What Are the Best Toys for Gross Motor Development?

You might not realise, but gross motor skills are central to how we lead our daily lives; from walking to the office to working out at the gym, our gross motor skills support us to move around.

To effectively develop gross motor skills in children, it’s important to encourage free play and organise activities that engage their large muscle groups.

Here, we explore the best toys for developing gross motor skills to help kids learn balance and coordination in a fun way that your little ones will love.

What are gross motor skills?

Gross motor skills enable us to carry out physical acts that require us to engage our core muscles and whole body to move, like walking, jumping and sitting upright. Additionally, gross motor skills enable us to throw, catch, ride bikes and swim.

Your child must develop gross motor skills to aid physical development and ensure they can live a full life and play with friends. Gross motor skills consist of lots of different components, including:

Balance
Coordination
Muscle strength
Muscle endurance
Body awareness
Spatial awareness
Weight shifting

Experts split these movements into three types of gross motor skills, which are:

Locomotion movements are anything your child does to get from one place to another, like walking, crawling or hopping.
Stationary skills include movements that your child can do without moving from one place to another, like controlling their head, balancing on one foot or stretching.
Manipulation relates to anything a child can do with an object, like kicking or throwing a ball.

How can you develop gross motor skills in your children?

Developing gross motor skills involves engaging large muscles, like the arms, torso and legs, so you should plan activities that engage these muscles. As kids grow, their strength will, too, so games must reflect your child’s age and level of physical development.

Your child starts to develop gross motor skills from a very young age (a few months old), so you should encourage their development by facilitating them to spend time on their tummy, raise their arms and legs and reach for toys.

As your child gets older, you should continue to tailor activities to aid your child’s development and improve their core strength and hand-eye coordination.

At what age do children develop gross motor skills?

Almost as soon as they’re born, a child starts to move and evolve their gross motor skills, and they don’t stop until they’re around five years old. A guide to when children develop their gross motor is outlined below:

0-12 months

Raising their arms and legs when placed on their tummy
Rolling over
Supporting their head when in they’re in a seated position
Crawling
Pulling themselves up from a seated to a standing position
Sitting without support

1-2 years

Crawling up stairs
Standing up without support
Walking from one place to another by holding onto furniture to steady themselves (cruising)
Climbing onto low furniture
Pulling and pushing toys on wheels
Kicking a ball forwards

2-3 years

Walking and running
Kicking a ball with either foot
Walking up and down stairs independently
Jumping with both feet off the ground

3-4 years

Balancing on one foot
Catching a large ball
Jumping forwards
Riding a tricycle

4-5 years

Catching a ball with their arms and body
It runs smoothly, changing speed and direction
Walking upstairs by alternating feet
Hopping and skipping
Riding a balance bike

5-6 years

Riding a bike with stabilisers
Using a skipping rope
Starting learning to swim

6 years +

Kicking a rolling ball
Rides a bicycle without stabilisers
Throwing a ball with accurate placement

Please remember that each child will develop their gross motor skills at their own pace. However, if you are concerned about your child’s development, you should talk to a doctor.

What are the best toys for gross motor development?

Give your child the best start to their gross motor development by trying some of the activities and equipment below. These toys and games encourage physical activity and motor planning, which is the thinking a child has to do before they engage in motor activity. The activities below apply to children at different stages of their gross motor development.

Crawling toys, like tunnels

A child will start crawling early in their gross motor development, so they must be encouraged to get off to the best start. One way of doing this is using a crawling toy, like a tunnel or tent. This apparatus enhances kids’ crawling skills, strengthening their arm and leg muscles.

Another benefit of these toys is that they are appropriate for any weather and are suitable for indoor and outdoor play.

Obstacle courses

Suitable for older children, setting up an obstacle course that requires your kid to run over uneven surfaces or tackle stepping stones. This activity forces kids to practice their balancing, running and jumping skills.

Hopscotch

This requires kids to use unilateral (engaging one side of the body) and bilateral coordination (engaging both sides of the body) as they hop and jump from square to square.

One added benefit of hopscotch is that you can encourage your child to be creative and draw their own route, which enhances their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Playing with balloons and bubbles

Chasing balloons and bubbles will help children’s gross motor skills as they require your kid to run, jump and change direction quickly as they try to pop bubbles or to prevent balloons from hitting the ground.

To make this a proper game, you could play carpet volleyball with a balloon.

Balance bikes

Ride on toys, like balance bikes, are a fun way to get your child into cycling from an early age and improve their spatial awareness and balance as they zoom around.

Another benefit to balance bikes is that they enhance bilateral coordination and reciprocal leg movement, which is helpful for other gross motor activities, like running and swimming. Explore more balance bike benefits in our blog.

Simon Says

Verbal games, like Simon Says or Follow the Leader, improve children’s cognitive skills, as they are required to listen closely to directions and then carry out an action, which is good for their gross motor development too.

Simon Says can be played with children in their toddler years and older. You should tailor the directions to suit the age of the children playing the game, using the information in the ‘At what age do children develop gross motor skills?’ section above.

Balance beams

Similar to an obstacle course, a balancing toy, like a beam or stepping stone set, helps your kid stabilise and steady themselves. These apparatus are very fun and help children hone their locomotion and stationary movements, promote balance and coordination skills, and teach your kid to shift their weight as they jump from stepping stone to stepping stone.

Trampolines

This apparatus helps to teach kids how to balance, strengthen their leg and core muscles, and improve their awareness of their bodies and the space around them. When you invest in a jumping toy, like a trampoline, ensure adequate safety measures are in place, like a handle or netting around the edges, to avoid injuries.

Ball games, like catching, bowling or throwing a ball at a target

Ball games and bean bags are a must for helping children’s gross motor development as they are excellent for developing their arm muscles and foot and hand-eye coordination. You can play many ball games, too, like involving multiple children in a game of catch or skittles.

You should use balls of different sizes to improve kids’ catching skills, starting with larger balls and introducing smaller ones as they grow older.

Ride on cars

Regarding developing gross motor skills, ride-on cars are one of the best toys a child can have. Children must utilise motor planning skills, reciprocal leg movement, bilateral coordination, balance, and weight-shifting skills.

Engaging the arm, leg and core muscles as they scoot around on their kids electric car will enable kids to move on to later stages of development.

More from Electric Ride on Cars

As well as helping your child grow physically, these gross motor toys and games encourage kids to play with other children, which will benefit their emotional development too. To maximise kids’ development, they must play indoors and outdoors, experiencing a range of activities and games, like using rides on cars and playing ball games, to enhance their experiences. Discover the benefits of playing outside for kids with help from our blog.

Check out the Electric Ride on Cars blog for more guidance and tips on maximising your kids’ playtime and encouraging their development. Here, you’ll find advice on everything, from gift wrapping a ride-on car and upgrading a kid’s ride-on car to the finding the best garden ride on toys for kids.

FAQs

How to encourage gross motor play in children

Kids should be encouraged to get active as part of their gross motor development. To do this, you could take them to the park and buy them toys like balance bikes and ride-on cars – ensuring various activities will help kids maximise their play time and develop their gross motor skills more quickly.

How do gross motor toys help children’s development?

Gross motor toys encourage kids to be active, giving them opportunities to do things like jump, run, and hop while developing their strength, building confidence and encouraging them to explore and use their imagination.

Aside from toys, what gross motor equipment can you get for child development?

Anything that gets your child active will benefit their gross motor development; going for a walk will help to build their strength and engage their motor planning skills as they dodge puddles and manoeuvre around people.