9 Physical Activities for Toddlers to Burn Energy at Home

The hours between wake-up time and naptime are crucial in our house. If I don’t get the kids moving and running around to burn off all that energy, things get crazy fast. But with different schedules and unpredictable weather, we can’t always head out to the park.

So, instead, I’ve got a few quick physical activities for toddlers that help us expend those short bursts of energy. These are the most useful and engaging ones that my kids never say no to.

Physical activities for toddlers: At a glance

1. CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ on Weekend
2. Animal walk relay
3. Balloon Keepy Uppy
4. Painter's tape balance beam
5. Beanbag target toss
6. Living room obstacle course
7. Freeze dance
8. Sock ball catch
9. Sidewalk chalk color dash

1. CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ on Weekend

When my toddler needs to move, and I want to get us started on some physical activity, CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ on Weekend is what I open first.

It's on Fire TV, LG, and Samsung smart TVs, and you can have it up and running in just a minute. You can pair your phone to use as the microphone, so your kids can engage by singing or shouting out the answers. It’s got a bunch of games that involve movement plus learning colors and shapes.

• In Wheels on the Bus, each of the 5 stops brings a different move to copy: spinning wheels, opening doors, wipers going, or lights blinking.
• In Baa Baa Black Sheep, you have to follow a sheep that turns blue, pink, and purple and call out each color as it changes.
• In Peek-a-Boo, they shout “Peekaboo!” to reveal whoever's hiding, like Mommy, Daddy, or JJ.

I stick to a few mini-games per session so my son knows what's coming, then I carry the same words and colors into whatever we play next. He loves the songs too, and has picked up so much vocabulary just from the lyrics.

{{cta-cocomelon}}

2. Animal walk relay

This activity needs no setup or equipment, which is why it's my go-to when we're stuck inside the house. It also builds movement skills like crawling, galloping, and hopping that come before a toddler can run and jump confidently.

I call out an animal, and the kids have to move like it across the room. Bear-walk on all fours, frog hops, snake-slither on the belly. After a couple rounds, the kids take turns picking the next animal.

If their friends are over, you can line them up and race 1 animal at a time. If we’re playing this with older cousins, we dial up the challenge by working on letters at the same time. I call out a letter, and the kids have to pick an animal that starts with it. For example, an alligator crawl covers A and a bear walk covers B.

3. Balloon Keepy Uppy

Since toddlers may not be able to throw or catch a real ball, a balloon is an ideal option. It drifts slowly, giving them enough time to run and catch it, or swat it back up. That makes it great for hand-eye coordination, and plenty of energy-expending fun.

This game is also called “Balloon keep-up.” We do our own version and count how many taps we can manage before it lands. Our current record is 14.

When that gets too easy, I hand my son a pool noodle to bat it with, or we switch to no-hands, only head and shoulders. This activity is great to join in and play with your kids too.

4. Painter's tape balance beam

Balance is the skill most 2- and 3-year-olds are still shaky on, but they love to have fun while wobbling around. A strip of painter's tape on the floor gives them a “beam” to practice on with nothing to fall off. I run about 6 feet of tape in a straight line to start.

Once the kids are steady, I make it harder in stages:

• Walk it forward, then backward
• Give them a toy to hold in each hand
• Swap the straight line for zigzags and a curve

If your toddler is into shapes right now, the same roll of tape becomes circles and squares to step around, which is how we usually end up combining the balancing and shapes.

5. Beanbag target toss

Smaller ball-like beanbags are easy for small hands to grab and let go of, which makes them the right tool for teaching a toddler to throw. If you don’t have beanbags in the house (neither do we), a rolled-up pair of socks does the job. Or one of the kids' socks, stuffed with a few scrunched-up pieces of paper lying around the house.

I put a laundry basket a few steps away, and we take turns lobbing it in. Every time he hits the target, the basket moves back a step. For older kids, I set out a few baskets, number them, and call which to aim for, so they’re throwing and counting in the same go.

6. Living room obstacle course

You might assume this takes a lot of arranging and rearranging, but it really doesn’t. An obstacle course is how I get climbing, crawling, and jumping into a continuous run, which wears my son out faster than anything else on this list.

I build it from furniture we already have, pillows included, so there's no prep beyond moving the coffee table out of the way. A typical course has him crawl under the dining chairs, hop over a few couch cushions, walk the tape beam, then toss a beanbag into a basket at the finish.

