Bringing Active Play Indoors

Resources / Publications / Teaching Young Children / April/May 2018 / Bringing Active Play Indoors

LISA MUFSON BRESSON

Most preschool teachers have experienced them: those dreaded inclement weather days. During the months when it’s too
wet, too cold, or too hot to spend much time outdoors, children bounce around the classroom or care space, craving active
play.

Young children need many opportunities throughout the day to develop their large muscles, improve their coordination,
and use their limitless energy. Increasing core strength and hand–eye coordination can help preschoolers improve their
gross motor abilities. Consider these activities for bringing active play inside!

Skills: Throwing | Catching | Hand–Eye

Coordination
Garbage Ball/Sock Ball Throw
Create garbage balls by wadding up pieces of newspaper or wrapping paper and covering them in packing tape (for sock
balls, ball up two or three socks). Mark a chalk or tape line on the floor, where children will stand. Depending on the age of
the children, place a target between three and six feet away. Encourage children to aim their throws at the target. For most
3-year-olds, the target is simply there to direct children’s throws. Many 4- and 5-year-olds can begin using it for accuracy.
Help preschoolers develop underhand and overhand throwing techniques first, and work on accuracy later.

Clean Up the Floor

Put out a laundry basket of garbage balls and sock balls. With rope and fabric, create a low “tennis net,” about two or three
feet high, across your care space. Younger children with less developed motor abilities can drop the homemade balls over
the net. Children with more developed skills can throw them over, switching between underhand and overhand, while
children on the other side work on their catching skills. At cleanup time, children toss all the garbage and sock balls back
into the laundry basket.

Skills: Striking | Hand–Eye Coordination | Core

Strength | Self-Regulation
Easy Kicks
Stuff a sturdy kick ball inside one leg of a pair of panty hose. Tie the other leg to a doorknob or hook in a wall or doorway,
with the ball hanging just above the floor. This way, the ball will keep returning to the kicker. For small spaces, tie the panty
hose to a doorknob to keep the activity to a confined area. Hanging it next to a wall allows younger preschoolers, who are
beginning to develop kicking skills, to balance with one hand on the wall. Children will have lots of fun kicking.
Easy Strikes
Push an inflated balloon inside one leg of a pair of panty hose and tie the other leg to a hook in the ceiling or doorway. Give
two or three children foam pool noodles or Rad Rackets to hit the hanging balloon. (To make Rad Rackets, bend a wire
hanger into the shape of a ping-pong paddle. Cut a pair of panty hose in half so you have two separate legs. Pull one leg over
the wire frame and secure the hose to the handle with heavy tape.)
Skills: Climbing | Hopping | Crawling |
Balancing | Spatial Planning | Self-Regulation

Spiderwebs
Weave long lengths of yarn through sturdy furniture at different heights. (You can also use crepe paper streamers for
younger children, as the streamers will break if a child gets tangled in them.) As children carefully navigate their way
through the webs, encourage spatial awareness using words like over, under, between, and through.
Navigation Station
Create a variety of balance beams of different heights and widths, using wooden unit blocks, sturdy hollow blocks, and long
pieces of foam and bubble wrap. Each material offers children a different texture to explore. Encourage preschoolers to
make their way through the maze of balance beams. Depending on a child’s physical coordination and abilities, she may try
walking forward and backward, crawling, or hopping. It’s helpful to set the beams up alongside sturdy furniture or next to a
wall so that young children can hold on if they lose their balance while trying a new skill.

Skills: Pushing/Pulling | Core Strength |

Teamwork
Lug-a-Jug
Fill a gallon jug with sand or water, carefully securing the top. Push the jug through one panty hose leg. Create a handle on
the other end by tying a loop or knot in the panty hose, and encourage children to pull the jug along the floor of your
classroom or care space. Children can work alone or together to support cooperative play.

The Big Haul

Using a very sturdy laundry basket, have one child sit in the basket while others pull or push the basket around the room.
You can vary the weight and difficulty by adding or subtracting children or materials in the basket, like unit blocks,
additional jugs, or anything else the child wants to experiment with. Use language and questions that encourage high-level
comparing and contrasting, like more, less, heavier, lighter, faster, slower, easy, and difficult. Children can work in pairs
or small groups.

The Community Connection

What’s the best place to find free materials? Your own neighborhood! Consider asking children’s families, local businesses,
and other community organizations for

• Recycled catalogues, newspaper, and wrapping paper to make garbage balls

(ask convenience stores, families)
• Mismatched socks for sock balls (ask secondhand and thrift stores, families)
• Clean panty hose with runs or tears for Rad Rackets and tethered ball games
(ask discount stores, secondhand stores, families)
• Wire hangers for Rad Rackets (ask dry cleaning shops, families)
• Scrap yarn for spiderwebs (ask craft stores, families)
Food for thought. . .
• Consider whether children are engaged in an activity. If a majority are not, it’s okay to move
on and try something else.

Try this: If multiple children aren't interested in an activity you planned, ask yourself, Is it too difficult or too easy? Is the
activity appealing? Did I introduce it properly? Are they tired of doing it? Are they bored waiting for their turns?

• Children may have difficulty the first time they try a new activity. Be patient and trust the
process of growth and development you are supporting.

Try this: Teach children how to play games outdoors first, and talk about how you could play the game indoors.

How Gross Motor Abilities (Large Muscle

Movements) Will Build over Time
Children develop concepts, skills, and abilities at their own pace. Below are some guidelines for age ranges and gross motor
skills development to help you know generally what to expect, what skills and abilities come first, and what comes next for
most children.

Around 3 years old: Children can jump, kick a ball, balance on one foot for three seconds, throw overhand and
underhand, switch feet when climbing stairs
Around 4 years old: Children can hop, walk backwards, gallop, walk on a balance beam, bounce a ball and catch a ball,
throw to hit a target, balance on one foot for five seconds

Around 5 years old: Children can skip, kick and throw harder and with more accuracy, balance on one foot for 10
seconds

References for Activities

With the exceptions of Spiderwebs and Navigation Station, the activities described in this article are inspired by and
adapted from activities in Diane H. Craft and Craig L. Smith’s book Dr. Craft’s Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for
Young Children, published by Active Play Books (2010).

Note: Spiderwebs and Navigation Station are from Janis Strasser and Lisa Mufson Bresson’s book Big Questions for
Young Minds: Extending Children’s Thinking, published by NAEYC (2017).

Photographs: © Getty Images; courtesy of the author

Audience: Teacher
Age: Preschool
Topics: Child Development, Physical, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Fitness, Health, Other Topics, Play, TYC
LISA MUFSON BRESSON
Lisa Mufson Bresson, MEd, is an early childhood author and consultant with Beyond Boundaries LLC. She is a former
Program Manager for Grow NJ Kids, New Jersey’s statewide QRIS for early childhood programs. Previously she taught in
urban public preschool settings for 13 years.

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