Rainbow Ball Run: Fun Group Games for Toddlers

Finding fun and easy group games for toddlers which will keep them extertained can be tricky, especially if you are hosting a party or family event where you need to keep the little ones entertained for a reasonable length of time. 

Rainbow Ball Run is a fantastc group game for toddlers, which they will enjoy playing again and again. 

The thought of coming up with fun group games for toddlers may well fill many of you with dread, but if you find yourself in this situation needing a quick fix here is one solution. Finding an active game that will get those little ones running around is what most parents would like for their toddler, so this one is likely to keep all parents happy too.

You can play this toddler group game with any number of children, and not limited to just toddler participation either. We have built in a way of allowing older children to get involved too.

Ideal group size would be five children or more.

Players: 2 +

Prep time: 5 mins (jelly to be made day before)

Playing time: 10-15 mins

Energy Level: Med-High

WHAT YOU NEED

Location: A decent size garden or playing field

Coloured balls or objects: ‘items’ the little ones can collect – balls are usually the easiest for them to pick up.

• Ball pit balls 
• OR Plain balls with coloured stickers on
• OR Coloured card cut into circles and laminated
• OR Painted circles of card
• OR coloured marker cones
• OR Improvise – use what you have!

Coloured Ball ‘Catchers’: The colours needs to correspond to the coloured balls you have.

•  Coloured boxes
•  OR Coloured baskets
•  OR Tape coloured card to the outside of cardboard boxes

Top Tip: For toddlers, primary colours are the easiest to use; so yellow, blue and red.

• Put your coloured boxes or baskets at the edges of your playing area, spread out enough so you can run between them. Distribute your coloured balls or objects across your garden or playing field.

The Toddler Game

• Gather together your little ones and explain they need to collect the coloured balls and place them in the correct coloured basket or box.
• You may need to demonstrate and show them what you mean by this – depending on the age of the children.
• Let them run around collecting the balls and putting them into the baskets. If you see they have put the wrong colour into a box or basket then throw it back out onto the field.
• You may find it takes some time to get the right colours into the right baskets and some verbal encouragement is likely needed.
• If you have a few older children involved, you can get them to throw the incorrect matches out back onto the field, and get them to encourage the children by pointing them to the correct colours once they are holding a ball.

The Game Involving Older Kids

• You can also flip the game on its head by making the older children the ones who are collecting the balls and the toddlers the ones to make the game harder.
• You can do this by getting the toddlers to empty the baskets/boxes instead of filling them up.
• As the older children are trying the collect the balls, the little ones are undoing their hard work making it more of a challenge for them.

The Winner

• This game doesn’t need to have winners or losers, but if you are playing the second game the older children can each be assigned a colour and after a certain time limit the kids with the most coloured balls or objects in their basket wins.

For a larger group, make sure you have plenty more balls and split the children into coloured teams.

If you have enjoyed playing this fun group games for toddlers don't forget to tell us all about it! Send us in your pictures or tag us @theplayexperts - we look forward to seeing how you get on.