Age-by-Age Adaptations
Invigorate children of all ages with these exercises.
Most movement activities can be adapted to work well for younger, older, or even mixed-age groups.
Babies
- Provide an open, safe-play surface for babies to move around freely.
- Put age-appropriate materials on a blanket with babies and encourage little ones to reach for, grab, roll over toward, or crawl to the objects.
- Hold a baby while you sing and move to the beat. Invite other children to dance along!
- Place babies on their backs and slowly, gently move their arms or legs to mimic some of the moves that other children are doing, like marching or pretending to be a bird.
School-Age
- Kids love being “helpers,” so ask them to help set up activities or be a younger child’s buddy or “teacher.”
- Invite them to demonstrate their physical skills (such as jumping, kicking, throwing, and catching) to younger children. This can boost older children’s confidence while motivating the younger ones.
- Challenge older kids to keep moving longer than younger ones, who enjoy shorter bursts of activity.
- Ask older children to take on jobs such as leading an activity or making up a new game.
- Have them help set up a safe indoor or outdoor obstacle course for younger children.
- If there are several older children, have them make up a dance to perform for everyone else.
Let's Play Outside
Learning happens everywhere! Explore "outdoor science" ideas that encourage children to engage with the world around them.
Healthy Together: Celebrating & Practicing Whole-Family Health
Use these whole-family activity pages to explore new ways to build healthy habits and take care of yourselves… as a family.
Happy Dance
Sesame Street with Bounce Patrol
These high-energy tunes get little ones moving and grooving together.
Brushy Brush
These catchy tunes build healthy habits while helping little ones practice oral health.
Potty Time with Elmo
Elmo reads this animated storybook in an app filled with games, songs, stickers and potty progress chart that all help ease your child through toilet training.
Small Steps, Healthy Wins
A course for clinicians that offers evidence- and strengths-based guidance to aid in your work supporting families in building healthy habits that last a lifetime.
