Physical Activities For Kids

                             Physical Activities For Kids

Physical Activities for Kids 

Jumping Jacks. Start with 20 of these to get the blood flowing. ...

Balance Beam. Very easily set up! ...

Keep the Balloon Up. Be prepared as this will get rambunctious! ...

Dancing! No real explanation needed here. ...

Temper Tantrum. Oh, go on, give the kids permission.
Use Gym Personal Trainer

Physical Activities for Kids 

Get the children moving with this list of physical activities for kids! They are categorized into age appropriate groups, but as always, these physical activities for kids can be enjoyed by those who are ready and willing to have fun and get some exercise. How did you like to stay active as a kid? What physical activities do you do with your your kids? Let us know!

Physical Activities for Kids Ages 2-4

1. Jumping Jacks

Start with 20 of these to get the blood flowing. You can easily incorporate these into a game of Simon Says if your kids are a little older! (#6 in the list).

2. Balance Beam

Very easily set up! Masking tape is all you really need – make a line on the ground and have fun! Ask your child to walk to the end only on the line. Try more lines at different angles, spirals, and zig-zags.

Variations – See who can walk the line the fastest, walk it heel-to-toe, walk it backwards, with eyes closed (take their socks off so they can feel the line), and jump down the line. If you want, you can certainly lay down and secure 2×4 pieces of wood as real balance beams!

3. Keep the Balloon Up

Be prepared as this will get rambunctious! I have been at birthday party of 15 four-year olds playing this, and I watched with my mouth open. Secure your lamps and pictures on the wall! Simply blow up some balloons and tell the kids to keep the balloons from touching the floor. What fun for the kids!

Variations – This can be a game where kids can get “out”. Round up a few judges, and if a kid hits a balloon which hits the ground then they are “out”. Last kid standing wins!

4. Dancing!

No real explanation needed here. Turn up the music and have a dance party!

Variations – This physical activity is obviously for all age groups; go ahead and make it a competition for your older kids! Or start and stop the music, having the kids freeze, to make it a laugh fest!

5. Temper Tantrum

Oh, go on, give the kids permission. Temper tantrum! Guaranteed to release some energy.

Search Amazon

Physical Activities for Kids Ages 5-8

6. Simon Says

I had so much fun playing this game with teachers even in 5th grade! But this time, you are the leader and get to work the kids up into a frenzy. First, choose someone to be “Simon”. Simon either begins a command with “Simon Says” or not. To stay in the game, kids only must follow the commands that begin with “Simon Says”. If you want to make the game difficult for older kids, simply issue commands faster and faster, and make the needed actions more and more difficult to complete.

7. Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is all about finding items from a list in certain rooms or areas of the outdoors. The kids will love checking off each item found or collected on the list. If you haven’t done this lately then you you just aren’t living!

Variations – Make this activity into a treasure hunt. You’ll just need to write the clever clues to lead them to the next clue!

8. Hot Potato

This physical activity will get giggly! Simply get a soft ball (not a softball!) or a rolled up sock and toss it to a child. Tell them toss it to someone else as quickly as possible. Everyone repeats this. When does this game end? Who knows? Just get rid of it!

Variations – Play short segments of music while they toss the “potato”, stop the music, and the last one to touch it after the music stops is out. The last child in wins.

9. Follow the Leader

No real trick here – just follow where the leader goes! Under a table? Over a tree stump? Into the kiddie pool? Oh noooo!!!

Variations – This physical activity can easily go along with Simon Says, and instead of the kids just following, they also have to do exactly what the leader does. Jumping jacks, dancing, headstands, whatever!

10. Duck, Duck, Goose (or Duck, Duck, Grey Duck for us Minnesotans!)

This classic activity needs about a minimum of 6 kids to play . Choose someone to be the Goose (or Grey Duck). All the other kids sit in a circle. The Goose then walks around the circle, tapping each kid on the head and saying “Duck”. Eventually, the Goose will say “Goose!” instead when tapping a person on the head. The tagged kid then must chase the Goose around the circle and reach him/her before they claim the vacant spot. If they do not, the tagged kid becomes the new Goose.

11. Headstands

Many kids might not be able to stand on their head by themselves, so lend a helping hand!

12. Indoor Obstacle Course

I just loved this activity as a kid. Build a course using some of these ideas in any order:

Crawl under tables.

Use a Balance Beam as described in game number 2.

Climb over ottomans.

Children need to jump/somersault/crawl/crab walk from one obstacle to another.

Put down pillows or couch cushions and the kids need to jump from one to the next. Alternatively, the kids could need to jump over the pillows or cushions!

Perform various exercises like 20 jumping jacks.

One of my personal favorites – crawling through a tunnel of blankets or sheets (hang them over chairs, couches, etc)

Toss 3 sock snowballs from game number 22 into laundry baskets. You can also throw stuffed animals.

Variations – Make it a competition and time them to see who can through the whole course the fastest.

13. Outdoor Obstacle Course

The outdoor version of the obstacle course! Here are some ideas for your course to put in any order:

Lay down a ladder and have the kids step through each rung.

Allow only jumping/somersaulting/crawling/crab walking from one area of the course to another.

Put down a piece of wood as a Balance Beam.

Perform various exercises like 20 sit-ups or push-ups.

Give each child 2 sheets of newspaper and allow each step to be taken only on a piece of newspaper. This requires the child to reach back and grab the previous step’s sheet of newspaper – tricky!

Create a slalom – kids must run zig-zag between obstacles.

