Learn to Move, Move to Learn The Importance of Physical Skills Development in Children

1. Learn to Move, Move to LearnThe Importance of Physical Skills Development in Children Sharon Drew sharonannedrew@aol.com www.smartcc.co.uk

2. Prime Areas of Learning & Development Physical Development These areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. Personal Social & Emotional Development Communication & Language Development

3. Importance of physical skills development? • Makes new behaviours/learning possible – cognition/problem solving. It is the child’s preferred mode of learning – because they best understand concepts when they’re physically experienced. • Perceptual development is intricately entwined with motor development – space, body & depth

4. Getting Connected....... • Movement creates muscular patterns on which to build learning • The brain develops its neural connections through movement - ‘the cells that fire together wire together’. • Brain doubles in weight in first 2 years – not because new cells created but movement helps build connections

5. Planning Organising and Problem Solving........... • Movement involves judgment - Assess the situation and ability to make the appropriate movement.  How hard should I throw?  How fast should I run?  How much effort do I need to jump that high?  When should I stop? • Decision-making that is needed in school, and social life. "What will happen if...?"  "Should I...?

6. Healthy and happy………… • Physical competence/incompetence affects a child’s self-esteem • Builds muscle strength, lung capacity and bone development • Crucial for the body control necessary later for writing and reading. • Enables a child to take independent action and gain control over personal routines

7. A moving child is a speaking child............. • Gain experiences from the world • Movement combined with information from the senses is the first way in which babies communicate with the world

8. Moving together provides opportunities for to speak and listen to one another • Stringing actions together to form sequences is similar to linking words to form sentences (and eventually paragraphs) • Activities crossing the body's midline helps the brain to communicate across the corpus callosum. This integration is essential to the ability to read, write, use scissors, dress

9. When children demonstrate the meaning of words physically, their understanding of the words is more immediate and longer-lasting. E.g. action words as stomp, pounce, stalk, or slither

10. Until children have experiences orienting their bodies in space by going up, on, under, beside, inside, and in front of things, it is possible they will have difficulty dealing with letter identification and the orientation of symbols on a page.  Anita Rui: Early Childhood Exchange

11. Movement is also.............. • Pleasurable • Learn about risk • Set personal challenges • Sense of purpose and self fulfillment • Learn motor skills that will be used for a life time • Outlet for energy

12. Movement Makes Sense • Perceive the world through our senses. • In addition to the ‘usual’ senses there is ‘somatic’ or body senses • Which way is up? – gravity sensors • How fast? – motion sensors • Where am I? – muscle sensors Balance is linked with vision • What does it feel like? – touch sensors

13. sensational movement As children move in endless ways the sensations from these movements lay down 'sensory maps', which enhance their perception of their body schema. Through using larger full-body movements, children begin to learn to relate themselves to the space around them (spatial awareness) Senses link with emotions

14. Factors that can hinder physical skill development……. • Physical - body size, physical growth, strength • Gender • Maturation of the central nervous system • Genetic • Wellbeing – health, diet • Developmental/cognition • Family – culture, reinforcement of behaviors, habits and levels of support, family position • Environment – opportunities/experience to practice • Intrinsic - the child's ability to make choices, cooperate, make decisions, and recognize outcomes. • Temperament, sense of self-control, self-esteem, and motivation.

15. Fundamental Movement Skills As children grow and develop, they begin to combine and sequence their repertoire of physical skills which subsequently provide the foundation for the learning of other, more specialised movement skills. • Locomotor Movement Movement of the body from place to place e.g. crawling, walking, hopping, jumping, running, leaping, galloping and skipping. This type of movement helps develop gross motor skills. • Non-locomotor Movement Movement of the body while staying in one place e.g. pushing, pulling, twisting, turning, wiggling, sitting and rising. This type of movement helps develop balance and coordination skills. • Manipulative Movement Movement that involves controlled use of the hands and feet e.g. grasping, opening and closing hands, waving, throwing and catching. This type of movement helps develop fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

16. Baby Gym – building blocks for learning

17. It takes 7-8 years of play and movement to provide a child with sensory motor intelligence that can serve as the foundation for intellectual, social, and personal development (Ayres 1995)

18. Some Statistics • WHO – more than 22 million children under 5 are obese or over-weight • By 2020 • 1/3 of girls will be obese • 1/5 of boys will be obese • 1/3 of adults will be obese • The UK has the lowest physical activity for school children in Europe Ref: Sian Griffiths President of the Faculty for Public Health

19. Some Research • Delay in gross and fine motor skills in 1st year (1 in 10 children) was significantly associated with delayed cognitive development at the age of 5years • Delay in gross motor development also has a significant impact on a child’s behavioural adjustment at 5 years (IOE in Nursery World Feb 2010 similar study in March Edition Hansen, Joshi & Dex (Eds 2010))

20. Hands on learning

21. Value of Fine Motor Skills • Children in the first years of school spend 45% - 55% of their day carrying out fine motor tasks. McHale and Cermak (1992)

22. Handy Facts • 27 bones • The wrist – 8 • Palm - five • Fingers – 14 • Palm – arches • Muscles – strength/mobility • Finger/thumb opposition

23. Fine Motor The ability to co-ordinate the action of the eyes and hands together in performing precise manipulative movements (eye- hand co-ordination). Includes: • Different grips • Release • Tactile Sense • Strength • Using eyes and hands together • Using two hands together • Hand preference

25. The Role of the Practitioner

26. Observation and Assessment • The way the child coordinates actions to move around the space - on their feet, bottoms, backs, tummies and hands and knees. • How the child chooses to move and the way they experiment/problem solve with movement • What toys and objects the child likes to try to reach for and play with. • The skills that are developing e.g. crawling, climbing, throwing, • The child’s tolerance of sensory experiences of movements such, rolling, spinning and rocking. • How do they feel when handled

27. How the child responds to different types of music. • The way in which the child tries to copy movements or repeat skills they have achieved. • How the child combines movements such as running and stopping or climbing and turning. • The different ways the child uses their bodies to express themselves imaginatively.

28. Build on children’s physical skills development by planning and resourcing a challenging environment which supports and extends specific areas of children’s skills. • Model physical participation and activity. The attitude and behaviour of the adult can have a profound impact on what happens with the children’s learning

29. Take it outside • The outdoors is the best place for young children to practice and master emerging physical skills and to experience the pure joy of movement.  It’s also the place where they’re likely to burn the most calories, which is absolutely necessary in the fight against obesity. 

30. Opportunities for... • Swinging, spinning, sliding and bouncing. • Moving over different surfaces in different ways, different directions and speeds • Climbing, balancing and jumping off. • Collecting, handling, transporting, pulling and pushing objects. • Traveling around over, under and through obstacles. • Grasping/releasing, fine and gross, and use 2 hands together. • Taking risks and challenge themselves.

31. EYE acknowledge importance of movement in children's development and has been more often than not considered as a channel to children's cognitive social and emotion development rather than a feature of learning in its own right! Movement only becomes an issue when a delay in development is identified

32. Develop intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and physically Active Movement Build foundations for learning, moving and communication Be happy, healthy, confident and feel loved SUMMARY