For the first year of her life, a child is learning gross motor skills such as control of her head, to grab and kick with her hands and feet, to roll over, to sit, to crawl and eventually to walk. Activities for developing these skills in babies include many in which a parent or caretaker helps the baby to move her muscles. One activity that is best between 3 and 6 months of age is placing the baby on her back, placing one of her feet in each of your hands, and moving her legs as if she is riding a bicycle. Set up an obstacle course of pillows or rolled up blankets for the baby to navigate once she is proficient at crawling. Large beach balls for the baby to push around can also create activities that will help to develop gross motor skills.
As babies grow into toddlers, gross motor skills that are developing include continuing to learn to walk, learning to kick and roll a ball, learning to climb stairs, to run, to jump and to balance on one foot. There are lots of fun activities to help toddlers develop gross motor skills and to channel some of their energy. Provide beanbags for your child to practice tossing skills. Toss the beanbags back and forth with the child or have the child toss the beanbags into a box or over a rope. Activities to encourage the child to hop or jump are also important at this age. One easy activity to incorporate into the day is to stop and have the child hop over breaks in the sidewalk or have contests to see if the child can jump farther than he jumped the day before by marking distance jumped on a basement or garage floor. Games of throwing and catching with large balls are good activities at this age. You can also take the child outside and blow bubbles. Then have the child chase the bubbles and try to burst them.
Between the ages of 3 and 5 years, gross motor skills that are developing include throwing and catching, hopping, climbing, skipping and learning to ride a tricycle. At this age, boys generally have slightly better gross motor skill development than girls. This makes jump rope an ideal activity for developing gross motor skills because it's usually an activity that girls enjoy as much or more than boys. Ball games and hopscotch are fun and will allow preschoolers to develop gross motor skills. Children in this age group will also enjoy games such as "Mother May I." The leader says a command such as, "Touch your toes" and says a specific child's name. The child says, "Mother, may I?" If the child fails to ask permission before doing the activity, the child is out of the game. The game continues until only one child remains. Commands that use gross motor skills can be used in the game.
From kindergarten through second grade, important gross motor skills continue to develop. These include skipping, jumping rope and swimming, as well as improving on gross motor skills learned at a younger age. Using the jump rope, lay it on the ground in a straight line and have the child walk it. As the child's skills develop, make curves in the rope. Continue games such as jump rope, tossing and catching balls. Games such as "Mother, May I?" also continues to be fun and educational for children in first and second grade. Continued development of skills can be encouraged can by increasing the complexity of the commands in the game. The command might be changed to "Touch your toes with one hand" and "Touch the top of your head with your other hand."