Want a fun, easy, and cheap gross motor activity to do with your toddler at home? This is the perfect indoor gross motor activity to do with your little one!

MATERIALS:

• Construction paper (variety of colors)
• Scissors
• Tape
• A toddler

What are gross motor skills?

Gross motor skill are skills that use the large muscles of the body in coordination. They use whole body movements using arms, legs, feet and the entire body.

Examples:

• Jumping
• Running
• Walking
• Dancing
• Catching a ball
• Balancing
• Climbing

Why are gross motor skills important?

These skills are important to help children perform everyday functions and important for everyday self care skills like dressing, getting in and out of bed and getting on and off the potty. Gross motor activities can have a great impact on school readiness skills such as writing, posture and playground skills.

Gross Motor Activity for Toddlers!

For this activity I cut out a bunch of hands and feet, and taped them to the floor in our hallway. To make it easier for Aliza, I kept them close together and in some what of a, straight line. If you want to make it more challenging, spread them out and make them further apart so your little one can really move and reach!

I encouraged Aliza to start with both feet on each footprint. This is a great activity to start teaching your little one the difference between left and right! Kids clearly know left and right around 7-8 years, but could learn earlier if you start introducing it to them young.

Try to have your little one keep both hands and both feet on the prints together. This will be a great way to challenge your little ones coordination!

Lastly, this was a great activity to practice color recognition along with body awareness skills. I would say “put your hand on the green hand” or “put your foot on the red foot”. If you want to make it more challenging, throw in left and right discrimination. (i.e “put your left hand on the purple hand.”)

Aliza had so much fun with this activity! It really challenged her mind and overall coordination. It was the perfect activity to keep her busy for quite a while! Not to mention she napped for 3 hours after this! #GOALS

 

-COTAMOM