10 Awesome Physical Activities for 3 Year Olds

Want physical activities for 3 year olds to get your child moving? Whether indoors or out, discover 10 simple activities perfect for kids!

How much can this kid read?! I thought to myself. My then-3 year old was and still is a book worm. He’d spend hours either flipping through books or asking me to read to him (I had once timed how long we read in one day, and the total came up to four hours).

If he wasn’t reading, he was inspecting his toy fire truck, building train sets, or coloring and drawing.

All well and good, except I was starting to think that these activities weren’t physical enough. After all, his pediatrician had recommended that kids should only be sedentary for an hour at a time (other than for sleep).

As much as I wanted to encourage these passions, I also knew the importance of getting physical activity. We didn’t have a convenient backyard for him to run around, and he didn’t have his little brothers to play chase with just yet.

In fact, any time I took him to the park, he preferred to drop acorns in the puddles or dig up dirt, not climb on the jungle gyms.

Physical activities for 3 year olds

If your 3 year old is anything like my son, you might be looking for physical activities she can do as well. Bonus points if the activities don’t need a lot of preparation, time, or bulky items to store. You might even be pregnant or on bed rest and in no condition to be active yourself.

Don’t worry—I gathered several ideas you can try that are simple, fun, and most importantly, gets your child moving! Take a look at these activities, which you can do both at home and outdoors, that you and your 3 year old can enjoy.

1. Play with a balloon

Kids love playing with balloons because there’s so much to do with them. If the balloon still has plenty of helium, clip the string to the ground so your child can hit it like a punching bag. She can also hold the string and run with it like a kite throughout the house.

Once the helium wears off and the balloon starts drifting to the ground, remove the string so she can toss it in the air and catch it during its slow descent.

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2. Chase bubbles

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Bubbles never get old! Blow bubbles (or get a bubble machine like this one) and have your 3 year old catch and pop them in the air.

3. Play hopscotch

Show your 3 year old the timeless game of hopscotch. If outdoors, use sidewalk chalk to draw the hopscotch pattern on the ground. Use any small, hard object to mark your spots on the ground. If you’re indoors, use painter’s tape on the ground to mark your spots.

Check out these preschool outdoor activities for summer.

4. Ride a trike or scooter

Scooters and trikes are fantastic, toddler-friendly items that kids never bore of. A simple “drive” around the block or at your local park offers your 3 year old plenty of active play. Don’t forget helmets, and even knee- and elbow-pads.

Another option is to simply take a brisk walk around the neighborhood! Play a game of I Spy or a scavenger hunt to make it even more fun.

Get more outdoor activities for 3 year olds.

5. Enroll your child in physical classes

In summers past, I enrolled my kids in swim class not just for the life skills but to be active and make use of the good weather. Besides swimming, other ideas include soccer, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, and little league. The added perk? You get a break while you watch your child in class!

Classes also hold you accountable and are more likely to make sure she gets exercise on a regular basis.

6. Get toys that encourage physical play

Some toys call for more physical play than others. Sure, your child might sit and inspect how it all works, but for the most part, she’ll want to play and be active to enjoy the toy.

A few ideas include:

Tip: Don’t want to buy a toy bouncing ball? A small yoga ball makes for a fun alternative.

7. Play fetch or catch

Toss a ball back and forth to each other. If you’re pregnant or not able to move as much, have your 3 year old fetch all the uncaught balls, whether it’s yours to catch or not. This allows her to run even more, and prevents you from having to get too physical yourself.

A similar option you can play outdoors is tossing a Frisbee back and forth. Like playing catch, you can also have her fetch any uncaught Frisbees for added exercise.

8. Dance to music

My kids loved dancing to Just Dance on the Xbox—they even had their favorite songs and choreography. You can also find child-friendly dance videos on YouTube, particularly from the Mother Goose Club.

Want to make it even more fun? Tape bubble packaging to the floor that your child can pop with her feet as she dances to the music.

9. Hop on pillows (or hula hoops) on the floor

Play a game of “lily pad” or “floor is lava” and toss pillows on the floor over a wide area. Then, have your child pretend the pillows are lily pads with water all around (or rocks surrounded by lava). The game is to hop from pillow to pillow without falling into the water or lava. Simple and easy to set up at home!

Another option is to spread hula hoops around your house and have her hop from hoop to hoop without going outside the circles.

10. Have a play date

With the pandemic in full force, play dates are few and far between these days. But down the line, playing with other kids usually leads to plenty of physical activity.

If your child doesn’t have other siblings to play with (or they’re too young to play with), find a play date with another child her age. Sometimes all kids need is another person their age to play with, whether that’s running around the house or going down the slide at the playground.

Get more activities for 3 year olds.

Conclusion

As simple as these ideas may be, sometimes we forget we have all these options for physical activities at our fingertips. Having a list can be all the inspiration you need to get your child active, even if the weather is bad outside or you’re not able to move much yourself.

Because as much as I love how often my son read books and tinkered with gadgets, he also needed to be active. And that’s when a good game of bubbles or balloons—the simplest of items—can come in handy.

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