I will share with you some gross motor skills examples and ideas/activities to work on those skills.
What are gross motor skills? Gross motor skills are those movements that you do with your large muscles. Some basic gross motor examples are walking, running, and throwing an object. The muscles you use in big movements are your core muscles, arms and legs.
Gross motor skills are part of our activities of daily living. We use these skills around the house, at school, during play, and at work. Gross motor skills usually need whole body movement. These skills are ones that you learn/develop as you grow through normal progression without really realizing it. Part of gross motor skills and developing them involve coordination, balance, and motor planning.
It is usually a normal progression and development for most kids but sometimes they can have issues or problems developing these skills. If you notice your child is having a hard time with developing gross motor skills and are behind most kids their age talk with your pediatrician. If needed they will refer you to a Physical or Occupational therapist to help your child with any delays or issues.
When do you start developing gross motor skills? You start developing gross motor skills at birth. Babies will start moving their arms and legs, bringing foot to mouth, and moving their head. As they age and develop they will start lifting their heads which is why supervised tummy time is very important for them. They need that time to work on lifting their head and building up that neck strength.
From there it will be rolling over, sitting up with help and then eventually sitting up by themselves. Then to crawling and then walking. And the development of Gross motor skills examples continues on.
Why are gross motor skills important? Gross motor skills are very important because they help you to be independent. They help you to be able to move around freely and do what you want or need to do. Those skills help you to move from one place to another. In our daily lives you need to have those skills to be able to feed yourself, clean yourself, and all other normal tasks you do each day.
Think about it, What all have you done today already? What have your kids done today? Without those gross motor skills you and your child wouldn’t have been able to do them. Gross motor skills also lay a good foundation to help you perform fine motor skills. For example: You need a good core strength and balance to be able to sit up well and be able to perform a fine motor task of drawing, coloring and writing.
To work on Gross motor skills doesn’t mean you have to do exercises and practice walking, jumping or serious work. You can work on gross motor skills through playing games and being creative. A lot of activities that you can do or already do incorporate using gross motor skills. The biggest thing is to have your kids moving and doing and not just on the couch watching TV.
I will give you some basic and fun gross motor skills examples.
I’ll list some old favorites I passed onto my kids and some new ones we heard of or made up. I have them separated into inside and outside your home but some can actually be done in either place depending on the space you have. And what you allow to be done in your house or not.
Gross Motor Skills Examples Inside your home
Fort building – Build a fort with cushions, pillows, and blankets.
Floor Is Lava – Pretend the floor is lava and you have to hop from furniture to furniture or pillows to move around the room.
Balloon in the Air – Blow up a balloon and keep hitting it so it never touches the ground.
Simon Says – Play Simon says, The person that is Simon says to walk like a dog, or do jumping jacks or whatever.
Hide and Seek – Play a game of hide and seek through the house.
Dress up Race – Place a bin of clothes at one side of the room and an empty one at the other. They have to dress up with all the items and then run to the next player and remove the items so they can put them on and so on. I suggest having larger clothing items in the bin than the child so they can put them on over their clothes.
Marching Band fun – Create a marching band with your child/children. Get some pots and pans or musical instruments and bang or play those while marching throughout the house from room to room.
Dance Competitions or Dance video games like the Wii – My kids always loved to come up with dances to perform for us. When they got older they enjoyed playing the dance games on with Wii with us. You can get a lot of gross motor movement with that along with good exercise.
Paper airplane races – Use this to work with fine motor skills making the airplane and even coloring/decorating it. Then gross motor skills flying them throughout the house. You can see who’s can fly the farthest.
Keep away with a beach ball – Do this in a room where you won’t break anything. You will need 3 people with this game. Basically you need 3 people in a row. The first person with the ball tries not to let the second person in the middle get the ball when you are throwing it to the third person. That goes on back and forth and when the middle person catches it they take the place of the person that didn’t catch the ball.
Sock slide around the house – Put on some socks that slide easily on the tile or wooden floor. Run and slide on the floor. If those don’t work for you then use some paper plates to move and slide around on those.
Act out Yoga positions – Watch a yoga video with your kids then act out positions you learned or do them while watching the video. It might even turn into a routine you do daily with your kids.
Follow the leader – Play a game of follow the leader and have each kid have a turn being the leader. You can start it off and give them ideas. March around the couch, hop down to the hallway, skip to the bedroom then get on the bed and jump off and so on. Kids have fun especially being the leader and making up their ideas.
Ball pit, stuffed animal pit or pillow pit – This is a fun one for most kids. I’d even suggest having one around the house for all the time play. You can buy a small inflatable swimming pool and then fill it with balls, stuffed animals or pillows. Kids can jump into it over and over again or just play in it. If you have a small toddler slide you can put it where they can slide down into the pit. My kids would play in it a lot and even read in it.
Indoor obstacle course – These are so much fun for kids. You can easily make an obstacle course through the house with just items you have. Put some cushions on the floor, a blanket across some chairs for a tunnel. Show them how they have to walk across the pillows, then over the chair and onto the pretend balance beam (yarn or rope along the ground) and through the tunnel. Get creative and make different ones. Soon your kids will create obstacles for you to do also.
