Manual Activities For Children Aged 3 To 5: The 3 Best

Manual activities for 3 to 5 year olds are a good way for the little one to develop creativity and have fun at the same time. The little ones are eager to experiment and learn, as mothers you have to stimulate their curiosity to let their creativity fly.

However, it is not always easy to devise useful activities to exercise the mind to propose to the child. To help your problems, here are some easy and creative proposals that will stimulate the imagination and most will entertain your children a lot.

3 Manual activities for children aged 3 to 5 years

1. Manual activities with cardboard: cooking recipes

The first activity that we present will help the little one to feel like the greats of the kitchen. It will help you prepare a “meal” from images of food and other material.

What do you need?

• Old cooking magazines or food brochures.
• Children’s scissors.
• Sheets of paper.
• Glue.
• Glitter.
• Paint or food coloring (optional).

What do you do?

• Have the child cut out the images of the food and let him motivate his choice.
• Ask him what foods he is most interested in and that he might like to include in the meal.
• Invite him to compose his own special dish with the different cut out images.

Use the images to get the little one to compose their own menu. If you want to add a little imagination you can include dye to dye the white sheets so that the little one can pretend it’s mustard or tomato sauce.

Once his  gourmet collage  is ready, the little one can include it in his imaginative games and serve it as a meal for puppets and soft toys.

2. Manual activity with a shoe box: the fish tank

An aquarium lends itself to a multitude of creative ideas. Starting from a shoe box, you can create an underwater scene and simulate an aquarium full of cardboard fish. 

What do you need?

• Silver paper or paint.
• Wool or rope.
• Cardboard to create animals.
• Ribbon, pebbles, beads and anything else you want to add.

What do you do?

• Help the little one paint the whole box. Next, cut out two large rectangles from the wider sides of the box that will serve as windows to your underwater world. If you prefer, you can use silver paper instead of paint to cover the cardboard.

• Leave everything drawn, cut out and decorated ready for the aquarium; like shells, sunken treasures and fish. You can also cut out images from magazines or print images from the internet. Make sure your sea creatures are two-dimensional.
• Make a hole in the top of each figure and thread a piece of ribbon or string into it.
• Cover or paint the lid of the box so that it matches the rest. Then use a pencil to pierce the lid where you will hang the fish. Connect the fish to the holes in the box with the string.

3. Handicraft Activity with Card: Easter Bunny Wreath

Finally, the creation of an Easter bunny wreath, an idea that will inspire you as the holidays approach.

What do you need?

• Sheets of cardboard in different colors.
• White cotton and buttons.
• Spools of cotton thread.
• Scissors.
• Pencil.
• Glue.
• Models for rabbits.

What do you do?

• Print a rabbit-shaped template from the web and help the little one cut it out.
• Using the rabbit template you cut out, make more from the colored cards. Cut them out.
• Create the eyes with the buttons and the tail with white cotton and attach them to the different bunnies.
• Make a hole in the top of each bunny and insert a cotton thread, connect them all alternating colors as you like.
• Once all the steps have been completed, your wreath will be ready to hang.

In conclusion, it is important to remember that the child must be enthusiastic about each new activity. This is very useful to you.

If you try to do one of this activity that we have just recommended but you see that your child remains disinterested, do not insist. The important thing is that your child has fun spontaneously.