Our top active play ideas for 2-year-olds

Looking for activities that satisfy your child’s need to move? Here are our pediatric physical therapist’s top activities for this age: 

Set up a jumping course. Use sidewalk chalk to draw five different-colored circles in a plus sign pattern. Have your child stand in the middle circle, then say “Jump to red!” or “Jump to blue!” This challenges your child to hold their balance as they jump forward, backward, and sideways. 

Play “kick the bag.” Place a bean bag from the Jump-In Hoops & Bean Bag Set on your child’s foot, then ask them to kick it forward. This encourages them to practice balancing on one leg.

Walk along a balance beam. This can be a good age to introduce a store-bought floor balance beam—but there are many ways to DIY one for a quick challenge. For example, have your child try to walk along a curb or a thick line of chalk drawn on the sidewalk. Inside, flip over and line up the bases of the Circle of Friends Puzzle, Geo Shapes Puzzle, and shape-sorting lid from The Block Set.

Have a dance party. Twirling around with streamers or the Bright & Light Play Scarf encourages large body movements to develop your child’s balance and body awareness. 

Practice playing catch. To catch and throw a ball, your child uses hand-eye coordination to anticipate where the ball is headed, while relying on their balance to keep them stable as they turn or rotate. At this age, playing catch is often easier with larger objects. Start with a playground ball, beach ball, or even a stuffed animal. 

Introduce a tricycle or scooter. Lovevery physical therapists say this is a great age to encourage your child to try a tricycle or 3-wheeled scooter to build leg strength, coordination, and endurance. By 36 months, children usually have enough strength to pedal a tricycle 4 to 6 feet forward.

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The Block Set

A brilliant, practical system of solid wood blocks for building spatial, language, and problem-solving skills.

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