20 Easy Balancing Activities for Preschoolers
Do you know what they say about striving for ‘balance’ in everything we do? The term ‘balance’ takes on a whole new meaning when the focus is shifted onto itself. Balance skills are integral, especially for toddlers controlling and maintaining multiple body positions daily. Simple activities like going to the toilet, eating meals, and playing require fine balance skills.
Further, good balance skills are integral when engaging in sports to minimize fatigue and injury.
Several creative exercises work on that sense of balance and don’t always require one to stand on one foot.
Here are the 20 Easy Balancing Activities for Preschoolers
Here are some of the most popular ways to cultivate that balance.
1. The Freeze Game
Balancing activities that involve music is always a blast!
Play music and have your toddler groove to the beats. They must freeze in the position they find themselves in when the music stops.
Tip: Upgrade this game to play while kids stand and move around the room.
2. Crab Walking
Activities for kids that involve ‘claws’, not a ‘clause’!
Have the kids sit on the floor with their feet in front and their arms behind. They have to lift their hips and move forward, alternating their legs and arms to walk. This one’s really good for improving bilateral coordination and strength.
3. Laundry Basket Ride
Let your toddler go on a ride in a laundry basket! Push the basket with them in it on the floor, and watch them balance themselves in several positions. Sitting will be the easiest, and standing the most difficult. Balancing games for kids to take them ‘for a ride’!
4. The One-Legged Bunny Hop
Who wants to be Bugs Bunny? Balancing activities like this one can be quite challenging!
Have your toddlers hop on one foot multiple times when they get adept at this, up the challenge by getting them to hop back and forth, backward, or even sideways.
5. Bubble Burst
Balancing activities for preschoolers with bubbles? You got that right!
Blow bubbles and have your toddler step on a bubble to burst it when it lands on the floor. In time, move from one bubble to two, then three, and so on. A really fun way to hone those balancing skills.
6. Riding a Bike
Riding their first-ever cycle provides a thrill for kids unsurpassed by many balancing activities.
Start with a tricycle and watch them hone their sense of balance, working on their trunk, arms, and legs as they steer, pedal, and stop. In time you can move to a small bicycle.
7. Walking in Your Shoes
Want your toddlers to emulate you?
Have your children walk in a pair of your shoes. This is a great way to improve their fine balancing skills while walking and stepping.
8. Bowling Fun
No need to go to the bowling alley. Bring the alley home!
Use pins made from recycled plastic bottles. The only additional item you require is a sturdy ball. Watch your kids walk, lean, and then roll the ball to knock the pins, sharpening their balance skills with one of the best balancing activities.
9. Walking on Stairs
Activities for kids can be far simpler than you think, like this one.
Have kids walk up the stairs with a foot on each step. Upgrade this later to have them play freeze on the stairs, with one foot a step above the other.
10. Moving like Animals
Balancing activities are fun in a makeshift jungle!
Let your children ‘gallop like horses’ or even ‘hop like kangaroos’. Get inventive and have them move like other animals.
11. Twister Time
Who can resist a good game of Twister?
Using the spinner from the game Twister, tell your kids which colors their hands and feet must be applied to. This one’s one of the best balancing games for kids as it improves hand-eye coordination and strength, as well as that all-important sense of balance.
12. Pillow on The Floor
One of the best bedroom balancing activities.
Place a pillow on the floor and have your toddler step up and stand on it. Then watch them challenge their balance skills.
13. Trampoline Balancing
Balancing activities for preschoolers like this pose quite a challenge to your child.
Have your toddler stand with one foot on a trampoline. Count to see how long they can hold that position. Then, up the activity a few notches, having them do it with their eyes closed.
14. Bean Bag Walkway
Bean bags can be used for various activities, including balancing activities like this one.
Place beanbags on the floor in a line close enough so your toddler can walk on them with alternating footsteps. The safest way to improve that sense of balance in your kids.
15. Skipping Rope
A great way to nurture those developing athletic skills in toddlers.
Use a small rope to get kids to twirl and jump if you don’t have a proper skipping rope. Later, they can use a longer rope with one child at each end and the other kids taking turns jumping the rope that can, over time, be lifted higher.
16. Walking on Uneven Terrain
Time to take those balancing activities outdoors!
Have your kids walk on uneven terrain (grass, rocks, dirt). You can even have them walk barefoot in the sand on a beach!
17. Doing the Wheelbarrow Walk
Plenty of fun, this activity!
Have your child lie on their stomach. Holding their legs, get them to walk forwards with their hands. They will become ‘wheelbarrows’ and love every bit of this balancing activity.
18. Soccer
We all know what soccer is, but how can we use this game to sharpen balance?
Simple. Have children kick the ball while standing on one foot!
19. Fly like Superman
As if being a junior Messi wasn’t enough!
Using an inflatable ball, kids lie on their stomachs. Lifting their arms and legs, they ‘balance’ as they fly.
20. Tight Rope Pretend
A game of tightrope walking without the fear of falling? Watch how kids sign up for it!
Have your kids walk on their toes in a straight line on that imaginary tightrope.
Besides improving their sense of balance by indulging in the activities listed in this article, there are far more positives here than meets the eye. The mere participation in physical activities helps boost kids’ energy, happiness, and self-esteem. Who’s up for a great balance challenge?
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