Kids should aim for 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity each week, such as aerobic, muscle strengthening and bone strengthening exercises.

Physical Development

Engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity increases blood flow to the brain, which improves cognitive skills such as problem solving and decision making, emotional development and creating a healthier self-image.

1. Dance

Dance is an enjoyable physical activity that helps children develop balance, coordination, muscle strength and spatial awareness. Additionally, dancing allows them to move their bodies in time with music which helps develop rhythmic and musical skills.

Children who participate in dance can build self-esteem and confidence, even those not performing at an elite level. Dance also provides an avenue for social interactions and learning from others that is integral to early childhood development.

Current research only partially explores the benefits of dance as an form of PA; more work needs to be done in this regard and on other forms.

2. Walk

Kids require daily physical activity to build strength, endurance, flexibility and balance – not to mention academic performance! Physical activity also benefits academic outcomes.

Babies, toddlers and preschoolers should spend at least three hours each day engaging in physical activities that are both engaging and energetic – such as outdoor play, sports activities or active exploration.

Encourage children to enroll in physical education classes and team sports at school, and find other means of physical activity outside school such as biking or walking, taking the stairs instead of an elevator and hosting family dance parties.

Encourage children to utilize nature as their playground by encouraging them to run, jump and skip in its beautiful setting. Geared up in gumboots or raincoats can make exploring beaches or splashing through puddles more enjoyable experiences for all involved.

3. Jump

Children who can crawl, walk up and down stairs and balance on one foot are ready to learn to jump. Jumping is a valuable gross motor skill which improves balance, coordination and muscle strength.

Encourage children to jump safely. Limit the number of children who can jump at once and implement a turn-taking system so there are fewer collision risks.

Use sidewalk chalk to design hopscotch courses suitable for forward, backward, lateral and diagonal jumping. Counting hops will support numeracy skills while trying to beat their previous record will encourage children (and adults!) alike to keep practicing their jumping techniques (it even works great as core and leg muscle strengthening exercise!). Plus this jumping activity provides great cardiovascular exercise.

4. Crawl

Crawling is an essential self-produced locomotion skill for infants that helps develop and enhance their vestibular/balance system, sensory systems, cognition, problem solving skills, coordination and overall physical development. Crawling also sets the foundation for future gross motor skills like walking running and jumping.

Crawling allows babies to develop depth perception and navigation as they navigate towards an object of interest. When an obstacle presents itself, however, they must devise an alternative motor plan in order to get around it.

If a child suddenly stops crawling, don’t panic; they could simply be focused on developing other developmental skills instead. But neglecting crawling could have long-term ramifications as it can impede future motor development and functional mobility.

5. Jump Rope

Jumping rope is an iconic form of exercise for kids that burns calories and strengthens motor skills, both beginner and experienced alike. Jumping rope can provide endless hours of entertainment – from learning one foot jumps and double unders to cross arms jumping and even learning tricks like alternating jumps.

Study results comparing fancy rope-skipping to a control group showed that fancy rope-skipping significantly improved children’s motor coordination and selective attention when taking the Korperkoordinations Test fur Kinder and d2 Test of Attention (Greco et al., 2023). Jumping rope had small to moderate effects on most physical function indicators including speed, lower body strength, aerobic capacity and muscular endurance – with no significant effects seen on flexibility or body morphological indicators.

6. Roll Ball

Rolling is an essential gross motor milestone that involves coordination of legs, arms, and head. Furthermore, rolling can facilitate dialogue between left and right sides of the body – helping build their communication and hand-eye coordination abilities as well as spatial awareness skills.

Provide children with opportunities to practice rolling a ball using ramps, chutes, or hills outdoors. Allowing them to share in rolling the ball back and forth improves visual tracking skills while teaching taking turns.

Physical development includes not only noticeable increases in size and strength, but also developing the fine motor skills required to perform tasks such as stacking blocks or cutting with scissors.

7. Climb

Children need daily physical activity. This may involve 30 minutes of tummy time for infants and active play for toddlers and preschoolers. Because children and adolescents with disabilities are at greater risk for inactivity, it’s vital that we plan activities keeping their abilities in mind.

Rock climbing is a sport which utilizes various techniques to traverse rocky surfaces. However, unlike ice skating or mountain biking, specific equipment may be necessary to take part in this activity.

Children enjoy moving around, and adding daily physical activity into their lives will foster healthy development and growth, as well as cognitive and emotional growth.

8. Run

Children can benefit from engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activities daily, such as walking, running, jogging and marching.

Gross motor skills develop first, so it’s crucial that toddlers and preschoolers have ample opportunities to jump, climb, throw and run freely. This fosters confidence building that contributes to both social and cognitive development.

Switch up their playing surface regularly to reduce ground-reaction force and limit repetitive stress on joints, muscles, and bones.