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Home » Activities » 10+ Perfect Montessori Learning Activities & Games for 3 Year Olds

10+ Perfect Montessori Learning Activities & Games for 3 Year Olds

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure .

Learn 10 amazing Montessori learning activities & games for 3-year-olds!

Give your three-year-old a head start on Montessori learning by engaging them in wonderful, easy to put together learning activities at home. The quintessential “soon to be preschooler” wants to do everything by himself, mimics the adults in his life, and loves hands-on, concrete learning activities.

Each of these learning activities for 3-year-olds will hone your child’s independence, focus, and coordination. Plus, your child will enjoy playing while he is learning!

Montessori Activities for 3 year olds

What Should a 3-Year-Old Be Able to Do?

Before diving into activities & games, let’s take a step back to understand the milestones of a 3-year-old.

Gross Motor Skills include balancing on one foot for 3 seconds, jumping, and galloping. There are many fun activities kids will love doing at this stage. Fine motor skill development includes being able to cut with scissors, stringing beads, and making a block tower.

Montessori Outdoor Activities for 3-Year-Olds

One of the best parts about working with 3-year-olds is that much of their learning comes in the form of games. There are no boring activities or lessons, simply games for 3-year-olds with built-in learning!

#1 – Walk and Name – An easy learning activity for 3-year-olds is to simply take daily walks. Along the way, point out and identify various objects. Name the objects within the context and cultivate new vocabulary for your child. Use the 3-period lesson.

#2 – Gardening – You know I am a huge fan of gardening with kids. Is there any better learning activity for a 3-year-old? Let your child plant a small herb garden. Have them tend to their garden every day. When the herbs are ready, use them to season dishes your child helps to prepare.

A young girl walking outside in the grass

#3 – Environmental Awareness – Teach your child respect for the environment by having them place compost in the bin or by having them place recyclable materials in appropriate containers.

Easy Preschool Activities for 3-Year-Olds

#4 – Chalkboard – This learning activity will be well-loved by your three-year-old. Set up a chalkboard, chalk, and erasers, for your three-year-old to work on those early writing skills. You will waste a lot less paper, and your child will work on the fine motor skills required for later schooling.

#5 – Cubbies, Lockers, or Baskets – Let your child play a part in being organized and neat by having them create cubbies out of old cardboard boxes. Allow your child to decide what they will keep in each cubby. Show them how much neater their play area is as a result.

Real Life Learning Activities

#6 – Set the Table – Give your child toddler-safe place settings, and teach them how to set the table. This is a great way to reinforce matching skills. Simply provide a clear image of how the items should be arranged, and let them practice.

#7 – Bread Baking – Make a batch of bread dough. Let your toddler help roll it out flat. Next, arm them with a variety of plastic cookie cutters, and let them choose which ones to use. When the bread is baked and ready to eat, your child will enjoy reflecting on how they helped make it. I love this making butter in a jar learning activity for a 3-year-old.

#8 – Match Socks – When laundry day rolls around, enlist the help of your toddler. Have them find and pair up matching socks. This activity is great pre-math, fine motor skill, and hand-eye motor coordination work!

Montessori Activities for 3 year olds

More Games for 3-Year-Olds

#9 – Mystery Bag – Place a variety of objects with different textural feels into a medium-sized bag. Let your child feel around in the bag to identify the objects and name the textures.

#10 – Color Exploration – Teach your child about primary colors, secondary colors, and the like by letting them experiment with finger paints. Let them discover what happens when certain primary colors are mixed together. They will make many connections themselves and will gain a better understanding of how colors work. This activity is a great prerequisite for Montessori’s color tablet lessons.

These examples should give you the inspiration that you need to start introducing a wide array of Montessori learning activities for 3-year-olds in your home and in your classroom.

Other Learning Activities & Board Games for 3-Year-Olds

Board Games for 3-Year-Olds

Hi Ho Cherry O

Hi Ho Cherry-O

THe Sneaky Squirrel Game

The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

Board Games for 3-Year-Olds
Zingo

Board Games for 3-Year-Olds

Boggle Jr.

Board Games for 3-Year-Olds

Sequence for Kids

Memory Games for 3-Year-Olds

Life on Earth Memory Game

Related Learning Activities & Resources for 3-Year-Olds 

  • Teaching your 3-year-old to read
  • The Ulitmate Guide to Teaching a 3-Year-Old History
  • Read this post if you’re wondering about pretend play within a Montessori environment
  • The BEST Montessori Activities for 4-Year-Olds to Do at Home
  • 100s of the Best Montessori Toys & Activities for All Ages
  • The Inspired Treehouse offers a good in-depth look into the developmental milestones of a 3-year-old.
  • I encourage you to read more about developmental milestones for 3-year-olds.


Tagged With: 3 Year Olds, Preschool

About Marnie Craycroft

Marnie hails from Maine where she spent summers buried in sand and winters buried in snow. She is the daughter of a nearly four decade veteran of the public school systems. Teaching has always been a part of her life. She founded Carrots Are Orange in 2010.

Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori learning and living website for parents and teachers.

Marnie graduated from Wesleyan University in 1999 with a BA in Economics. She spent nearly a decade working in investment management. In 2006, she earned her MA in business from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999 and currently lives in Boulder with her husband and three sons. She is Montessori trained. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, Buzzfeed, PBS Kids, BabyCenter, the Melissa & Doug blog, Huffington Post, and WhattoExpect.com. Besides writing, passions include running (usually after her three sons), photography, and outdoor adventures.

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Comments

  1. Eliyanah says

    October 9, 2020 at 2:48 pm

    Some nice ideas for a single mum to do with her daughter at the weekend, thank you very much!

    Reply

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