowl.
2. One player picks a paper secretly.
3. Act it out: moves, walk, faces, no words (sounds allowed for little ones).
4. The others guess. The first right answer wins a point.
5. Next player! Try harder ones: a jellyfish, a sloth, a kangaroo.

What your child learns

Acting builds body awareness, imagination and vocabulary, and laughing together is the best part.

Do the action only when you hear “Simon says”!

You need

• Nothing, just players

Steps

1. One player is Simon and gives orders: “Simon says touch your nose.”
2. Everyone does it.
3. If Simon gives an order without “Simon says”, nobody should move!
4. Take turns being Simon.

What your child learns

Listening carefully and stopping yourself trains self-control and attention, important skills for school.

Hide a toy; guide the seeker with “warmer” and “colder”.

You need

• A small toy or object

Steps

1. One player hides the toy while the other covers their eyes.
2. The seeker walks around.
3. The hider says “warm”, “hot”, “boiling!” when close, and “cold”, “freezing!” when far.
4. Swap roles when it is found.

What your child learns

Children learn to follow clues and to use words for distance and direction.

Go for a walk and tick off everything you find.

You need

• A paper with 9 squares: a feather, a red leaf, a round stone, a flower, a bird, an insect, a pine cone, a cloud shape, a stick shaped like a Y
• A pencil

Steps

1. Draw the bingo card together before you leave.
2. Walk slowly and look everywhere: up, down, under leaves.
3. Tick each thing you find (look, don’t pick living plants).
4. Three in a row: shout "Bingo!"
5. Can you fill the whole card?

What your child learns

Children notice details, learn names of plants and animals and get fresh air and exercise.

Collect leaves and make their patterns appear with a crayon.

You need

• Leaves of different shapes
• Thin paper
• Crayons without wrapping

Steps

1. Collect leaves on a walk.
2. Put a leaf under the paper, bumpy side up.
3. Rub the side of a crayon over it.
4. Watch the veins appear! Try many colours and shapes.

What your child learns

Veins carry water and food through the leaf, like tiny roads. Comparing shapes is the first step in naming plants.

Lie on the grass and find animals and faces in the clouds.

You need

• A blanket
• A sky with clouds

Steps

1. Lie down side by side and look up.
2. Take turns: “I see a dragon!”
3. Watch how the shapes change and move.
4. Name the cloud types: fluffy, flat, wispy.

What your child learns

Clouds are made of tiny drops of water. Finding shapes trains imagination, and watching them move shows the wind high up.

Safety

⚠️ Never look straight at the Sun.

Put on boots after the rain: jump, measure and race leaves in puddles.

You need

• Rain boots and a raincoat
• A stick
• Leaves or small sticks for boats

Steps

1. Find puddles after rain.
2. Guess which is deepest, then measure with a stick.
3. Jump in! Which makes the biggest splash?
4. Race leaf boats by blowing.

What your child learns

Measuring, comparing and splashing turn a rainy day into science: depth, size and water movement.

Make a dough with flour, salt and water, sculpt, bake and paint.

You need

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• ¾ cup water
• Cookie cutters, a straw
• Paint and brushes
• An oven (grown-up)

Steps

1. Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Add water little by little and knead until smooth.
3. Roll it out and cut shapes, or sculpt animals, a hand print, a name.
4. Make a hole with a straw if you want to hang it.
5. The grown-up bakes at 120 °C (250 °F) for 2–3 hours until hard.
6. When cool, paint it!

What your child learns

Kneading and sculpting strengthen little hands for writing; measuring is real-life math.

Safety

⚠️ Very salty: not for eating. The grown-up handles the oven.

Turn the living room into a cinema with tickets, snacks and a short film.

You need

• Paper for tickets
• Cushions and blankets
• A snack
• A short family film or a picture book read aloud

Steps

1. Make tickets and a little sign with the film’s name.
2. Your child sells tickets and shows people to their seats.
3. Dim the lights and enjoy the film or story together.
4. Afterwards, give the film stars: 1 to 5!

What your child learns

Pretend roles (ticket seller, usher) build confidence and language. Talking about the story afterwards builds understanding.

Set up a shop with things from the kitchen and pay with paper money.

You need

• Packets and tins from the cupboard
• Paper for price tags and money
• A bag and a basket

Steps

1. Choose a shop: grocery, toy shop, bakery.
2. Make price tags: 1, 2, 5…
3. Make paper coins and notes.
4. Take turns being the shopkeeper and the customer.

