These fun gross motor activities for toddlers are a great way to burn off some energy. These large motor activities can be done as indoor energy busters, or can be played outside for some fresh air!
Gross motor activities are not only a great skill for your kids to practice and develop, they are an excellent way to burn off your child’s energy! In my experience, bored toddlers are more likely to get into trouble and act out. My kids are constantly bouncing off the walls, so I’ve learned to get creative with how I get their bodies moving.
What is gross motor play?
Gross motor activities engage your child’s large muscles and gets their entire body active! It’s also referred to as large motor play.
Basically, gross motor activities you get your toddler’s body and muscles moving and grooving!
Gross motor skills are important for toddlers
Gross motor play is very important for kids, especially younger children. Toddlers and preschoolers benefit from gross motor play because it helps them learn balance, coordination, and encourages brain growth and development.
Learning to kick, throw, reach, balance, hop, jump, skip, walk and run are vital for a healthy life!
This post contains fun activities to not only encourage that gross motor skill development, but to also promote healthy exercise habits in kids. What they start doing when they’re children is what will form habits for the rest of their life. Exercise has always been an important part of my self care routine, so I am hoping to pass that on to my kids!
The best part about these toddler gross motor activities is that they can be done indoors or outdoors! They are perfect for any time of year.
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Gross Motor Skills Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Make an obstacle course
Put a blanket over some chairs to crawl under, place some pillows on the ground to hop over, and if you have one, use a crawl tunnel! You can also place some painter’s tape along the floor and have your child hop along it, slide across it, walk it, or any other creative idea you have!
When it gets boring, have them go through it backwards or on one leg! There are tons of ways to change it up and keep it interesting.
I bought this crawl tunnel for my oldest a few years ago. I love that it folds up super easily so I can put it away when we’re done. We filled ours with a huge bag of plastic balls and it makes for some fun (but very messy) play!
For less than $40, a crawl tunnel can be used in so many fun ways for kids of all ages.
Have a race
It doesn’t have to just be running!
See who can get across the room fastest while:
- Slithering like a snake
- Hopping (on one foot or two)
- Leaping
- Dancing
- Walking backwards
- Walking sideways
- Crawling
- Squatting
- Rolling
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a blast, and they are a fun way to incorporate learning as well!
Send your child out to look for things of different colors, textures, letters, or whatever else they’re learning about! Or you can keep it basic and send them to find items.
If you have more than one child, you can send them to race each other! If you’re working on cooperative play, have them team up.
With just one child, you can race the clock. Try to get all of the items before the timer goes off!
In my Kids’ Activity Vault, there are several different printable scavenger hunts! Additionally, there are several printable games, coloring pages, and other activities! It’s a password protected page, but if you enter your email below you’ll gain instant access.
Indoor Trampoline or Jumper
My in-laws bought this trampoline for my oldest daughter last Christmas, and it gets played with nearly every day. She LOVES to bounce on it, and it’s great because it folds up easily, too!
Plus, they’re pretty inexpensive. I love that it has a bar for her to hold onto as well. It’s the perfect way for her to burn off some energy!
We also bought our kids this bounce house. We have it inflated in our basement and they play with it all winter long!
Stepping stones or balance beams
To practice balance and coordination large motor skills, we use both stepping stones and balance beams. We do a lot of obstacle courses and these are a great addition! Within a few weeks they no longer needed to hold my hand to walk across.
Indoor/Outdoor Climbers
I love these dome climbers because they can be used in so many ways. You can climb from the inside and outside, and multiple kids can play at once. Your child can engage their core and arm muscles by hanging, or can use their legs to climb to the top!
My kids play with these soft foam climbers every day. We use them a lot for obstacle courses and for our epic games of “the floor is lava!”
Foam climbers are neat because there are so many different ways to play! You can use them to build a slide, couch or a fort (would be helpful in the obstacle course mentioned above!) or just for your kids to do some rough and tumble play on.
If you have a wide age-range of kids at home, foam blocks are probably the way to go since babies and older children can play.
Silly Dance Songs
YouTube is my go-to for a simple large motor activity. These fun and silly dance songs get my kids moving. It’s a great way to grab their focus as they will follow along to the video to do the dance.
Freeze Dance
You can pick any music your kids like and have them dance like crazy until you hit pause. The first one to freeze is the winner!
There are also a lot of fun freeze dance songs on YouTube. My kids currently love this animals one!
Gross motor games
And no, I don’t mean board games! I mean “games you play at summer camp” kind of games.
You can go with something more basic (think “Duck Duck Goose” or “Tag”) or something more advanced. A quick Google search of gross motor games will give you some good inspiration.
There are a few printable games in the Kids’ Activity Vault, which is exclusive to my readers where I add different activity ideas, printable games, worksheets, coloring pages, and more! You will get the password to access to if you enter your email below.
A few game suggestions:
- Tag
- Simon Says
- Follow the Leader
- Duck Duck Goose
- Red Rover Red Rover
- Musical Chairs
- Hide and seek
I hope this post gave you some new and exciting ideas for ways to burn off your child’s energy with gross motor activities!
Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to see more of what I do to keep my kids busy. And don’t forget to sign up for Vault access! It’s updated frequently to keep it loaded with fun ideas. And once you get access, you’re in for life!
What else do your kids love?
