Indoor Physical Activities For Toddlers To Keep Them Fit And Engaged

During bad weather, or, when there is a surge of the virus in the air, parents will be compelled to make their toddlers stay indoors. Believe me, it is challenging to engage the toddlers when they can't get outdoors to play. Toddlers have high levels of energy that need to be burned out. Whenever I get stuck indoor with my toddler, with a little search, imagination, and creativity, I find out some indoor physical activities that make my little one never missed those outdoor times.

What Are The Importance Of Indoor Games For Kids?

It is important to make the toddlers physically active when they have to stay indoors as well. Allowing the toddler to play indoor has the following advantages as well:

1. Indoor games help to boost the physical fitness of toddlers

2. Indoor games with the child improve the family bonding

3. Playing certain games such as indoor tennis or bowling can improve the hand-eye coordination of your child.

4. It is safer for your child to play indoors under your supervision than going outside.

5. Toddlers who are physically active have longer attention spans and have relatively fewer behavioural issues and therefore, used to do very well in school.

Here are some ideas to try. These games will help your child to stay physically active. It will also develop lots of necessary skills in your child. Here is everything you need to know about indoor games for little kids. 

1. Bowling Game

You can either buy a bowling game kit or you can create one at home. Just find some water bottles of approximately the same size. You can fill a little sand or water to anchor them better. Empty bottles tend to topple easily.  

How to play

• Arrange the bottles in a triangle at the end of the hall.

• Give a small ball to the babies and toddlers and you can give a bigger one for elder siblings.

• Fix  the number of rounds

• Each round player gets three throws

• Each pin-fall gives one point

Even though the toddler may have less interest in points, they will try to knock all the balls as the game progresses. Less mess and great enjoyment. That is what an indoor bowling game brings. This game is great for motor skills. 

2. Follow the leader:

Toddlers love to mimic adults. Follow the leader is an excellent indoor activity that your child. There should be some input from your part to keep the game interesting and gradually more challenging. If you pick the moves wisely it will help to strengthen the toddler’s old skills and introduce new ones your toddler hasn't mastered yet.

How to play

• Tell your child to imitate or copy the movements you do.

• Start with the movements that your child can easily perform. This will increase the toddler’s confidence.

• After choosing movements like clapping, raise the hands, etc that are quite easy for the child, switch to harder ones that your toddler hasn't mastered so far.

• Here are some tips to grow this physical activity to the next level

• Start with a clap and continue any of the followings activities crawl, march, walk, hop, run, skip, jump, walk on tiptoe, simple yoga postures, roll, stomp, twist, spin, etc. 

3. Indoor Obstacle Course:

This is an excellent game that you can make more fun and challenge depending on the age of the child. This game will enhance the concentration, balance, and coordination power of the child.  

How to play

• In this obstacle race, you can make the toddler organize some books, Jump over cushions, organize some colour pencils of the same colour,  creep under the table, jump on the doormat five times, organize some things according to the shapes, and then run to the endpoint.  

• Just use what you have around the house and create the racecourse depending on the size of the hall you choose to play. 

• Once your child mastered the game, you can start playing chance-wise. 

4. Musical hide and seek

This is an activity that helps to enhance the child’s concentration and thinking power. All you need to play this game is a mobile phone.

How to play:

• Play music from a phone 

• Hide it somewhere the toddler can easily reach. 

• The child has to search to figure out where the music is coming from. 

• Increase the difficulty level step by step. 

Trapped up indoors doing nothing will affect the toddlers mentally and physically. It will badly affect their behaviour and attention span. They will turn crankier and fussy. No need to explain how it will affect your state of mind.  Why can’t you design some indoor physical activities that relax both you and your child?