How Much Seat Work Do Preschoolers Really Need?!

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People that know me, know how anti seat work I am. I firmly believe that children’s bodies are meant for moving and learning through play. Children are not designed, or meant to sit for extended periods of time and they thrive through their own desire to learn and real life learning.

As a qualified elementary school teacher, the lack of seat work I make my own kiddos do usually amazes people. Puchin (my 5yr old preschooler) does only 40-60 mins of scheduled seat work a week (10-15mins x 4 days) and Xando (3yr old preschooler) 0mins. Yes you read that right! My almost kindergartener has less than 1 hour of scheduled seat work a week! When I first tell people this, I often get looks of shock and horror! The immediate questioning of my ability to homeschool my children starts, and statements such as ‘So what exactly DOES she do for schooling?!’ come quick and fast! The parents of her peers, whose children are in traditional school 8 hours a day, wonder how she is of equal level to their kiddos who bring hours worth of worksheets home a day!

Now, what do I mean by seat work?! I mean sitting at a desk, completing workbooks/worksheets/mandatory coloring etc. (I do not mean crafts, reading stories, learning through play etc.) And yes! Children need a LOT less seat work than most people think!

Now most weeks Puchin will exceed her hour, but it is of her own accord. I ALWAYS have fun workbooks with writing, coloring and math easily accessible and available for her to pick up at her will. Providing the necessary resources and tools for children to learn of their own accord is vital when relax homeschooling. They cannot learn, what is not available to them!

However this wasn’t always the way! When we first started seat work at 3.5yrs old Puchin HATED it! While verbally she LOVED to learn and was very advanced, the minute she was asked to write or color she turned into a defiant little monster, who all of a sudden didn’t know how to hold a pencil! She would scream and tantrum (as highly spirited children do) and our 15mins would stretch into 60mins simply from the battling to get her to cooperate! It was stressful for everyone! While she was completely capable of undertaking the work, she had zero desire to do so. For almost 6 months we fought and had tantrums 4 days a week, every week!

So how did we turn things around from epic tantrums to Puchin voluntarily choosing extra seat work?! Well it was a combination of things. Firstly she had aged a little and had a greater ability to sit still. She needed the ability to write to play some of the games she wanted. Such as writing shopping lists with me, ‘teaching’ her little brother etc. Needing this skill to undertake activities she wanted, gave her a greater desire to learn herself. And finally, the biggest contributor to the change in her attitude towards seat work, was the activity I was asking her to complete! I switched out the multiple preschool workbooks I had bought from various stores, for smaller, less intimidating workbooks I made myself. The smaller size helped her to not feel overwhelmed and made her work load seem less. We use theme learning as the skeleton to our homeschooling, so I also created workbooks related to the theme we were learning. By having her seat work related to something she was currently interested in, it no longer felt like a chore she was being forced to do!

How much seat work do you include in your homeschooling day? I would love to hear your favorite seat work methods and activities in the comments below.

Looking for some fun workbooks that your preschool, kindergarten or first grader will love?! Here is a list of all my workbooks found over on Teachers Pay Teachers.

My Little ABC Book

This workbook is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on letter identification, beginning letter sound identification and written letter formation. 

The tracing within the Alphabet book is an easy way for children to learn to write each letter and begin to associate letters with their written form. The smaller size of this workbook helps students to remain focused, to not feel overwhelmed with too much to do and to reduce boredom.  My Puchin loves to color in the fun pictures!

ABC Read, Write and Color Worksheets

This workbook is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on letter identification, beginning letter sound identification and written letter formation. 

The tracing within the Alphabet book is an easy way for children to learn to write each letter and begin to associate letters with their written form. Each page covers 1 letter in both upper and lower case and 3 cute pictures for letter association.   

My Letter Books

This workbook is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on letter identification, beginning letter sound identification and written letter formation. 

The tracing within the Alphabet book is an easy way for children to learn to write each letter and begin to associate letters with their written form. Each letter has its own mini workbook with 3 words/pictures for each letter.  The smaller size of this workbook helps students to remain focused, to not feel overwhelmed with too much to do and to reduce boredom.   

My Little Number Book

This workbook is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on number identification, counting and written number formation. 

The tracing within the number book is an easy way for children to learn to write each number and begin to associate numbers with their written form. Each number page comes with cute corresponding picture visuals for children to color.  The smaller size of this workbook helps students to remain focused, to not feel overwhelmed with too much to do and to reduce boredom. My Puchin absolutely LOVES the fun/cute pictures in this book! We have completed this one multiple times!  

Spring Alphabet

These worksheets are great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on letter identification, beginning letter sound identification and written letter formation. 

The tracing within the Alphabet book is an easy way for children to learn to write each letter and begin to associate letters with their written form. Each letter has its own full size page with Spring related word/picture.   These are great for a Spring/Easter work display!

My Little Space Alphabet Book

This workbook is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on letter identification, beginning letter sound identification and written letter formation. 

The tracing within the Alphabet book is an easy way for children to learn to write each letter and begin to associate letters with their written form. Each letter has a space themed word/picture.  Great for your Astronomy unit! The smaller size of this workbook helps students to remain focused, to not feel overwhelmed with too much to do and to reduce boredom.

Veggies and Fruits Coloring and Writing Book

This book is great for all preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade students who are working on a health body or food unit.  Great for a healthy food display board!  

Veggies & Fruits included: Watermelon, orange, plum, lemon, pineapple, kiwi, grapes, peach, strawberry, banana, olives, pear, melon, garlic, apple, cauliflower, carrot, mushrooms, cucumber, potato, asparagus, pumpkin, eggplant, zucchini, peas, pepper, lettuce, onion, tomato, broccoli.