Get moving indoors #fiveforfriday

Spring may officially be here but that doesn’t mean that rainy days have been banished unfortunately. While we’re able to get outdoors more often than during the winter months, there are still many hours to fill hanging around in the house.

ToddlerGirl is incredibly energetic and will literally run around in circles in our living room. Making the effort to channel this energy into an active game is much more productive for us both! Some of our favourite ways for getting moving in the house include:

• Creating a simple indoor obstacle course – using whatever I have to hand, such as DVD boxes, a beanbag, sofa cushions.
• Action rhymes to sing and dance along with – ToddlerGirl currently loves us to sing ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ while marching round and round our dining room table!
• Rolling/kicking balls and throwing beanbags – either to each other or setting goal areas, such as tossing beanbags past a line or into a laundry basket.

These are all fun but for my #FiveForFriday links this week, I thought it would be good to mix up our indoor activities a bit with some fresh ideas. The activities below all look great for banishing the wiggles – and I’m thinking some may even be suitable for me to direct from the sofa, which in my current, exhausted pregnant state is a more than welcome thought!

1. Physical activity cube

This physical activity cube from Little Family Fun is a great idea for a DIY activity to get little ones moving. It’s a simple homemade, oversize dice with a different instruction for a movement on each face. We played with something similar to this at ToddlerGirl’s gym class and she really enjoyed it – the rolling of the dice and then following the instruction had huge toddler appeal. I will definitely be having a go at making one of these this weekend!

2. DIY easy catching game

ToddlerGirl has suddenly got really into throwing and catching. We’ve been having a lot of fun batting with balloons recently and I think she would really enjoy this DIY catching game from The Imagination Tree. The catch ‘mitt’ is made out of a plastic milk bottle and would make the catching element a lot easier for little ones.

3. Insect and bug themed movement game

I’ve seen quite a few different animal and other creature action cards on Pinterest and really like the idea for ToddlerGirl. This insect movement game from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas is great as it combines getting active with learning about the various bugs (and I think it would pair perfectly with reading a book such as Mad About Minibeasts either before or afterwards).

4. Colour and shapes game

Use a large roll of paper taped to the floor and draw on various shapes of different colours for this fun learning and movement game from Toddler Approved. Then challenge your little one to walk across the paper only on certain colours or shapes, or they can run to a shape when you call it.

5. Animal sounds obstacle course

I absolutely love this twist on a standard obstacle course from Lalymom. Instead of the usual obstacles, take a selection of soft toy animals and lay them out. You then have to leap over each one, making the sound of the animal as you do! I can imagine ToddlerGirl having a lot of silly fun with this one.

Do you have any go-to games to get your little ones active when you’re stuck in the house?

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