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

Physical activity is important to a toddler’s development. Adding daily indoor and outdoor activity to your routine is a great way to encourage this development.

Take time to enjoy outdoor play for at least 20 minutes each day. Try to have outdoor time throughout the day and in different settings that your child can explore.

Below are indoor and outdoor play ideas to help toddlers from 12 months to 3 years old be active. Many of these activities can be adapted for inside or outside.

1. Use open physical spaces that encourage movement. Provide soft or oversized balls that are easy to manipulate. Set up objects that act as baskets to toss a soft ball into—like a medium to large box or laundry basket.
2. Push and pull toys are a good way to move around and have some support as your toddler becomes a competent walker and navigator.
3. Use large muscles to move and imitate familiar things: jump like a bunny, fly like a bird or crawl like a worm.
4. Use lids from pots and pans as cymbals, or a plastic bowl and spoon as a drum, for an impromptu parade. March around.
5. Blow bubbles and let your toddler pop them. Talk with your toddler about how he can “pop them up high in the air” or “way down low on the ground.”
6. Tape a line on the floor as a balance beam or tight rope. Have your child walk on it. Make up stories. Have her pretend she is on a bridge and crossing over cold water or hot lava that is all around.
7. Provide balls for your toddler to kick, roll and throw. Begin introducing games by using a plastic liter bottle and a soft ball to “bowl” or a basket to throw a ball into. Encourage your child to play make-believe by turning objects into other things, such as a basket into a train.
8. Provide safe areas for your toddler to walk and move around. Play music or provide a rhythm that can help direct his movements.
9. Toddlers can play simple, fun games by following basic instructions. Create some fun by using silly actions. For example, “open your eyes really wide while you run,” “close your eyes tight and twirl around,” or “cover your feet with your hands and walk across the yard.”
10. Provide foot-driven riding toys, small wagons for pulling, or stand-up toys for pushing.
11. Draw the name of an animal or insect out of a hat. Then, have your toddler move around the yard mimicking the creature and demonstrating how the creature moves from one place to the next, finds food, sleeps, stays safe, etc.
12. Throw a lightweight scarf or dish towel in the air and have your toddler catch it.
13. Set up a simple obstacle course by placing chairs or pillows around the room. Toddlers can practice crawling over or walking around the obstacle course.
14. Encourage your toddler to practice jumping across the room or around chairs.

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)