What are some fun and easy games/activities to do/play with a 3 year old?

Candy Land and Memory were my son’s favorite games when he was that age.

@FGS
are these board games? he doesn’t understand anything in English…would he need English to play these?

Hopscotch outside, then drawing with chalk outside.

@casheroo
what’s hopscotch?

We have a lot of fun with balloons. Just blow several up and let the kid run wild. He also loves hitting and chasing balls, especially beach balls.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopscotch

@YARNLADY omg, that’s great
i just bought balloons today

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Those would be perfect then! My son didn’t understand English either (just German) They are both picture based. Candyland is a store bought board game but memory can be played with a deck of cards.

@casheroo oh i know what that is!
i just didn’t know what it was called in English

@Simone_De_Beauvoir @YARNLADY Careful with the balloons, if one were to explode while its near his face and he were startled, he could very easily inhale the pieces….Sorry, over protective dad :/

@FGS eeeee, that scared me

@FGS how do you play it?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Scared me too, that’s why he never played with balloons without either his mom or I around.

@FGS Warning is well taken, use ballons only with very close supervision, and take away all when finished.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Set up a deck of cards so that there are only two of each number and face card in the deck (don’t worry about suit unless you want to play with two decks) Shuffle the cards and lay them out in a grid face down. Take turns turning over one card, then another (they must be shown to the other player). If they don’t match lay them back face down where they came from, if they do that player collects the pair. The object is to make as many pairs through memory of where the cards are.

Get a butterfly net or chase frogs with a three-year old. Teach him how to skip stones on top of calm waters. Blow soap bubbles and run after them.

Make cookies.
Do a scavenger hunt, but with pictures on the list instead of words.
Play chase.
Toss something back and forth.
A personal favorite, kick a ball and let them run after it (this hopefully ends in a nap)
Play chase.
Go for a walk to a favorite place. (My neighbor liked to walk to the grocery store and eat cheese. Actually, I’m basing all of these on hanging out with her.)

@gailcalled
the first one would probably not work here
but the latter two we did, yay

Where is “here”? Play tag, hide-and-seek, spatter paint with a tooth brush, draw with chalk on a sidewalk, roll a soccer ball back and forth with each of you sitting down with legs spread. Goal would be between the feet.

Another fun one we used to do was get a box of animal crackers and close our eyes before we reached in and grabbed one. Whichever we pulled out, we had to make the sound of the animal before we could eat it…I have no idea what sound a camel makes but I invented one :)

Water and bowls, cups, spoons, eye droppers, all kinds of things to stir and poor and spill.
Gak – gooey ooey fun stuff to play with!
Homemade play dough, I like to add packets of Kool-Aid mix for a nice scent and color.
Make a pile of couch and other pillows and play “king of the hill”
I loved taking my boys for nature walks. We looked at the flowers, birds, dirt, bugs, grass, you name it we stopped and took a look. It is fun to bring a magnifying glass and look at things close up.

@gailcalled here is brooklyn, ny

Finger painting is always fun, just make sure you are able to do it in a place that he can have a blast and not have to worry about making a mess.

Another thing the kids used to like doing was picking daisies and putting them in water with food coloring and making different colored flowers. :)

OH and sidewalk chalk can be lots of fun and if I am not mistaken you have plenty of places around you where he can go crazy drawing.

@Kelly27 i love the daisy game idea
wonder where i can go find some daisies
oh i know
:)
cool, thanks

If he has some cash, I recommend Texas hold ‘em.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir : How far are you from Prospect Park? Lots of interesting things for a guy who is 3 feet tall to marvel over.

Daisies will bloom in late June and for much of the summer, wild. Also there are many pick-up games of softball and soccer that might be fun to watch. Have him start a leaf collection; you can press them in a heavy book. He is probably too young to ID the trees.

Supermouse’s idaa of a real nature walk is a terrific one. Keep a little journal for him to refer to when he is a little older.

…hi simone and jp, when mine were teeny tiny like that they loved hiking- during we would throw rocks, play with sticks, pretend we were different animals being pursued by hunters (like hide and seek with a theme), pick wildflowers, identify insects, look for lizards and other small animals, learn about the many different plants we would encounter and their helpful uses, learn where it was safe to go and where to practice being extra careful or not go… it can be a beautiful thing but can be a pandora’s box- it’s your call…

Oh! Time waster you probably will not employ: fill squirt guns with wash-out color or, ever better, food coloring that you suspect will not wash out. Engage in wonderful quirt gun battle in swim trunks and plain white t-shirt. Dry t-shirts, then marvel over your creations.

Turn on music and dance around! I do not have kids but the kids I babysit love it.

Check first to make sure it’s allowed, my grandson loves to jump up and down on the bed until he finally falls down exausted, yes, he actually wears himself out.

Build a fort from cushions chairs bed sheets etc.
Lots of walks in local park- even in the rain wrap up warm put on your wellington boots and rain mac, away you go, splashing in puddles in soo much fun!
Washing up – big bowl of soapy water and some plastic/ wooden utensils, wash up brush… and get washing!
Bubbles in the garden
HAVE FUN!!