Outdoor ideas

These ideas are with social-distancing in mind, and avoiding public shared spaces (like parks and playgrounds)

1. Go on a walk: play I-spy, follow the garbage trucks, 

2. Ride bikes

3. Climb trees

4. Gardening and yard work

5. Family outdoor games: three-legged race, sack race, relay race, 

6. Practice tumbling in the grass: somersaults and cartwheels

7. Collect as many sticks, pinecones and acorns that you can find

8. Wash and vacuum out the car

9. Balls: Play catch, kick a ball back and forth, shoot hoops

10. Build a fort or lean-to with fallen branches

11. Jump rope

12. Hopscoth

13. Giant tic-tac-toe (toss the bean bag onto the space)

14. Frisbee

15. Make an obstacle course to jump over, climb under, weave back and forth etc. with sticks 

16. Check out more ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/gameonfamily/outdoor-games/?autologin=true

Indoor ideas

These are ideas taken from website: https://handsonaswegrow.com/gross-motor-activities-preschoolers/ (Links to an external site.)

• The Floor is Lava (Links to an external site.): A classic activity that doesn’t get enough credit. Enjoy this on any day when boredom strikes.
• Paper Plate Skating (Links to an external site.): Grab a couple plates, step on them and skate around the house!
• A Flash Light Scavenger Hunt: (Links to an external site.) Turn off the lights and hide some objects around the house for preschoolers to go find with a flash light. They’ll be begging for you to hide them again!
• Target Practice: (Links to an external site.) Set up a target practice for preschoolers to throw something at (whether its mud or bean bags)!
• Dumpster Diving: (Links to an external site.) Preschoolers will just love searching in a box of ‘garbage’ for their favorite toys!
• Hop Skip & Jump: (Links to an external site.) Set up paper plates around the house or outside and have them jump from one to the next. If you have different color plates, there’s lots of options!
• Sensory Walking Path (Links to an external site.): Add in the elements of different sensory objects and make a path to walk along to explore with your feet. Add in paint for a creative experience.
• String Scavenger Hunt: (Links to an external site.) String some string around the room, through chairs and set up treasures along the way to find! Have them follow it through, going in and out, under and over to see what they can find!
• Tape Road: (Links to an external site.) This will definitely get them moving and busy for the day! Tape a road throughout the house or room and let them drive drive drive!
• A Spy Game: (Links to an external site.) Tape up a ‘spider web’ in the hallway for them to crawl through. Stick pom poms or cotton balls to it for them to pick up along the way.
• Jumping Game: (Links to an external site.) See how far they can jump!
• Sticky Spider Web: (Links to an external site.) Throw newspaper at a sticky spider web! How many can they get to stick?
• Lines of Colored Tape: (Links to an external site.)  Tape lines on the floor to act as a balance beam. Or blow pom poms or cotton balls along them!
• Newspaper Throwing: (Links to an external site.) Have a little indoor ‘basketball’ with newspapers!
• A Big Maze: (Links to an external site.) Either use tape inside or sidewalk chalk outside and make a huge maze for the kids to drive or walk through!
• Balance Beam: (Links to an external site.) If you have old boards laying around, or even a lineup of books, would work as a balance beam!
• Race with Straws and Pom Poms (Links to an external site.) (shared on PBS Parents): Set up a track to blow pom poms around. Its much harder than it seems!
• Frisbee Toss (Links to an external site.): Find some lids to act as frisbees. Tape a couple lines on the floor for targets and see if you can land them just right!

Music and Movement

1. Cosmic Kids Yoga https://www.cosmickids.com/ (Links to an external site.)

2. Dance party with youtube favorites:

Run, baby, Run by Caspar Babypants 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFnYq2pMDbs (Links to an external site.)

Freeze Dance 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UcZWXvgMZE (Links to an external site.)

Bop until you stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dXoiCMyyu4&list=PLv35vtV61OeO0irsgmCP1KA7hGfnG40h1&index=2 (Links to an external site.)

Animal Action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn3ZyNu2uUU&list=PLv35vtV61OeO0irsgmCP1KA7hGfnG40h1&index=6 (Links to an external site.)

3. Play "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" with cushions or a mattress on the floor and jump onto the floor

4. Use empty containers from the recycling bin as drums and march around the house to the beat of the drum

5. Listen to and act out "Going on a bear hunt"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_ShP3fiEhU (Links to an external site.)

6. Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes

7. Streamer Dancing
Make some inexpensive streamers for dancing. Use lids from yogurt containers, cut the centers out
to make plastic rings. Cut an old red plastic tablecloth and a white garbage bag into strips. Loop
them in a knot through the rings. They are easy for small hands to hold. Turn on music and march
or dance around the room waving streamers up and down and all around.

8. Row, Row, Row Your Boat: sit across from your child and hold each others' arms and move back and forth to the rhythm of the song

9. Ring Around the Rosie

10. Musical chairs using pillows on the floor