Activities & Games: Archive

Infants | Toddlers | Preschoolers | School Ages

Infants

Crossing the Midline
Working on your baby being able to cross their arms or legs over each others is an important step in helping them learn

  • Place your baby in a seated position.
  • Sit or kneel in front of your baby and have their favorite toy hidden behind your back.
  • Make a game of handing your baby the toy so they have to reach across their body to get it.
  • Keep repeating having your baby cross the right and left arm over each other. Encourage the use of both until they grow disinterested.

Kick it!
Let your baby find out what her legs can do while she/he learns about cause and effect

  1. Lay the baby on their back.
  2. Place a small pillow or a stuffed animal by the baby’s feet.
  3. Encourage her/him to kick it!

Also:

  • If the baby doesn’t kick the object on her own, hold it just close enough to let her feel it with the bottom of their feet.
  • Make sure they get to kick with both the right and left foot.
  • Use language to encourage them and describe what they are doing. For example: “You’re kicking the pillow!”

Toddlers

Row, Row, Row Your Boat
This game works on your child’s strength and flexibility.

  • Sit across from your child. Your legs should be in a V-position with your child’s leg straight out and between yours.
  • Take hold of your child’s hands and begin to lean forward. Encourage your child to lean back as far as they can go without letting go of your hands.
  • Pull him/her gently back into a sitting position.
  • Gently pull your child towards you as you lean back.
  • Return to a upright position.
  • Repeat the movements.

Also:

  • Incorporate the song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” as you perform the movements.

Let’s Tiptoe
Walking on tiptoe uses the child’s own body weight to develop strength. It also helps with balance!

  1. Show your child how to tiptoe.
  2. Ask her/him to do it with you.
  3. Tiptoe as long as your toddler stays interested.

Preschoolers

Statues
Many children love to move to music. Here’s a way to work on their dance moves and muscle control.

  • Find upbeat music that your child likes.
  • Explain to your child that also long as the music is playing they can dance and move about safely as much as they want. When the music stops they must freeze like a statue.
  • Begin activity. Do not freeze for too long so child will not be discouraged if he/she cannot remain still for too long.

Jump the River
Jumping uses the child’s own weight to build strength. If you do this for long periods of time, it can be good for the heart.

  1. Lay a jump rope in a straight line on the floor- or draw a line on the ground with chalk.
  2. Ask your child to pretend the line is a river.
  3. Challenge her/him to jump from one side of the river to the other.

Also:

  • Be sure the child is landing with knees bent and heels coming all the way down to the floor.
  • When he/she is ready, you can “widen the river” by using tow ropes side by side, or a towel.

School Ages

You can do many activities on your own that don’t require equipment or other people. These activities give you the chance to practice skills and work on your personal best. Here are a few ideas:

There are many physical activities in which you can join your school age child. Here are few that you can do together as a family:

  • Bike riding
  • Hiking
  • In-line skating
  • Swimming at the pool
  • Practice hopscotch
  • See how long you can hop on one foot
  • Do jumping jacks
  • Invent some dance moves
  • Do sprints (short running races) and time yourself to see how fast you go
  • Count the number of steps between your favorite places, like your house and the park

Red Light Green Light
Here is a group game your child and you can organize and have them play with their friends.

  • Select one child, or perhaps yourself, to start the game and be the stoplight. All the children line up on the other side of a designated playing area.
  • The designated stoplight yells “Green light!” and the children lined up start running. The first one to make it to the stoplight wins and is now the stoplight.
  • It gets tricky when the stoplight changes. The stoplight should yell “Red light,” occasionally to get children to stop moving forward.

Also:

  • Any movement by a child means she is sent back to the beginning.
  • The stoplight can also call out “yellow light” which means the children can only walk very slowly.
  • Variations to this game include yelling “red light” two times in a row, or adding body movements.
  • Say “green light” with your arms up one time and then say “red light,” but throw your arms up again to confuse runners into thinking your body language says “green light.”
  • You can substitute running for a different movement such as hopping or skipping.