What do you do when it’s raining or to cold to go outside? You do some fun and easy activities inside to get your kids moving!

We’ve had a mild winter. Usually, I wouldn’t mind the warm temperatures and lack of snow but this year it has proven to be an issue. No snow and warm weather means mud. And since it is winter all the summer outside toys are put away so they don’t crack in the minus temperatures that do happen overnight.

This leaves a toddler with not much to do in the backyard.

Plus with the fluctuating temperatures it is just slippery enough that walks to our local pond are treacherous. And unfortunately (or fortunately) our local park is being revamped so not useable either.

Oh joy, oh bliss. I am stuck inside with a kid who needs to expel energy and has nowhere to get it out! Cabin fever sets in and I too need to get moving.

Maybe you are in the same boat as me. Or maybe on the other end of the winter and spectrum where it is too cold to go outside and play.

Either way, here are some easy no prep activities to get the blood pumping in your house!

Fun and Easy Activities to Get Kids Moving

1. Be Food!

Everyone loves food so why not act out some of your favourites? Get your kids up and pretend to be popcorn popping or a blender making a smoothie!

This takes no prep and you just need your bodies. It’s the literally decision of fun and easy! Give yourself plenty of space so you can jump around. Here are a few more ideas to get you started:

2. Lily Pad Jump

Get some colourful paper and tape it around the floor. Let your kids jump from “Lily pad” to “Lily pad.”

To make it more of a game, call out specific colours and have your kids jump on those colours. Or write letters and/or numbers on the paper and have kids jump on the one you call out!

3. Indoor Obstacle Course

Grab some random items and create a course! Lay pieces of string down to jump over, balance a ball in a spoon while going from one side of the room to the other, weave in and out of objects on the floor, put a stuffed animal between your knees and walk from one wall to another. Use what you have available, and be creative. Set it up as big or small as you want!

If you have the space, you can race your kids with these activities too. If not, set a stopwatch and see who can do the course the fastest.

Nothing like a little competition to get your blood moving!

4. Box Stomp

If you have destructive toddlers, let them destroy boxes! My son loves knocking things down and taking things apart. So I pulled some boxes from the recycling (Cheerios, granola bar box, Kleenex etc) and laid them out so he could stomp on them.

Be sure to help your toddler with bigger boxes so they don’t hurt themselves on large corners. The Kleenex box was a little tricky to flatten!

We had so much fun flattening them out and then dancing on them. I even had to empty boxes from the cupboard so we could do more. Once we were done all the boxes went back to the recycling bin. A great low prep, low mess, fun activity!

Get Kids Moving and Have Fun!

The key is to be creative and don’t overthink things. Fun and easy activities don’t have to cost a lot of money or require huge amounts of setup.

Show your kids how to do it. Once they get started they likely will be able to continue on their own without you. Or use these activities as “brain breaks.” Once they’ve bounced around for a few minutes they can go back to toys or other quiet activities if you need to get things done!

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