Fun activities for Early Years children

Making home learning fun. Our Early Years experts share their favourite activities for children under 4.

Play, create and explore with your child using our tried-and-tested activities.

Your little one will develop lots of important skills. For each activity, our experts tell you exactly what your child is learning.

You shouldn't need to buy much at all. We get you using everyday stuff lying around the house.

We'll be adding new activities throughout the summer. Share them on social media. And tell us how you get on – we'd love to see your photos.

Featured activity: entertaining your baby

Activities that help your baby develop listening and attention skills.

Try these activities

Featured activity: your child's interests

Use objects that your baby or toddler shows an interest in.

Let's get started

Featured activity: making games

Board games help your early years child learn important social skills like sharing...

Make a simple board game

Featured activity: scavenger hunts

Brilliant indoors – and lots of fun outdoors.

Try our nature hunt

Featured activity: role play

Children learn a lot from role play. Playing let's pretend can boost their confidence...

Let's play pretend

Featured activity: junk modelling

"We found what we could from our recycling. We even used wax from mini cheeses to...

Learn how to do junk modelling

Singing and stories on Zoom

Are you a LEAP family? Join us live on Zoom with your little ones for singing, stories and more. These sessions will help your child’s early communication skills. And they're a lot of fun.

For parents with children 0-15 months: Wednesdays, 2pm-2.45pm

For parents with children 15+ months to 3 years old: Fridays, 10.30am-11.00am

To book a Chattertime session, contact Carmen Martinez: cmartinez@ncb.org.uk / 07949077406.

Top 5 tips for storytime

Make storytime fun and effortless with these amazing tips from our partner, Doorstep Library.

What activities help child development?

From arts and crafts to board games and role play, treasure hunts to baking and much more.

Your young child's brain is developing rapidly. They need activities that help them with numbers, words and creative thinking – as well as physical and emotional development.