Gross Motor Activities for Children Through Age 5
Older children can require more entertainment and imagination within play to stay focused and participate. It is much easier for an older child to simply say ‘no’ and refuse. Some favorite toys and activities for children who are now walking (18 months+) through age 5 don’t have to be complicated to be useful or entertaining. Today we are going to share a few ideas of how to incorporate toys you may have at home into gross motor activities.
It is important to incorporate what the child loves into the activity, so focus less on the toy and more on the child’s personal interests. For older children, it is easier to have a small supply of activities that can be applied to a toy of interest rather than a lot of specific toys. It is always helpful to have simple games, food games (like pizza building), and puzzles with princesses or trucks/trains/cars handy. The activities below can be modified to practice gross motor skills with race car games, playing with animal-type movements, or obstacle courses with bridges and hot lava.
Bean bags – these are another simple, every day object that can be used in a ton of fun activities. Depending on the skill you are targeting, bean bags have a variety of uses and sometimes the children will come up with fantastic ideas! For leg strengthening, specifically in toe walkers, place bean bags on the top of the foot and have the child walk a short distance with the bean bags on her feet and then kick through a hoop or to a target. Having a child kick a bean bag off a cone is also a fun activity that will encourage gross motor skill development. Bean bag toss to a target is another fun game or searching for bean bag animals to bring back to the farm using various animal walks, skipping, hopping, galloping or running!
Scooter Board – the scooter board is a familiar activity to all of us and something we likely used in our younger days in gym class. The options with the scooter board are endless!
Sitting and scooting for puzzle pieces/toys/games, Blast-Offs using feet on the wall or Blast-Offs using arms on the wall, Child laying on stomach and using arms to propel through scooter obstacle courses, scooter planks, scooter races, scooter sport games, etc. It’s a fantastic toy and tool for working on leg/core/upper extremity strengthening, postural control, improving heel strike for toe walkers, and overall balance/coordination!
Noodles and Jump Ropes – these two inexpensive toys can create obstacle courses with the addition of a puzzle or game. A jump rope creates an easy balance beam (winding or straight), an object to jump over, a “bridge” to cross, a circle to jump in/out of, and a target to throw into. Noodles as a whole or cut into pieces can be a balance beam, obstacles to step or jump over, and small balance boards. When you combine a variety of noodles with the jump rope, a small obstacle course can be created with a puzzle or game of the child’s choice!
