5 Sports Activities To Try with Toddlers

We love at-home sports activities. Being active at home with your children is a great way to stay healthy and increase your fitness levels. Physical activity is essential in children’s development and has long-lasting benefits both now and into the future. The physical and mental benefits of exercise are endless, including reducing stress, increasing muscle and bone strength, reducing health issues, improving sleep, increasing confidence, and increasing energy.

Sports activities at home are easy to create and don't need much equipment and preparation. Physical activity hones a child's motor skills and develops hand-eye coordination and balance. Here are five activities targeted at toddlers which you can try at home today.

Dance Off

Children just love to dance to their favourite music, so why not make it fun. Each family member can choose their favourite song and get up in front of the family with their spectacular dance moves. You could get creative and dress up in a much-loved dress-up, wig or feather bower. Musical statues is another hit with young children. Simply choose some music; everyone dances until the music stops, then freeze. The last one to freeze is out.

Hit the Balloon

Hit the balloon is a great physical activity for a child to play on their own or with a friend. You can encourage your child to keep the balloon from hitting the ground by tapping it up. When playing with friends, you can place a chair in between and encourage them to hit the balloon over the chair like a game of tennis. This activity allows children to run, jump, hop and zig-zag while maintaining balance and coordination.

Trampolining

Playing on the trampoline is a great high-intensity exercise, burning your little learner's energy and improving fitness. To add to the fun on the trampoline, challenge your child with movements such as high knees, clapping while jumping, star jumps, flying like a bird and stretching your arms high and touching your toes. Using a balloon on the trampoline can aid in balance and improving gross motor skills. Keeping the balloon off the ground is a great cardiovascular exercise. Ensure the trampoline has a safety net with all zips shut for your child's safety, ensuring there are no injuries.

Hopscotch

Hopscotch is a timeless favourite of all generations and gets children outdoors. Using some chalk draw the blocks for hopscotch on the footpath or driveway, marking the numbers in each square. This activity gets children moving while learning numbers, improving balance and coordination. If the weather is poor outside, this activity can be replicated inside using some masking tape on the floor, an activity suitable for all weather conditions and abilities.

Go Noodle

When the weather isn’t great outside, GoNoodle is a fantastic option for some fun physical activity inside and was created by child development experts. Go Noodle has thousands of movement activities and dances children can mimic within the comfort of their own homes. These dances and movement activities incorporate fun music, sing-a-longs and moves to develop coordination, balance and confidence. Join in with your child, and there will be a lot of laughs. Cosmic Yoga on YouTube kids also provides a lot of great movement based programs for kids, set in popular themes like Frozen!

Physical activity is crucial in a child’s development, and it allows a child to create significant connections with their bodies and the world around them. Physical activity is practical, un-structured and engaging for children while exercising their little bodies and developing skills. Try one of these top five sports activities today!

‍