6 fun active games to do at home with little or no equipment.

1 - Become an astronaut

Equipment:

• Colander

• Pipe Cleaners

Making your very own space helmet.

Great for developing fine motor skills- important for writing and small movements using the hands.

All you need is a colander and some pipe cleaners. Carefully thread the pipe cleaners through each hole to make a multi-coloured space helmet.

Put the space helmet on and go explore the different planets (different places of the house and garden).

2 - Wizards and witches

Equipment:

• 5/6 Jugs or containers to hold water

• Food colouring

• Ladle

• Whisk

This activity is great at developing both fine and gross motor skills. It's all about how you hold the ladle and whisk building up muscle memory between the fingers and thumb which is really important when trying to write.

This one is best done outside so any spillages won't make a mess in the house.

Set up by having four or five containers spread over the table/surface you will be using. Fill them with water and add different food colours to each one. Place an empty container in the middle which will act as the cauldron. Using a ladle or spoon, it's time to create your very own potion. Use a whisk to mix them together and say a spell.

3 - Simon Says:

No equipment needed for this one.

Great for developing gross motor skills. It involves lots of large movements recruiting many of the bigger muscles. This is great for developing the important ABC's ( agility balance and coordination) the building blocks for all gross motor movements.

This is a classic that teaches toddlers (and adults ;-) )how to follow instructions. This can be played with the family or just with one child.

The rules are easy: You are Simon and what you say goes.

Call out commands—“Simon says touch your toes!"—and your child has to follow them. It’s key they listen for the words “Simon says”—if you call out a command like “Jump up!” without prefacing with Simon says, your child is out. Be sure to throw in some funny commands too—"do a silly dance, wiggle your ears, hop like a frog!" This game is great for teaching toddlers the names for their body parts.

4 - Potato Painting

Equipment:

• Potatoes

• Paper

• Different coloured paints

Another great fine motor skill to do at home.

Carve different shapes, letters and symbols into each potato. Get some different coloured paints out and start creating patterns, shapes on to paper.

5 - Treasure hunt

Equipment:

• Anything that you can hide around the house and garden.

Is there anything more fun than a treasure hunt?

Send your toddler hunting for objects around the house based on different commands, such as “find me something round” or “find me something red."

Alternatively, you could ask your toddler to choose a bunch of random objects and ask questions like “Which one is blue?” or “Which one is longer?”

6 - Obstacle course

Equipment:

• Cushions

• Chairs

• Books

• (anything that a toddler can go over under and around)

Great for developing gross motor skills using a combination of different movements to dodge around obstacles, move over and under obstacles and roll.

Using the indoor space and outdoor space create a small course with objects that you find in your house. Encourage your toddler to perform movements such as rolling, jumping and running around, over or under objects or markers.