Pulling and pushing sibling or stuffed animals in a laundry basket/bin – Kids can have fun giving their stuffed animals or dolls a ride in the laundry basket. If you have a big enough storage bin let your child sit in it and have their sibling push or pull the basket with them in it and visa versa. No sibling, then they push and pull their stuffed animals and you push or pull them. If you have a pet that would cooperate and enjoy being pushed or pulled around in a bin or stroller then do that.
Pretend wheel barrel races – Have your kid down on their hands and knees. You lift up and hold their feet/legs up and they walk along the ground with their hands. Siblings can take turns with each other.
Indoor ball/bean bag toss – You can use different colored bins and balls/bean bags. Your kids can work on colors as well as their gross motor skills. The bins can be worth different points if keeping score and counting or you can call out what color they need to try and make the ball in.
Indoor bowling – This can be done with an actual plastic play set or make your own. Get up to 12 empty plastic litter bottles or empty water bottles (or however many you can find). Find a ball to use for your bowling ball and set up your makeshift pins and have fun.
Toy Car Races – If your kid has toy cars help them find a fun way to race them. Build a ramp with a card board box so the car has to fly down the ramp and across the kitchen floor. Have races and see who’s car can go the farthest. You could even build tunnels with cardboard and use painting tape to tape them to the tile.
Tight Rope Walking or balance beam walk on pillows – You can put down a thick rope, pillows, line of tape, or yarn for your kids to walk the tight rope or balance beam. Great practice for balance and coordination.
Climbing and crawling up the stairs – If you have stairs at home climbing up and down the stairs is definitely some good gross motor skills. Play games like crawl up the stairs like a cat or dog. If you don’t have stairs or want to try this just put out some of your step stools around the room and use those with an obstacle course or make up a game. Maybe indoor freeze tag but you can’t run and if you are on a step stool that is a safe base.
Outdoor Gross Motor Skills Examples
Freeze Tag – This is where one person is “IT” and that person runs around trying to freeze the other players. When the person that is “IT” tags a person they have to freeze until another player unfreezes them.
Swing the Statue – You run in a circle holding hands with the person that is “IT” when they stop you have to freeze in that position. The person that is the statue secretly decides what they want to be by how they are positioned. For example: If you have your hands out like you are batting you might decide you will be a baseball player.
If you end up on all fours you might be some type of an animal. You then are a statue so when the person that is “IT” comes and touches the top of your head they are activating you and you act out what you are without talking. Such as a ballet dancer, a lion, a baseball player, etc….
Red Light Green Light – One person yells out red light looking at everyone and green light when their back is to everyone. The others run towards them when they turn around and say green light. And when they turn back around and say red light you stop running and freeze. But if you move on a red light you can get sent back to start. The first person to get to them wins. Running and controlling yourself to stop are great basic gross motor skills examples.
Balance beam walk – If you have a 2×4 board this works well for your kids to walk on and use as a balance beam. If you have other size boards or something else to use that would work too.
Leap frog – This is a old but goody. One person is down like a frog and the person behind them has to put their hands on that persons back and leap over them. Then it alternates and goes on and on.
Duck Duck Goose – You need several people to be able to do this game. Everyone sits in a circle the person that is standing walks around saying duck duck duck as they touch the top of each persons head and when they say goose that person gets up and chases them around trying to tag them before they sit down in your spot.
Red Rover – You definitely need a lot of players for this game. You make up two rows facing each other with plenty of running space in between and then behind you as well. The kids on each side hold hands. Everyone on one side decides who they will choose on the opposing team. They sing out Red Rover Red Rover let _________come over. That person that was called then tries to run through the opposing teams arms to break through. If they break through they choose another person to go back with them. But if not successful they then have to stay on that team.
Kick The Can – This was and is a favorite of mine and my kids. We love doing this even now with a lot of family especially at night. It is a lot like hide and seek but with a twist. The person that is “IT” goes and looks for people hiding. When they find someone they have to go into like a jail basically.
You put a can in the middle of the yard. So while the person that is “IT” is hunting for other people someone still hiding can run out and kick the can. That then frees anyone in jail and they can run and hide again. Each time the person that is “IT” thinks they know where someone is they run to the can and say “1 2 3, I see _______ hiding behind the tree(or wherever you see them)” If it is correct that person has to go to the jail.
Wheel barrel races – Use an actual wheel barrel if you have one. You can push your child around the yard and they have to balance sitting in it as you turn and move. If there is a sibling and old enough they can take turns pushing each other. If no siblings let your child push a stuffed animal in it and they can move it around the yard. Or just do the pretend wheel barrel and move your child along in the grass on their hands.
Outdoor obstacle course – Obstacle courses are so fun and so great for your child to get creative and come up with one. Obstacle courses are great gross motor skills examples since you can get so much movement with them. So much to do outside. You can use cones or other items they have to zig-zag around, hop over or climb over. Or crawl through a tunnel if you have a collapsible tunnel or make a tunnel with a blanket. Maybe climb up and slide down the slide then hop to the tree and so on. It really is endless on the possible opportunities you can create.
