Developmentally Appropriate Materials for Pre-school and Kindergarten Ages (3-6)

Developmentally Appropriate Materials for Pre-school and Kindergarten Ages (3-6)

Materials for preschoolers and kindergarteners should support their developing social skills and interest in adult roles, growing imaginations, increasing motor skills, and rapidly expanding vocabularies. Refer to the table below for examples of developmentally appropriate materials for preschool and kindergarten children.

Type of Material	Appropriate Materials	Examples
Skill/concept	Books/records	Picture books, simple and repetitive stories and rhymes, animal stories, pop-up books, simple information books, wide variety of musical recordings
	Games	Socially interactive games with adults, such as What If; matching and lotto games based on colors and pictures, such as picture bingo or dominoes; games of chance with a few pieces that require no reading, such as Chutes and Ladders; flannel board with pictures, letters, and storybook characters
Gross motor	Active play	Push and pull toys; ride-on toys; balls of all kinds; indoor slide and climber; rocking boat
	Outdoor	Climbers, rope ladders, balls of all sizes; old tires, sand and water materials
Manipulative	Fine motor	Dressing frames; toys to put together and take apart; cookie cutters, stamp and printing materials, finger paint, modeling dough, small objects to sort and classify; bead stringing with long, thin string; pegs and small pegs; colored cubes, table blocks, magnetic board/letters/numbers and shapes; perception boards and mosaics
	Puzzles and form boards	Fit-in or framed puzzles (for 3-year-olds: from 4-20 pieces, for 4-year-olds: from 15-30 pieces, for 5-year-olds: from 15-50 pieces); large, simple jigsaws; number/letter/clock puzzles
	Investigative	Toys, globe flashlight, magnets, lock boxes, weather forecasting equipment, scales, balances, stethoscopes
Construction	Building sets	Small and large unit blocks; large hollow blocks; from age 4, interlocking plastic blocks with pieces of all sizes
	Carpentry	Workbench, hammer, preschool nails, saw, sandpaper, pounding benches, safety goggles
Self-expressive	Dolls and soft toys	Realistic dolls and accessories; play settings and play people (e.g., farm, hospital)
	Dramatic play	Dress-up clothes, realistic tools, toy camera, telephone, household furniture
	Sensory	Tactile boxes; auditory and musical materials such as smelling and sound boxes; cooking experiences
	Art/music	All rhythm instruments, music boxes; large crayons, paint, paste, glue, chalkboard and chalk, sewing kits, collage materials, markers, modeling dough, blunt scissors
Natural and everyday	Sand and water	Sandbox tools, bubbles, water toys
		Old clocks, radios, cameras, telephones; telephone books; mirrors; doctor kits; typewriter; magazines; fabric scraps; computer; cash register and receipts; measuring cups and muffin tins