Parents of 0-5 year olds, I need your opinion :)

Arts and crafts, playtime or imagination time

Sorting games for color, shape, size. Reading time my boys favorite is brown bear brown bear. We also put on music and dance around the room with colored scarves.

Music, dancing and anything active seems to be the best for my kids. [I have 4, ages 0-6]. But then again my kids will be overly happy if I hand them a cloth and tell them to clean haha. They just like to be busy and feel 'grown up'. I would suggest whatever you decide, incorporate as much learning into the activities as possible. That's what I look for most, things that'll keep them busy, happy, but still help them advance mentally.

This is wonderful! I have little ones in this age group, and I am also a teacher so I have a bit of experience with large motor activities for kiddos.

We like to go on hikes at our local nature area- sometimes doing scavenger hunts and things like that. We do dance parties at home a lot-- creating goofy dance moves and teaching them to each other. Another one is what we call the "animal game." My daughter is 3, so she can't read yet. I printed off pictures of animals and put them in a hat-- like charades. She will draw one, and act out the animal while we guess.

A couple I did with students: write letters or shapes outside with chalk and call out one at a time and have the kids run to that letter (can be modified for older kids with tougher questions), basic stretches/yoga poses, tag, dodge ball, etc.

As for other quiet activities, reading time, learning games, crafts, group activities, etc are always good!

Anything that allows her to put it in her mouth. She loves looking at her teeth marks lol.

Most of this will focus on the Pren-Kindergarden aged kids

For the older ones, they LOVE stories. The toddlers do too but they can't attend to something as long as a child of 4-5 can. They love stories that involve things they know about in Pop culture or books that are about things going on around them, for example right now my kids are really into books about Fall--Apples, leaves changing, Halloween etc
Arts and Crafts are also great, kids love those dotters and they're great for teachers/parents as well because they don't make a mess. Simple crayons/paper, you can make home made finger pain that is safe to eat. There are also tons of fun projects you can do involving toilet paper rolls, google it!

If you have a budget for field trips going apple/pumpkin picking is a lot of fun if you can get the staff to handle it since taking kids out can be kinda crazy.

If you have the ability to get the kids on a computer or Ipad there are TONS of apps/games out there for ALL ages. It's a great asset. It's also something kids will be entertained by for a while.

Anything that involves movement, freeze tag, simon says, wiggles song etc. Sing alongs are fun too especially for kids who are at the age where they can memorize songs (this can be as young as two but more common in 3-4 y/o'

Board/Card games for the 3-5 year old kids. Puzzles work for almost all ages and kids love them.

A play kitchen, toy cars, blocks, legos are all fun toys too.

Pinterest is also your friend! I have gotten and/or adapted many great lessons from Pinterest!

I am a teacher, not a parent but I work in a Kindergarden with a background in PreK as well so I figured I'd share some stuf

Anything tactile and free forum: play doh, building sand castles, building forts out of blankets.

Singing and dancing...put on the Wiggles or Rafi and our son was a happy camper.

Water..for some reason, water tables, squirt guns.

Bubbles..making 'em and chasing them.

They have endless energy, so nothing that forces them to keep that energy pent up.