Living Room Olympics: Movement Activities for Children

Create your own olympic games in your living room with these movement activity challenges for kids!  Let the games begin with these living room olympics!  

Movement is so important to incorporate into our children’s daily life.  I believe it is our job as parents to encourage an active, healthy lifestyle. If your children get excited about the Olympics like mine do, than use this excitement to create your own living room or backyard Olympics.  

You can host different challenges every day for the family or even invite your friends.  If you are like our neighbors and stock a basket of little goodies to hand out as prizes to participants at the end, even better!

Warm up, Stretch, and Pick Your Challenge.

• Compete to master the challenge.
• Compete to complete a certain time.
• Compete to finish something as a team.
• Compete to finish a certain number of repetitions.
• Compete to get stronger.
• Compete to have fun!

As with all activities here at The Educators’ Spin On It, Parent supervision is recommended for every project and activity we feature on this blog.  Please read through the activity before you decide if it is appropriate for your child.

Although our family warms up and stretches before movement challenges every time, we would NOT do everything listed in this article. In my personal opinion, that would just be too much. This list is to inspire you!  Pick and choose the activities you feel would be good for you and your children. Create s would probably complete one, possibly two challenges in a day.  I find that if I participate, not only is it more fun, but I get a little physical activity too!

Living Room Olympics: Movement Activities for Kids Indoors

Warm UP – We like to start slow and get our bodies ready for moving gradually.

• Slowly jog around the yard or living room 2 times
• Move your body in a zig-zag pattern
• March with high knees
• Crawl like a caterpillar.

Stretch

• Reach up high
• Reach to the side
• Reach down low
• Stretch your legs
• Give yourself a great big hug

Make an Obstacle Course  Challenge

We like to set an obstacle course up using cones, rings, pillows and any other items that encourage kids to move in a different way.  How you go through it is up to YOU.
Kids can.

1. Hop
2. Run
3. Jump 1 footed
4. Skip
5. Shuffle
6. Jump 2 footed
7. Walk Backwards
8. Dance
9. Gallop
10. Tiptoe

to get to the end of the obstacle course.

You can also add other challenges to the obstacle course such as…

1. Set a timer and see how fast you can complete the course.
2. Pick a time and race to see if you can complete the course in under that time.
3. Set up 2 identical courses and race a sibling, neighbor, or parent.
4. Do the course holding a plastic egg on a spoon.
5. Complete the course forward and backwards for the entire race.
6. Add in a challenge, such as, jump 10 times when you get to the blue cone.
7. Call out a color and do the course to that color.
8. Add little flags with letters or numbers to the cones.
9. Put a bucket of bean bags at the start and an empty one at the end, children must obsticle with the bean bags to get them to the opposite side.
10. Make it a team challenge.  See how many times you and your child can complete the course in 3 minutes.

Jump-rope Challenges (this may be better outside or in the garage)

1. Lay the rope on the ground and walk on top of it (like a balance beam).
2. Keep it on the ground and jump over it; forward and back.
3. Now try jumping side to side.
4. Jump with 2 feet.
5. Jump with 1 foot.
6. Get another rope and play jump the brook, making the brook wider and wider.
7. Pick up the jump rope and jump.
8. Kris-Cross the rope before jumping.
9. Jump as fast as you can.
10. Jump as slow as you can.

Roll a Number Challenges.

For this set, you can either make your own number cube with number words or the actual number printed on it. The children roll the cube and complete the activity that many times before moving to the next.

1. Jump as high as you can.
2. Bend to touch the ground.
3. Balance on one leg.
4. Balance on the other leg.
5. Spin around.
6. Flap your arms.
7. Frog Jump
8. Reach to touch the sky.
9. Wiggle your whole body.
10. Star jumps.

Animal challenges

1. Move like a horse.
2. Move like an elephant.
3. Move like a squirrel.
4. Move like a rabbit.
5. Move like a snake
6. Move like a panda bear.
7.  Move like a kangaroo.
8. Move like a crocodile.
9. Move like a butterfly.
10. Move like a monkey.

Bean Bag Challenges.

1. Throw bean bags into a laundry basket.
2. Throw bean bags into a hoop that someone is holding.
3. Play catch with the bean bags.
4. Set hoops out on the ground with different number scores, keep track of the points
5. Put the bean bag between your shoes and hop to a given line.
6. Balance the bean bag on your head and walk a line.
7. Get a team to pass the bean bag in a pattern; over, under,
8. Throw the bean bag up in the air and try to catch it.
9. Stack empty boxes in a pile. Throw the bean bag at the pile and try to make it tumble.
10. Lay on the ground.  Set the beanbag on your chest and see how long it will stay there.

AND???? Let your children decide!!!
They usually have even better ideas than I can come up with.

Here’s some of our favorite Winter Olympic themed Books
AND Summer Olympic Themed Books for Kids

Don’t let Movement Be Your ONLY OLYMPIC FUN!!!!

Expand the Olympic theme with books, learning about the mascots and crafts!

Don’t forget to follow our Olympic Pinterest Board where we are adding fun kid activities we find online.