If there are a few kids at home, I get them to do 3 or 4 laps, quicker each time. When I want a break from setup, I switch to simpler games we can play indoors.

7. Freeze dance

The great thing about freeze dance is that your kids have already played it at birthday parties, so they’ll know how it goes. It’s my go-to when everyone's gone hyper, and I need to reel it back in.

It works on agility and, more usefully for me, on listening, since the whole game hinges on stopping the second the music does.

Here's the version we play:

• Music on, we dance however we want.
• Music off, we freeze mid-pose and hold it.
• Move after the stop, and you sit out 1 round, or if it's a 2-year-old, you laugh and go again.

To make it harder, I'll call a pose to freeze in, like a foot up or arms out like a tree. It's also a reliable party game when you've got a room full of toddlers.

8. Sock ball catch

Catching is the last big movement skill toddlers develop, and plenty of kids aren't very good at it until age 4 or older, so I don't stress when it's messy. A rolled-up sock ball is soft and slow enough that a miss doesn't hurt.

Before we start, we spend a while just rolling it back and forth on the floor, so my toddler learns to track it before he has to grab it out of the air. Then, I start a few steps away from him, and toss it underhand, which is the easiest catch to make. As he gets the hang of it, I back up. 

9. Sidewalk chalk color dash

This is the activity I save for the driveway or patio when the kids have energy to burn, and I want them busy for a while. I draw 4 big chalk circles in different colors on the ground, call out a color, and they have to run to stand in it. If you add more kids in the mix, it turns into a race to the circle.

Some days I swap the colors for numbers or letters and call those instead, so he's reviewing them between sprints. When we've run out of driveway ideas, I dig into our activities for 3-year-olds for the next thing.

CoComelon mini-games as movement starters

The great thing about CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ is that the mini-games help us warm up for even more game time at home. 

In Wheels on the Bus, we act out whatever move comes up at each stop, spinning wheels, opening doors, or wipers going, and then we take those same big actions into an animal-walk race down the hallway.

Baa Baa Black Sheep is the other favorite in our home. He chases the sheep as it turns blue, pink, and purple, and while those colors are fresh, we head out for the chalk color dash, and I call out the same colors.

{{cta-sheep}}

We keep it going with matching games while he's still warmed up, so we’re never short on physical activities for toddlers and older kids to play together.

Weekend turns downtime into active play

At Weekend, we build games for the whole family, so the same app that gets a toddler moving with JJ pulls older kids and grown-ups into trivia and drawing rounds later. Open the Weekend app, and you'll find a lineup for every age and mood:

• CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ, for music-filled learning and active play with little ones
• Jeopardy!, for a classic quiz-show face-off
• Song Quiz, for racing to name song titles and artists
• Wheel of Fortune, for the letter-guessing build-up and payoff
• Guess the Emoji, for fast family guessing rounds
• Wit's End, for a story-driven fantasy quest that follows your choices
• Meme Supreme, for a meme-based game that combines humor and wit
• Sketchy AF, for a rapid-fire race to name each doodle before it's finished
• Spot On, for dropping pins on a globe to place famous spots
• Karaoke (on Roku), for the singers to enjoy belting out their favorite songs
• 20 Questions (on Roku), for one more clever guessing round

You'll find Weekend on Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, and LG, so it fits the TV you already own. One app covers JJ sing-along rounds for toddlers and full-volume game nights for everyone else. Try Weekend today and unlock the full library with a 7-day free trial.

FAQs

How much physical activity do toddlers need each day?

Toddlers need at least 180 minutes of physical activity a day, according to the World Health Organization. For ages 3 and up, an hour of that should be the out-of-breath kind. I never do it in one go, just short bursts through the day. 

What are the best indoor physical activities for toddlers?

The best indoor physical activities for toddlers are CoComelon: Sing & Play with JJ on Weekend, Balloon Keepy Uppy, a painter's tape balance beam, and freeze dance. These activities build coordination in a small space. I keep balloons and tape on hand for rainy days.

What physical skills should a 2- to 4-year-old be working on?

A 2- to 4-year-old should be working on physical skills like running, jumping, and hopping, plus balancing, throwing, and catching. Catching usually comes last, often not until age 4, so I start with a soft sock ball before a real ball.

How do I get the Weekend Games app on my smart TV?

To get the Weekend Games app on your smart TV, open your TV's store, search "Weekend Games," and select Add or Install. Once it's installed on Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, or LG, every game opens from a single place.