What your child learns

Buying and giving change is real maths. Polite shop talk builds social skills and vocabulary.

Put on your favourite songs and invent a family dance.

You need

• Music
• Space to move
• Scarves or ribbons (optional)

Steps

1. Each person picks one song.
2. Dance freely, then copy each other’s moves.
3. Invent a family move with a funny name.
4. End with a slow song to calm down together.

What your child learns

Dancing is joyful exercise and builds rhythm, coordination and connection. Copying moves trains attention.

Make faces, animals and monsters on a plate with fruit, then eat them!

You need

• A plate each
• Banana, apple, berries, grapes, orange slices, raisins
• A butter knife (grown-up cuts hard fruit)

Steps

1. Wash hands and the fruit together.
2. Slice the fruit (your child can cut banana with a butter knife).
3. Make a face: orange slice hair, berry eyes, a banana smile.
4. Try an animal: a lion, a turtle, an owl!
5. Take a photo, then eat your creation.

What your child learns

Playing with healthy food makes children curious to taste new things, and cutting builds hand skills.

Safety

⚠️ Cut grapes and round fruits in quarters for children under 5 (choking risk).

Thread colourful fruit on sticks in rainbow order.

You need

• Fruit of many colours: strawberries, orange, pineapple, kiwi, grapes, blueberries
• Short wooden sticks or straws

Steps

1. Wash the fruit and cut it into chunks together.
2. Sort the pieces by colour.
3. Thread them in rainbow order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.
4. Make a pattern and eat your rainbow!

What your child learns

Sorting and making patterns is early maths. Children are more willing to taste fruit they prepared themselves.

Safety

⚠️ Use a child-safe knife or let the grown-up cut. Check for allergies.

Choose fruit, add milk or yogurt and blend your own smoothie.

You need

• A banana and other fruit (fresh or frozen)
• Milk or yogurt
• A blender (grown-up)

Steps

1. Your child chooses 2 or 3 fruits.
2. Peel and break the banana, measure the milk with a cup.
3. The grown-up blends it all.
4. Taste and give it a name!

What your child learns

Choosing, measuring and predicting colours make cooking a science lesson, and children love their own recipes.

Safety

⚠️ The grown-up handles the oven, hob and sharp knives. Check for allergies.

Make sandwiches that look like animals, faces or monsters.

You need

• Bread
• Spreads: cream cheese, butter, hummus
• Toppings: cucumber, tomato, olives, cheese, carrot sticks

Steps

1. Spread the bread.
2. Use toppings to make eyes, a nose, a mouth and hair.
3. Cut shapes with a cookie cutter if you have one.
4. Show your creation, then eat it!

What your child learns

Spreading and arranging build fine motor skills and creativity; colourful vegetables become fun to try.

Safety

⚠️ Use a child-safe knife or let the grown-up cut. Check for allergies.

A bedtime or dinner ritual: share the best, the hard and the hopeful part of your day.

You need

• Just each other

Steps

1. Rose: the best moment of my day was…
2. Thorn: something hard or sad today was…
3. Bud: something I’m looking forward to is…
4. The grown-up goes first to show it’s okay to share hard things.
5. Listen without fixing; just say "thank you for telling me".

What your child learns

Naming feelings helps children understand and manage them, and a daily ritual builds trust and closeness.

At dinner or bedtime, everyone shares the best part of their day.

You need

• Nothing, just time together

Steps

1. Each person says the best moment of their day.
2. Then one thing that was hard.
3. Then one thing they are looking forward to.
4. Listen without fixing, just “thank you for telling me”.

What your child learns

A daily sharing habit helps children notice good moments and feel safe talking about hard ones.

Ask silly and wonderful “what if” questions and imagine the answers together.

You need

• Nothing

Steps

1. Take turns asking “What if…?”: What if animals could talk? What if it rained sweets?
2. Everyone imagines an answer.
3. Build on each other’s ideas.
4. Pick a favourite and draw it.

What your child learns

Imagining possibilities stretches creativity, language and flexible thinking.

Sit in a circle and say one kind thing about each person.

You need

• Nothing

Steps

1. Sit in a circle.
2. Each person says something they like about the person on their left.
3. Go round again with something they did well today.
4. Notice how it feels to give and receive kind words.

What your child learns

Giving and receiving compliments builds self-esteem and teaches children to notice the good in others.