After-schools are beneficial for students of every level, whether they are toddlers of kindergarten level, preschoolers of middle stage, or elder children. After-school activities are important for everyone as they keep your child energetic, active, and busy.
If you want to get an idea about the best after-school activities for your kids to stimulate their physical and mental skills, we have got you covered. In this blog, we have mentioned the 11 most important after-school activities to do with your child. After reading this, you can get different new ideas about activities and can explore which activity is suitable for your child.
Most Important After-School Activities For Kids To Stimulate Their Minds
We have divided the after-school activities for the kids into three different stages, which include Kindergarten students, preschoolers, and elementary students. Each stage has its demand, level of understanding, learning, and abilities. Therefore, after-school activities for each stage are different.
For example, for a preschooler, an after-school activity should focus on developing their motor skills, while for a middle schooler, an after-school activity should focus on developing their cognitive skills, and for elementary students, an after-school activity should enhance their academic skills.
Best After-School Activities For Kindergarten Students
Kindergarten students are more curious, energetic, and always ready to perform new activities. They have shorter classes, so they have plenty of time to perform after-school activities.
1. Scavenger Hunter In Park
Scavenger hunting in the park is an activity that helps to develop the tactical and motor skills of your child. To perform this activity, you have to take your child to a nearby park and some of his favorite small toys like toys, blocks, balls, or stuffed toys. Then, you can hide these toys and ask your child to find them around the park. With such activities, you will have a great time with your child.
2. Recycling Crayons
Through recycling crayons, your child can learn about different shapes and color matching. This is a highly learning and recommended activity for your kiddos. In this activity, ask your child to collect all the broken crayons and sort the crayons by color. This is a great way for younger children to practice color recognition and sorting skills.
3. Colorful Popsicles
Making colorful popsicles is a fun and educational activity for your kids that helps in the sensory development of young children. It is a delightful way to spend time with your kids after school. It engages multiple senses including taste, sight, and touch. Bright colors of popsicles attract the child. To make popsicles, you can use different food colors and flavors like orange and grapes.
4. Count It
Asking your child to count different things is another interesting and educational activity for your kid. While driving to/from your kid to school and making something delicious for him in the kitchen, you can ask him to count various things such as trees on the way to/from the school, and count some kitchen stuff such as spoons or glass. Through this activity, you can engage him in learning and this simple activity boasts, matching, counting, and observation skills in your child.
5. Word Tree
Dry leaves, markers, dual-sided tape, and cardboard sheets are things that are required to perform this activity with your child. Take your child to the garden or nearby park and ask him to collect dry leaves. After that write different numbers and alphabets on leaves and stick tape to the back side of the leaves. Then give a word to the child and ask him to find alphabets and paste them on the cardboard sheet. This learning activity helps your toddlers to learn the alphabet and numbers.
Best After-School Activities For Preschoolers
You must select the most engaging and learning activities for your preschoolers because it is a little bit difficult to engage the preschoolers for a long time. Here are some best activities for preschoolers that help to teach them new skills.
1. Foam Art
Foam art is an artistic activity that helps sensory development in your child. Shaving foam, watercolors, and sheets of paper are the required things to perform this activity. In this activity, you just need to put shaving foam on the piece of paper and ask your child to paint something on the foam according to his interest and then place another piece of paper on the foam, it will transfer the foam colors to other paper. It is some sort of foam painting and boasts an artistic approach for your child.
2. Tell Me A Story
Tell me a story is a simple and interesting activity for your preschoolers after school. It is an amazing activity to develop imagination and storytelling skills in your child. In this activity, you need to create small paper chits and write random words on the chits such as rainbow, garden, blue, parrot, and many others. Place these chits in the jar. Ask your child to pick one chit out of the jar every day and create an imaginative story by using this word.
3. Color Sort Your Room
Parents will love this activity as in this activity your child does not only learn different names of colors but also learn how to organize and clean up their room which will be helpful for parents. For instance, in this activity, you can ask your child to place different items of the same color in one place in your room.
Other than the above-mentioned preschoolers' activities, swimming, baking, fashion parades, planting a seed, wheat clay, and building a fort are some other after-school activities for your children. These are fun-loving, educational, and learning activities that develop different skills.
Best After-School Activities For Elementary Students
Compared to preschoolers and kindergarten students, elementary students are mature and able to understand different activities and complex ideas. With different advanced activities, you can develop their academic skills.
Here are some best activities for your elementary students.
1. Teach Your Siblings
For parents, sometimes it becomes more hectic to perform all the duties efficiently. Teaching your child and helping him in doing homework is one of these hectic duties for parents. You can ask your elementary school goers and put them on duty to help their younger siblings in doing their homework. Through this activity, the elder child can revise his previous lessons and he learns how to behave well and help his siblings. This activity also enhances the teaching ability of your child.
2. Read A Story
Elementary students can read advanced words, they can understand different new ideas, and have an advanced reading level. So, you must bring some interesting story books for your child and ask them to read you a new story every night at bedtime. They can learn different lessons from these stories and also enhance their reading abilities.
3. Indoor Sack Race
To boost the physical strength and competitiveness of your child, an indoor sack race is an ideal activity. In this activity, you can ask your child’s friends to come and join the race. They can have fun through this activity and this physical activity also builds a sense of competition in your child.
Singing a song, calligraphy, painting, dancing, planning a movie night, and making ice cream are some other educational after-school activities for elementary students.
Final Thoughts
We hope that after reading this blog, you can make an informed and final decision about which activity is suitable for your child according to his age, school level, and learning ability. All these activities play an essential part in the physical, cognitive, and social skills of your child. They also provide an opportunity for them to explore their creativity and express themselves. Check out our Kids Collection and brighten your little one's day! We've got adorable goodies that'll make them grin from ear to ear.