Movement and Exercise
It is important that babies and children are offered plenty of opportunities to use and develop their increasing physical skills, in order to grow, develop and learn about the world around them. All children need to become aware of their bodies as movement is their first language. By using physical actions, babies and children can express emotions, thoughts, feelings and ideas for things they may not have words for.
Movement Play in the Early Months and Years
Babies are born with a desire to move and they use their physical skills to connect with the world around them. The term ‘movement play’ is used to describe the connections between movement, health and well-being. Early movement play is key to establishing children’s physical, neurological and emotional well-being. It helps children to build relationships with others, thus supporting their social and emotional learning. Movement play helps to build the neural pathways in the brain, laying the foundations for future learning.
Children are the experts in their own physicality, and so movement play should be child-led, full-bodied and spontaneous. There are five types of movement play:
Floor play
On their backs and tummies, children:
Belly crawling
In this important stage, which often passes unnoticed, they:
Crawl
This help children to:
Push, pull, hang and stretch
These favourites help children to:
Spin, tip, roll and fall
This help children to:
The adult should support movement play in a number of ways, including:
Being active indoors and outdoors is crucial for children’s development and well-being. The natural environment invites a wealth of opportunities for children to explore using their senses, as well as practise using their physical skills to make contact with the world around them in different ways. Physical exercise indoors may be more challenging to set up but is equally important for children.
Risk and Challenge
There is a growing body of research that highlights the benefits for children when play environments provide risk and challenge. There is also corresponding evidence of negative outcomes when children are not given such opportunities; and that striving for 'risk free' play area can actually diminish learning and development opportunities.
Play areas give children opportunities to play and have fun. They are often one of the few places children can play freely without adult direction. Play areas can also help children to learn about themselves - their strengths, abilities, achievements and their limitations; and about how to assess risk, problem solve, communicate, collaborate and get along with others.
A summary of what the research says about risk benefit:
See our Movement and Exercise Policy.
Further advice about the amount of exercise you and your child you do every day can be found at www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-children.aspx.
Movement Play in the Early Months and Years
Babies are born with a desire to move and they use their physical skills to connect with the world around them. The term ‘movement play’ is used to describe the connections between movement, health and well-being. Early movement play is key to establishing children’s physical, neurological and emotional well-being. It helps children to build relationships with others, thus supporting their social and emotional learning. Movement play helps to build the neural pathways in the brain, laying the foundations for future learning.
Children are the experts in their own physicality, and so movement play should be child-led, full-bodied and spontaneous. There are five types of movement play:
Floor play
On their backs and tummies, children:
- Begin to shape and strengthen their spines, hips, shoulders and necks
- Develop strength and a sense of their upper bodies
- Build a strong sense of the centre of their body.
Belly crawling
In this important stage, which often passes unnoticed, they:
- Find their feet as they push along the floor
- Stimulate the centre of their bodies, helping them to reach the self toileting stage quicker
- Build an accurate pain threshold, which helps them to stay safe and feel for others
- Develop open hands, important for fine motor skills and writing
- Develop their eye movement so they can track side to side, important for reading.
Crawl
This help children to:
- Develop a sense of balance
- Shape back, hips and shoulders ready for standing
- Develop the eye tracking they need to look up and down smoothly, important for pre-reading practice
- Build the brain in ways that help with sorting and sifting information.
Push, pull, hang and stretch
These favourites help children to:
- Get a feel of themselves in their bodies
- Feel right in their skin
- Coordinate their movements
- Take 'safe' risks and build their confidence
- Learn to take care of themselves and other.
Spin, tip, roll and fall
This help children to:
- Develop balance, physically and emotionally
- Ensure their eyes can focus well on objects near and far and change from one eye to the other easily
- Sort, sift and organise information and be ready to learn about living in the world around us.
The adult should support movement play in a number of ways, including:
- Allowing children to be in control of their own movements, trying not to organise their movements for them (e.g. letting them work out how to climb down from a chair themselves).
- Getting down to the children’s level, tuning into what they are doing without immediately ‘jumping in’.
- Mirroring the children’s movements and interacting with them.
- Not using words when the children are involved in movement play. This can distract their thought process and spontaneity.
- Providing simple resources to engage the children (e.g. Blankets, ribbons, streamers).
- Modelling how to use the resources.
- Encouraging and celebrating movement and physical play as much as cognitive learning.
- Offering physical and emotional safety and support when needed.
Being active indoors and outdoors is crucial for children’s development and well-being. The natural environment invites a wealth of opportunities for children to explore using their senses, as well as practise using their physical skills to make contact with the world around them in different ways. Physical exercise indoors may be more challenging to set up but is equally important for children.
Risk and Challenge
There is a growing body of research that highlights the benefits for children when play environments provide risk and challenge. There is also corresponding evidence of negative outcomes when children are not given such opportunities; and that striving for 'risk free' play area can actually diminish learning and development opportunities.
Play areas give children opportunities to play and have fun. They are often one of the few places children can play freely without adult direction. Play areas can also help children to learn about themselves - their strengths, abilities, achievements and their limitations; and about how to assess risk, problem solve, communicate, collaborate and get along with others.
A summary of what the research says about risk benefit:
- Appropriate risk-taking during play helps children improve their motor skills, balance and coordination and gain confidence in being physically active.
- Children given opportunities to take risks in outside play develop confidence and are more likely to persist and persevere in problem solving in the play area as well as in their academic endeavours.
- Insufficient play area novelty and challenge can lead to inappropriate risk-taking; and prevent children from developing decision-making skills needed to make accurate risk judgements.
See our Movement and Exercise Policy.
Further advice about the amount of exercise you and your child you do every day can be found at www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-children.aspx.
