Quiet Activities for Preschool

Coloring Activities

• Most preschoolers enjoy coloring so give them a variety of coloring books and crayons to use for a quiet activity. Play soft music in the background while the children color. If the children want to draw freehand pictures, give each child a large sheet of construction paper and tell him to use his imagination to draw a picture. Other coloring activities include connect-the-dot coloring pages and color by number. Many printable coloring activities are available online (see Resources).

Memory Games

• Sharpen the preschoolers' memory skills with some quiet activities and a few random items. Place items like an apple, key, doll, toy train and letter block on a tray. Walk the tray around the room and have all the children look at all the items on the tray. Walk the tray out of the room and remove one item. When you bring it back in the room, the first child to raise her hand quietly and tell you what item is missing from the tray wins a small prize. For another idea, leave the tray out of the room and see which child can remember the most items from the tray.

Puzzles

• Puzzles can keep young children quiet and busy. Give preschoolers a variety of puzzles to put together. The children can do the puzzles individually or work together in groups. However, tell them they must be quiet if working together in groups. Awarding small prizes for quiet groups will entice the other preschoolers to stay as quiet as possible. You can also play soft music in the background while the children do the puzzles. For a game, give each preschooler the same puzzle and see who can put the puzzle together in the shortest amount of time.

Guessing Games

• Young children can play a game of I spy for a quiet activity. Have one child start by saying "I spy something red" or "I spy something that starts with the letter R." Have the children sit in a circle and go around the circle trying to guess the item. The child who guesses correctly gets to go next. For another guessing game, fill socks with random items like an orange, pine cone, toothbrush, baby rattle and a spoon. Have the children pass the socks around the circle trying to guess what is inside each sock. After everyone has a chance to feel each sock, reveal what is inside each one.