Top 30 Learning Activities for 3 to 3.5 Years Old

I created a list of  Vito’s favourite activities starting from 36 months to 3.5 years of age.  I know we’ve had a lot more than 30 but these are his favourite and my top picks as well.  I chose these activities over the rest because he mostly asked for these activities to work on more frequently than others.  He’s more engaged, he learned a lot of vocabulary words and these were the activities where he spent a lot of his time exploring.  So I hope this list will inspire you and give you ideas for things to do with your child around this age.

** Note: Always supervise your child, especially if he/she is handling sharp tools and small objects.


At 36 months


1.  Learning and exploring Vegetables.  We did a lot of activities here, mostly exploration and learning the names of the vegetables we mostly eat at home.  You can use real ones (highly recommended) or if you choose to use toys, I highly recommend the ones in Learning Resources.

2.  Introducing the moon and it’s phases, this one is more on matching activity.  This was the time when Mavi was learning about the moon and I just had to prepare something for Vito too.

3.  The use of pin poking.  He loved this so much!  We used pumpkins, but you can try any available object including Styrofoam.  This is for practising hand-eye coordination and hand muscles.

4.  Different shapes of leaves!  We had fun collecting leaves around the estate!  And we also had a chance to use my  Montessori Inspired Leaf Shapes printable.

5.  Letter sound games with BINGO Games.  We practised the letter sounds with our FREE Beginning Sound BINGO Sheets.

At 37 months


6.  Introducing the continents using animal figures.

7.  Introducing the Montessori sandpaper letters.  Our start of learning how to write letters.

8.  A lot of cutting activities using scissors.  Vito became obsessed with scissors around this time.

At 38 months


9.  The use of Montessori Pink Tower.  This has got to be Vito’s favourite sensorial material.

10.  Alphabet Sorting Activity with letter sounds.

11.  The use of Montessori Knobless Cylinders

12.  Learning about Penguins.  Vito became obsessed with penguins that we just have to do this!

13.  The use of Short Bead Stairs.   This is the first time I introduced the bead material to Vito.

14.  How to tell the Weather.  A simple way to introduce the weather to your child.

At 39 months


15. Animals sorting according to Continents.  Vito enjoyed sharing this activity with his older brother.

16. Learning about the different parts of a flower.  Another activity which Vito enjoyed doing with his brother.

17. Visual discrimination using MiniLUK

18. Lots of color recognition activities!

19. Learning about skin covers and camouflage.

20. And yes, dinosaur play based activities!

At 40 months


21. Learning about land and water forms with Safari Ltd transportation figures.

22. Another activity on counting, the Montessori Number Rods.

23. Book extension activities like Harold the Purple Crayon and Caps for Sale.

24. Moving from Pink Tower to Brown Stairs.

25. More sensorial activities like the Stereognostic Bag.

At 41 months


26. Learning about construction tools through play.

27. Nature study on birds.

28. Learning about the planets and solar system.

29. Arts and crafts with Days of Creation project during the Lenten Season.  We seldom do some arts and crafts work, so this is something new to Vito and he loved it!

30. This is a favourite, learning about the layers of the ocean.

At 42 months


31. Building structures with Magnatiles.

32. Gross motor skills indoors and outdoors through Gonge River Stones.

33. Learning about Insects and Counting Bugs.

34. A lot of food preparations!  This is a summary, but we’ve been practising how to handle kitchen and dining wares since he was 2.5 years old.

35. Nature study on snails.

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