With the weather getting cold and wet, it may seem more difficult keeping children outside and active. At Tops Day Nurseries, we love playing outside whatever the weather!
It is recommended that toddlers have approximately three hours of physical activity a day- that’s roughly a quarter of their day.
Keeping your little one active has huge benefits in helping them maintain a healthy heart and healthy weight, as well as providing opportunities to develop their movement skills. It ensures that their skeletal muscles develop the necessary strength, endurance and skill. Plus, it helps build coordination skills.
If we build the habit of enjoying physical activity while they are young, it could set our children in the mind to enjoy sports as they get older. This will in turn, develop great active habits in their adulthood- helping them live long and healthy lives.
On a more day-to-day focus, physical activity is a great way to break up periods of learning. It’s a fantastic way to ensure children don’t get restless, which is a risk in any academic setting where children can be expected to sit still for long periods of time. Of course, there are also plenty of ways to implement academic learning into outdoor play- such as counting hoops as you jump in them, or throwing bean bags to match patterns.
Despite the temperature dropping, there are still plenty of opportunities to get out and active.
Turn the constant threat of rain to your advantage, pull on your wellies and get splashing! Toddlers absolutely love puddles. Any water play you would consider in the summer can be just as fun, if not more, in the winter. Stick on some waterproofs and use the collecting rain water for pouring and transferring, building pretend swimming pools, or making ‘soup’.
If you really are stuck indoors, that’s no reason to stop active play. Try some of these ideas;
- Catch the bean bag
- Obstacle course
- Dance-a-thon
- Treasure hunts
- Musical statues or musical bumps
- Hide and seek
- Den building
- Sing songs with actions like Sleeping Bunnies or 5 Little Monkeys