Ride bikes, scooters or push cars – This is something most kids enjoy. Go on a ride around the block or in the neighborhood. Ride bikes around in your driveway. Use chalk and draw houses, grocery store, hospital, gas station, and so on. They could ride their scooters or push cars around to the different places. Draw windy curvy roads for them to follow and drive on.
Roller skate/roller blade – Roller skating is fun and can be done at home on the sidewalk or in a driveway if you have some.
Corn Hole – If you have a corn hole game use it. If not make your own or something similar. You can use a cardboard box to make one or use some big bins and bean bags or balls. With a cardboard box you can just tape it all shut and cut a round hole in the top.
Bocce ball – If you have a set then your ready to play. If not then make your own. It might not work as good but you can make something kinda similar. You can use some tennis balls. Spray paint the tennis balls different colors but you want 2 of the same color. So make 2 blue, 2 green, 2 red and 2 black for example. Make 8 if you have them so you can have some for other players.
A real set has 8 balls and a smaller ball. So a golf ball would work nicely for your game. The object of the game is to get your colored ball as close to the golf ball as you can. One person throws the golf ball or small ball out into the yard. So each person has 2 tries, 1 for each of your colored balls. You all stand in one area and throw from that point. The one getting their ball closer to the small one wins. If you have a lot of people playing you can play with teams and each person will toss 1 ball each. Whoever wins the game throws the white ball out on the next game.
Croquet – If you have a set use it. If not you can use a golf club and golf balls. Make some cardboard boxes into tunnels or use pipe cleaners stranded together and into the ground to form a loop for the ball to go through.
Gymnastic fun – Outside gymnastics, try doing somersaults, headstands/handstands, cartwheels, splits, and other fun activities. With the soft grass as your base it might not hurt so bad when you fall. You can try handstands and headstands in the house using the couch or wall.
Jumping on a Trampoline – Trampoline jumping is a big hit if you happen to have one. A little exercise trampoline that you can jump on works good also.
Swinging on a swing or rope – Every kid out there I’m sure has swung on a swing of some sort in their life. Any type of swing is great for a kid to get those gross motor skills working along with balance, strength, vestibular input and so much more.
Sliding – Sliding down a slide or makeshift slide is fun. If you don’t have a slide make one with flattening a cardboard box and putting it in your yard where it slopes. If you don’t have a slope in your yard then you can take your kids to a park to slide.
Climbing – Climbing on whatever is available, a tree, climbing wall, climbing net, monkey bars, or other. Set up a ladder to climb on with help keeping it stationary.
Playing sports – Playing or teaching your kids how to play sports is great. Soccer, baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, tether ball in your yard can be fun and the beginning of your child liking sports.
Kickball or Dodge ball – Play a game of kick ball kinda like baseball but you are kicking the ball and then running to the bases. Or a game of Dodge ball where you throw the balls at the opposing team or person trying to get them out.
Water balloons or water gun wars – This is fun when it’s warm outside.
Sprinkler/Water fun – During the summer try running through sprinklers or play on a slip and slide.
Swimming– Swim if you have a pool. Or have swim races or race across the pool in a inter tube or float kicking to move it through the water. Races on who can get the most diving sticks (make sure an adult is always supervising kids in the pool).
Gardening and lawn work – Have your kids help out with planting some flowers, picking weeds, or picking up sticks and branches off the ground.
Sand Play – Walk, play and build things in the sand. If you have a sand volleyball pit or big area of sand near you have races through the sand.
Hopscotch – Another oldie but good. Draw with chalk on the ground and create a hopscotch to hop across. Throw a rock on it and hop following the directions and then pick up the rock balancing as you do.
Hula hoops – Hula hoops can be hard to use and actually do it, but with practice you can. It really does take a lot of work to be able to keep the hula hoop up around your waist. Try doing the hula hoop on your arm and then maybe both arms at the same time. Some can do the hula hoop around their neck.
Putting practice fun – Create an area in your yard to use as a putting green. You can play put put golf and create different areas and challenges to have to get the ball into. This can be fun to create and figure out your areas to play in and the obstacles to get the ball around. Use golf clubs and golf balls if you have them. If not you could use a bat or stick or some other long object and any small ball.
Hopefully with all those gross motor skills examples you can have fun with your kids while getting in that needed work. Do realize that work for kids is play and should be fun.
Don’t be hard on your kid if they are having a hard time doing something. Give them time and with practice they may catch on and be able to do it. Some kids are more coordinated than others and develop faster than others. Don’t be little your kid or make fun of them if they can’t perform a task like their sibling. Some kids might just be better at certain things than others and that’s okay.
The more you play with your kid/kids and keep them active instead of on the couch all day the more they will grow in their gross motor skill abilities and strength.
Some of my gross motor skills examples may be ones you are already doing with your kids and that’s great. Others may be ones you haven’t thought about have helped you create your own activities.