Let’s Get Moving: 14 Indoor and Outdoor Physical Activities for Preschoolers

Indoor and outdoor physical activity is important to a preschooler’s development. Adding activities to your child’s daily routine can encourage this physical development.

Set a goal of playing outdoors for at least 20 minutes each day. This can be spread out throughout the day and in different locations.

Below are indoor and outdoor play ideas to help preschoolers from 3 to 5 years old be active. Many of these activities can be adapted for inside or outside.
 

1. Provide spaces and equipment that encourages active movement and provides purpose as she climbs, runs, jumps and gallops. Encourage both independent and group activities.
2. Define space by setting boundaries using cones or something similar, and by putting up objects for targets. Design play activities within these boundaries that allows for play with balls and practice running, kicking or bouncing.
3. Pick pictures of animals out of a book or magazine and move like those animals (for example, wiggle like a snake, jump like a kangaroo and gallop like a horse).
4. Play the freeze game: Dance to the music. Freeze when it stops. Or give movement directions and then say “Freeze.” For instance, “Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Freeze!” or “Jump, jump, jump. Freeze!”
5. Fill different-sized containers with bubble solution. Provide a variety of objects that can be used for making bubbles. Have your child experiment and see what works best. Try coloring the bubbles with food coloring and catching them on paper.
6. Create a pool-noodle obstacle course. Lay them on the ground, hang them from a branch or drape them over chairs. Then challenge your child to jump over, walk across, limbo under, crawl around, etc.
7. Play simple games where your child follows directions. Start with one direction and work up to three directions before they do the actions. For example, “Put your hand on your head, turn around, and then touch the ground.” Keep it fun with silly actions. Have the child be the leader sometimes, too.
8. Use tape to create lines that can be crawled along, walked on or jumped across. Use a jump rope to create lines or wiggle it so that your child must coordinate his eyes and feet as he jumps across it.
9. Teach your child to play outdoor games that require following directions like some of the old favorites including Follow the Leader, Simon Says, Stop and Freeze, or Red Light, Green Light.
10. Provide riding toys such as a tricycle or small bicycle with training wheels.
11. Write your child’s name on a piece of paper. Then have her use her body to spell out each letter of her name. Write down other names or words, and have her spell out each letter.
12. Have your child practice the first letters from others’ names and identify the sound those letters make, or spell a name of a family member and have your child guess whose name is being spelled.
13. Give your child a scarf. Have her move using the scarf to demonstrate different concepts like high/low, loud/soft, fast/slow, over/under, etc. This can also be done to music.
14. Set up a challenge course. Place Frisbees around the room or playground. Have your child stop at each spot to perform a task such as 10 jumping jacks or spinning around three times. Then, change direction and do it again, or crawl to the next Frisbee while you spell your name, etc.
15. Use an old pillowcase as a jumping bag. Encourage him to jump from one place to the next. Place cones or similar objects on the ground and have him jump around them. Set up relay races that require jumpers to exchange the bag.

For more information on how to encourage and support a child’s development, visit the Motor Milestones page. 

Source: Fun Activities Families Can Do with Their Children: Ideas for Families with Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers, Spring 2020, Minnesota Department of Education (PDF download)