Jump over various objects.

Throw balls to knock down objects.

Use water squirters to hit targets.

Make kids fill up a cup of water, run a distance to another container, pour the water in the container, and repeat this until they fill up the container to a certain height.

Variations – For older kids, make it a competition and time them to see how long it takes them to go through the whole course.

14. Animal Races

Some races the kids need to hop like a frog. Or run on all fours like a dog. Or maybe crawl on the ground like a lizard!

15. Musical Chairs

Get your dancin’ shoes on! This game is best with at least 4 or more children playing and 1 additional person to stop the music.

Variations – If you don’t have enough chairs, then you could substitute for pieces of colored construction paper taped to the ground. When the music stops, the child who gets both feet on first claims the spot.

16. Tag

We’ve all played it. We all love it. Now get in the game with those kiddos!

Variations – Laser Tag, Dart Tag, Ball Tag or Hide and seek tag. When you get found by the person who is it, run! Or you’ll be IT!

17. Jump Rope

If you don’t own jump ropes, don’t worry. You can make your own out of plastic bags!

Search Amazon

Physical Activities for Kids ages 9-12

18. Wrestling

Now this is what I call a physical activity. See if the kids can take you down! Be sure to only try this one on carpeting or grass. OK, if you have actual gym mats then you can use those, too 🙂

19. Crab walk

The crab walk will really get the kids winded. Start by sitting on the ground with your hands and feet flat on the ground. Make sure your fingers are pointing away from your body or else you will put too much pressure on your wrists. Now, raise your torso up towards the sky, about level with your shoulders. Then start to walk with your hands and feet. Let’s see how long you and the kids can keep this up! Crab walk tag, anyone?

20. Hopscotch

The easiest way to do this activity is to get a piece of chalk and draw the hopscotch design on the sidewalk or driveway according to Wikipedia. Old-time fun!

21. Bowling

Get some items that you can stand up like empty water bottles or plastic cups, grab a big enough ball, and start rolling to knock over the “pins”!

Variations – Make a target on the ground using masking tape. With each section worth different amounts of points, the kids can roll the ball trying to stop it within the different target areas, competing for points.

22. Indoor Basketball

Easily done by making a few “snowballs” out of some pairs of socks, then get a laundry basket (or something smaller for more of a challenge). Have the kids take turns trying to make a basket, and have them try some longer shots worth more points! A child wins when they get a certain amount of points.

Variations – Each child tosses the basketball, and if they make a basket they take one step back. Repeat. Whoever steps the farthest back without missing wins

Search Amazon

Physical Activities for Kids Ages 13-17

23. Twister

This game was made popular by Johnny Carson in 1966, and has been a success ever since. Fun for 2 or more people, you can go buy this game or make it yourself. You’ll get tied up in knots!

24. Ladder Golf

Ladder Golf is one of my favorite outdoor activities. You can either purchase it or make this yourself; it involves tossing 2 golf balls attached by strings towards a stand-up plastic ladder. Scoring is slightly more complicated than this, but it basically is 3 points for wrapping the golf balls around the top rung, 2 points for the middle rung, and 1 point for the bottom rung. So. Much. Fun!

25. Bocce Ball

While ladder golf is one of my go-to outdoor activities, bocce ball is my favorite! Hours of simple fun! Played with 4-8 balls and a smaller, white “jack” ball, the jack is thrown out on the lawn, and players take turns throwing their larger-sized balls towards the jack. The point is to get as close to the jack as possible, and even touching it. Scoring and full instructions can be found here.

26. Pull-ups

I would wager that the ancients and cave men even did pull-ups. You and your kids should join them!

27. Lacrosse

Lacrosse is becoming more and more popular as the years go by. You’ll need at least one other person with a lacrosse stick to toss a ball around!

28. Tic-tac-toe Frisbee

Construct a tic-tac-toe board on the ground using masking tape or chalk, with the squares big enough for a frisbee. Then take turns with your partner throwing the frisbee, attempting to land it (mostly) in a square. If successful, mark your X or O in that square. Continue until you have a winner or a “cat’s game”!

29. Ultimate (Frisbee)

Played on a soccer or American Football field, get your friends together and play a game of Ultimate! The rules are fairly simple (full rules here) – throw a frisbee to your teammates (you cannot run with the frisbee) until you get to the end zone, without letting it touch the ground. If you do, you score a point. If the frisbee hits the ground, the other team gets control and they attempt to score. I played this in college, and it’s loads of fun!

30. Disc Golf

This is the most fun when played on actual disc golf courses with real disc golf discs, but you can also play it using a frisbee in the backyard or a field. For backyard fun, you’ll need to design a few “holes”, with a starting point to throw the frisbee from and a “hole”, or target, to throw at. Your hole can be short, at 30 feet or so, or long, at 100-300 feet or more. Holes can bend around trees, or go over ravines – be creative! For each hole, simply count how many throws it takes to hit the target. The lower the score the better

Search Amazon

Physical Activities for Kids of All Ages!

31. Push-ups

32. Sit-ups

33. Outdoor Physical Activities

a. Biking

b. Hiking

b. Basketball

c. Soccer (Football)

d. Tennis

e. Volleyball

f. Swimming

g. Hockey

h. Flag football

i. Two-hand touch football

i. Tug-of-war

j. Running

k. Rollerblading

l. Kick Ball

m. Baseball

             Family Sports & Fitness – Family Friendly Races, Walks & Tournaments