8 Dynamic Activities for 3 Year Olds
Free Toddler Games #7-14

Try these fun activities for 3 year olds that will not only benefit their fine motor and gross motor development but will help build learning skills as well. These active free toddler games also make great babysitting activities.

Click on the links below to read more about each game.

Come and See Me!
Limbo
Lost & Found
1, 2, 3, Crash!
Walk the ABCs and 123s
Teeter Totter
Lights on, Lights Off
Balloon Mania

Want to see more fun activities for toddlers? Free Toddler Games will provide over 30 more fun toddlers activities.

Your little ones may also love our active Baby Games. Even though these games are targeted toward babies from birth to 12 months old, toddlers will have a lot of fun playing many of them. 

If you'd like some games for kids a little bit older, browse our selection of Preschool Activities.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #7
Come and See Me!

• Stand across the room from your toddler.
  
• Demonstrate different locomotor movements - crawling, walking, marching, running, etc.
• Tell her to choose the method she wants to use to cross the room to reach you.
  
• On the command, "1, 2, 3, Come and see me!" she makes her way to you.
  
• When she reaches you, celebrate her accomplishment a different way each time – give her a hug, a high five, pick her up and spin around, etc.
  
• Send her back to the other side of the room and ask her to choose another form of movement.
  
• Repeat the activity.
• Enlarge your play area and have her combine movements or try new ones.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #8
Limbo

• Fun game to learn the concepts of over and under.
• Tie a rope between two chairs an inch off of the ground. Start on the ground if you need to.
  
• Step over the rope and have your child follow you.
  
• Next time, run or jump over the rope.
  
• Raise the rope about an inch and try different ways of going over it.
  
• If it gets too high, think of ways to help your child get over it - she can climb on your back while you step over; you can lift her up high and set her on the other side; she can stand on your foot and hold onto your leg while you step over.
  
• Once the rope gets too high to go over, find different ways to go under it, like crawling, slithering like a snake on your belly, walking on all fours like a bear, running, or going through backwards.
  
• This is a fun game to do to music.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #9
Lost & Found

• Using stickers, spots, toys, pieces of paper, or anything else you can think of make a trail on the floor that ends up behind or under a piece of furniture, inside a door, or on top of something.
  
• Tell the child that something has been lost, like a stuffed animal or a toy or your keys.
  
• Hide the lost object at the end of the trail and have the child follow the trail to find the object.
  
• Use different objects and make different trails throughout your house or yard.
  
• You can even be waiting at the end of the trail and pretend that you are a lost puppy or kitten.
  
• Give your child a chance to wait at the end of the trail so that you can find her.
• Encourage her to step on each object in the trail to work on balance and motor planning.
• Make it a relay and work on counting, sorting, etc. Have her retrieve an object and retrace her steps then go back and get the next item. 

Activities for 3 Year Olds #10
1, 2, 3, Crash!

• Help your toddler learn to count while also developing his fine motor skills.
  
• Have your child build towers with a different number of blocks each time.
  
• Start with one block, then, 2, 3, and so on.
• Count the blocks as they are stacked.
  

• When you reach the goal, count the number of blocks out loud and yell, "Crash!" at the end.
  
• Have the toddler knock the tower down.
  
• Increase to the next number and build it again.
• Throw or roll a ball or other object to knock the tower down.
• Use a different part of the body to knock it down.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #11
Walk the ABCs and 123s

• Using sidewalk chalk, write the numbers from 1 to 10 in large print on the ground.
• Hold your toddler's hand and walk each number while saying what the number is.
  
• Walk them fast and slow.
  
• Say a number and see if your child can go to that number and walk its shape. Make a race out of it and see how fast he can get there.
  
• Next, write some large letters. You might want to start with just a few letters at a time.
  
• Repeat the activity by calling out the name of a letter.
  
• Give your toddler a chance to say a number or letter and you walk the shape.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #12
Teeter Totter

• Sit on the floor facing your toddler with your legs spread.
  
• Hold your child's hands and lean backward while your child leans forward.
  
• Now, you learn forward while your child leans backward.
  
• Go fast and slow or move in rhythm to music.
  
• Rock back and forth to different nursery rhymes or songs like "Row, row, row, your boat."
  
• Pretend you're rowing a boat and you're racing against other boats.
  
• Pretend you're rowing a boat and there's a huge storm that knocks you all around.
  
• Pretend you're rowing a flying machine that's soaring through the clouds.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #13
Lights On, Lights Off

• You can either use a lamp or a wall light switch to play this game.
  
• Say "Lights on" and flip the switch to turn the light on.
  
• While the lights are on, sing a song or say a nursery rhyme with your toddler while moving around the room.
  
• When you're finished say, "Lights off" and flip the lights off.
  
• When the lights go out, say "Shhh" and be very quiet and still.
  
• When the lights go off freeze like a statue in a different position. Try balancing on different body parts.
• Turn the lights on again and perform a different movement with a different rhyme.
  
• Give your child a chance to be in charge of the light switch and pick the type of movement to do.

Activities for 3 Year Olds #14
Balloon Mania

• Balloons provide a lot of opportunities for fun toddlers activities.
  
• Blow up some balloons of different colors.
  
• Show your child how to bat a balloon.
  
• Work together to try to keep the balloon up in the air.
  
• Have child lie on the floor. Hold the balloon over him and drop it, so he can kick it or hit it while lying down. Or you could have him name the part of his body that the balloon hits.

• While standing, name a different body part and have the child hit the balloon with that part of his body.
• Kick the balloon back and forth.
  
• Tap it back and forth while moving across the room.
  
• Rub the balloon on your clothes to create static electricity and stick the balloon to the wall.
  
• Hit the balloon with a wooden spoon or other type of paddle.
  
• Try to hit the balloon back and forth over a small table or couch.
  
• If the balloon hits the floor, pretend it makes an exploding sound.
  
• Toss a bunch of balloons in the air at once and have your toddler try to hit as many as he can.
  
• Try to hit the balloon to a target like through a big hula hoop or into a large box or trash can.
  
• Tie balloons to the end of strings and hold them while you run and jump and twirl.
  
• Blow a bunch of bubbles and have your toddler run through the middle of the bubbles while holding balloons on strings.

Activities for 3 Year Olds
Tips:

• Every toddler may not be able to do all of these activities. Make sure to help out whenever necessary to make sure your little one experiences success.
  
• Take your time with each activity. Don't rush.
  
• Provide plenty of praise when your toddler is successful.
  
• Let your imagination go. The more you are able to pretend and act silly, the more fun you will both have.
• Use your imagination to modify games using different objects.
  
• Include more people in the activities.
  
• Add fun music whenever possible.

Looking for a child development program for you 18mo - 6yr old that teaches motor skills and promotes physical fitness while teaching age-appropriate soccer skills? Perhaps you have a program likes SoccerTots in your area.

Check out our complete list of free kids games!

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