ildren to identify them and then squirt them with a water pistol. Squirters of different sizes will enable children to build different muscles: large squirters build muscles in arms, shoulders and backs, while small party bag-sized water pistols build strength in hands and wrists.
The joy of physical learning is that it provides opportunities on a different scale to everyday activities. This is particularly true when exploring creativity, where a chance to explore really big art can be both exciting and help to develop cooperation and the sharing of experiences and ideas.
Instead of binning your teabags after making your morning cuppa, try saving them and soaking them in different coloured paints. Then let children have the chance to throw them at either a vertical (sheet on a fence) or horizontal (large piece of paper on the floor) target. This really encourages the shoulder throwing action, and gives an amazing shared final result! Why not try to splat objects with different weights to build up muscle strength and control? Try throwing balls, sponges or even cotton wool balls dipped in paint.
Place an old sock, some sand or rice into the bottom of an old stocking or one leg of some old tights. Tie them in to give you a ball at the end of a stretchy rope. Dip the ball end into paint and bounce it up and down onto a piece of paper on the floor. Can you make a really big splat? Are there different-sized splats? What happens when the colours mix? If you want to get really physical, try moving outdoors and letting children really swing the yo-yo at the paper.
As well as planning for specific activities, some simple changes to the materials and tools you offer can expand the scope for physical development in your setting. Try extending the reach of tools such as paint brushes, chalks and pens by taping them to pieces of broom handle or bamboo canes – the extra length encourages the use and development of muscles not usually employed for brush and pencil control. Use extra-long spoons in your mixing and mud kitchen play (you can purchase wooden spoons with handles up to one metre long!).
Finally, think about the kinds or materials you offer for scooping and transporting. Using heavier materials such as gravel, cobbles and even mud makes buckets and other receptacles heavier and encourages muscle use. Why not try swapping your sandpit for a gravel pit or even having both?
One preschool I work with closely recently made the bold move of removing bikes and trikes altogether for a whole half-term, to encourage children to interact with their outdoor environment, and staff to think creatively about physical development provision. The array of creative, mathematical- and language-based activities provided was amazing, and the children really benefited from this more physical way of exploring learning – particularly the really active learners. The setting now introduces bikes and trikes occasionally to support individual children’s interests, but they are rarely out without purpose; now they are used with chalk roadways, as part of role play delivery vehicles, and even to large-scale art!
As you can see from this small snapshot there is so much more to physical development than a hop, skip and pedal approach. I really hope you get the chance to get creative with your planning and get your children active.
Kirstine Beeley is an independent trainer, author and consultant, with experience of teaching in early years, primary and SEN settings.