A few weeks ago we posted a list of activities that help children develop fine motor skills. As a follow-up to that, today we have a list of gross motor skills activities for toddlers that can be done at home.
Gross motor development involves the larger, stronger muscle groups of the body. Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform everyday functions, such as walking, running, and skipping, as well as climbing, jumping, and catching, throwing and hitting a ball with a bat. Gross motor abilities also have an influence on other everyday functions as well as on fine motor abilities.
Each of these activities is simple and can be done at home or incorporated into the classroom.
- Asteroid Toss – This game helps toddlers and young children practice the gross motor skills of aiming and throwing with homemade “asteroids”. It allows for some imaginative play, too!
- Dinosaur Roll and Move Gross Motor Activity – Toddlers love dinosaurs, and this fun activity promotes taking turns, movement, and developing attention spans all at the same time.
- Tic – Tac – Toss – This is a simple gross motor skills activity that only requires two items: painters tape or masking tape, and bean bags.
- Monster Footprint Hop – Cut out some simple monster footprint shapes in various colors and you have a fun gross motor skill activity that can be used indoors or outdoors!
- Put the Pigs in the Pen – This balloon game is an easy, fun activity that will keep your little one busy for a while!
- Bowling with Cups – The set up for this gross motor skills game couldn’t be easier!
- Indoor Obstacle Course – Create an indoor obstacle course with painters tape or other objects, and let your kids get their energy out while working on their gross motor skills!
- Giant Alphabet Activities – This is so simple but can be used for learning letters, numbers, and more.
- Gross Motor Beach Ball Game – This fun game helps strengthen those gross motor skills like running, walking, skipping, climbing, throwing – all of those whole body movements.
- Rolling Down Hills – This is just exactly what it sounds like! And it’s FREE! It enhances core strength which leads to gross motor skill development!
Do you have any other favorite gross motor skills activities? Share them with us!
