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Physical Development in the Early Years

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The EYFS Statutory Framework states that physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults.

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The Early Learning Goal at the end of Reception involves helping children to be active and interactive; and to develop their core strength, co-ordination, balance, spatial awareness and agility. Children should also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, so that they can develop proficiency, control and confidence.

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At Atherstone/Bedworth Heath Nursery School we value how important physical development is to set the foundations for a more active and healthy life as an adult. We break Physical Development down into three areas:

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Core muscle strength

To be confident with movement children must develop both core strength and coordination. Core strength in children is like a secret superpower, giving them the stability they need to conquer everyday adventures like walking, running and jumping, whilst also keeping them upright and balanced. It is the key to good posture and helps them stay focused and comfortable whether they are sitting at a table or playing on the floor.

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Large motor skills

Large motor skills are those which require whole body movement and involve the large (core stabilising) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions, such as standing, walking, running, jumping, and sitting upright at the table. They also include eye-hand coordination skills such as ball skills (throwing, catching, kicking) as well as riding a bike or a scooter and swimming. They enable children to engage in every day functions such as walking, running, climbing, throwing and catching. They also influence everyday skills such as getting dresses and sitting up right at a table.

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Fine motor skills

Fine motor skills are smaller muscular activities which involve reaching, grasping and manipulating objects with our hands. Fine motor skills based activities involve the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb and they also involve the combination of these hand movements and vision. With the development of these skills, a child is able to complete important tasks such as helping with buttons or doing up zips, getting dressed independently, developing self care such as feeding themselves, turning pages in books and writing.

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We carefully plan the children’s physical development skills through identifying gaps in learning, age related milestones, Individual Education Plans and the children’s interests. Some of the ways in which we do this are:

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  • Forest School Play for children to have opportunities to climb, run, jump and balance.

  • We have a daily movement led session where our practitioners model a range of movements for the children to join in with including cross the midline activities.

  • We have a range of large scale equipment in our outdoor area for the children to explore such as climbing frames, bikes, hoops, ladders, crates, wooden beams and tyres.

  • We offer a range of activities in weekly round robin sessions such as sewing, yoga, dance, paint and woodwork.

  • We also offer interventions if needed in fine motor and gross motor.

  • We offer workshops around toileting, healthy eating and oral health.

  • We provide enhancements to our provision which consider the skills needed for large and fine motor skills so that they progress with the children and challenge them.

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Activities you can do at home:

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Ripping up paper – this is an easy and fun activity for children to develop their fine motor skills -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/zrrhhbk

Homemade Playdough – this is a great activity to develop fine motor skills and build up core strength

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/z4tdd6f

Ball Games – Here are different examples of ball games you can play with your children to develop their large movement skills https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/zrmnsk7

Dancing – Here are some different dance game ideas to help develop physical coordination

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/z7t992p

Danny Go – Danny Go will get your children up engaging with physical activity on a rainy day

https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEB&search_query=danny+go

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Resources to support at home:

Here are some tips for Nurturing Physical Development

https://www.earlymovers.org.uk/nurturing

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