t need to move as they play, learn and grow, both indoors and outdoors. It is with these learners in mind that I’ve looked at ways of making learning and development in other areas a more physical experience, with the hope that a child who perhaps has struggled to grasp a concept presented in one way will benefit from taking another, more active approach.
Before children can pick up a pencil, pair of scissors or paint brush and control it properly they need to build on the strength in their hands, wrists and fingers, as well as developing coordination between their brain and limbs: their fine motor skills. Try writing your name holding a pencil with your toes and you will experience what it’s like when your muscles and coordination are not yet developed. Children need the chance to build these smaller physical skills in a wide variety of ways both indoors and outdoors, not just through playdough exploration.
Children also need to develop their gross motor skills: larger body movements to help build strength and coordination. As well as improving general fitness levels, the strengthening of shoulder, arm and even back muscles is crucial to early pencil control, and hence a vital precursor to early writing.
In the activities below I’ve tried to look at ways you could use both gross motor and fine motor activities to access learning across the spectrum. Many of the ideas can be easily adapted to support more or less able learners.
Admittedly there are times when children will need to run, leap, twirl and skip to burn off excess energy, and grow in confidence with their own bodies as they move. Our role as early educators is to identify when this is needed, but also to provide additional opportunities to build other skills. By providing opportunities to move with a reason we can help to build specific muscle strength, coordination and control, and in doing so we can cover learning in other areas. For example, adding stepping stones with numbers or letters on encourages children to stride and balance, whilst putting up targets with pictures of superheroes or favourite characters provides a great incentive to explore with water pistols or beanbags and balls.
There is no reason why physical development cannot be just as exciting, creative and adventurous as other areas of learning and development. So every once in a while, why not leave the bikes and trikes in the shed and try a few of these ideas?
Try labelling some big buckets with numerals, and encourage children to throw balls and bean bags into the correct bucket. This is great for building arm and shoulder muscles as well as coordination. Older and more able children can throw into buckets with the answer to a simple maths problem – e.g. “one more than three”, “one less than five”, etc. Arranging the buckets in different formations helps to improve coordination and throwing skills.
Cut shapes into a large, cheap tarpaulin (available from pound-type shops). Peg it up outside and encourage children to kick balls into the different shapes. Coloured tape around the holes helps to increase durability and makes the shapes more prominent, as well as adding another sorting dimension to the activity.
Log slices with numbers on are a great way to encourage the development of balance and coordination, as well as building on counting and numeral recognition. Try mixing up the slices and asking children to move them back into order (remember, lifting and handling are part of physical development too!). Putting blackboard paint onto your log slices allows you to change numbers, or for children to add their own with chalks.
Place strands of uncooked spaghetti in lumps of play-dough and encourage children to thread small beads onto it. As well as developing coordination and pincer movements, this provides many chances to count and make patterns according to colour or shape. Try extending the activity by adding pipe cleaners, ribbons and coloured matchsticks.
Laminate pictures of superheroes or favourite characters with numerals on them, and space them out around your outdoor area. Ask ch