Physical Activity and Movement Play in Early Childhood

Movement is our first language, our first form of communication with the outside world.

It also forms the foundation of how young children engage with themselves.  Fundamental physical skills provide children with essential life skills; the first touch, giggle, step and smile.  Interaction - reaction, body movement and language are the main methods of communication.  From birth the brain prioritises movement, it is one of the primary functions in early life after the rudimentary survival functions; heartbeat, breathing and digestion.  Each move a child makes builds critical neural pathways in the brain and develops physical competency.  The more repeated physical experiences the increased sensory receptors and subsequent cemented neural pathways.  Overtime movement becomes fully automated.  Once movements become automated children’s brains are then free to process other thinking (conscious) tasks like talking and listening.  Each repetitive function becomes an automated movement, therefore, children need opportunities to move often and refine their physical skills.

Yet movement appears to lose more value as children grow older, when more time is dedicated to educating the brain over the body.  As educators and stakeholders in children’s future, we must acknowledge the brain and body are inextricably linked and use somatic learning approaches to engage learners.

Prior to the pandemic, statistics for early childhood physical inactivity and obesity were alarmingly high.  In 2018, 91% of UK two to four years olds were not meeting the recommended levels of PA (British Heart Foundation Research Centre, 2018) and 14% of toddlers were recognised as obese (National Child Measurement Programme, 2019/2020). 

There is much work to be done to raise children’s activity levels as physical skills underpin all learning in early childhood and the lack of positive physical experiences are detrimental to children’s physical and emotional well-being.

In Early Childhood Education we may observe:

• Physical development is often ignored
• Physical development tends to be taken for granted.
• Not moving (sitting still) is over-praised.
• The focus is too often on the brain rather than the body because of academic priorities (e.g. teaching phonics at pre-school);
• Physical activity is seen as a chore (O’Connor and Daly. 2016)

Children learn by using their bodies and movement always occurs in a physical environment (Adolph and Hoch, 2019).  Staying inactive or sedentary for longer than one hour is not natural behaviour for young children and the space available within the learning environment (school, EY setting or home) directs the play that happens (Manners, 2020; Bailey et al, 2021).  Furthermore, the embodiment of motor development is enculturated whereby social and cultural experiences shape motor behaviours, these cultural experiences with the home often cascade through generations (Merleau-Ponty, 1945; Adolph and Hoch, 2019;).  Covid-19 has presented barriers to family members and communities, stunting this avenue of experience (Skeels, 2021). 

For over 10 years the daily recommendation for physical activity for children under 5 years of age, has been set at 180 minutes (CMO, 2011; WHO, 2021).

180 minutes of physical activity per day may seem a difficult target to reach, however if we become a little more creative with our planning we can find ways to boost movement every day. 

Top 10 ways to increase physical activity in the Early Years

• Make outside areas safe and provide a variety of ‘open-ended’ play equipment or loose parts
• Clean the space after activities, teach children to mop, sweep, tidy and clean
• Create innovative obstacle courses to combine locomotor movements and movements on different levels
• If you have a ‘pull out’ climbing frame, surround it with mats and offer children supervised autonomy over the activity
• Incorporate unanticipated movement opportunities; floor is lava, runner bean game etc
• Introduce a wide range of locomotor equipment; hoops, ribbons, balance bikes, wobble boards, body boards etc.
• Repeat physical skills within schemas, ie catching – start with scarves, bubbles and move to bean bags and a variety of balls
• Bring stories to life, using music and/or props, tell the story physically.
• Introduce a dance alarm and play a variety of music from different genres for children to react and respond.
• Let children run, chase, roll, skip, swing, push, pull, carry, hop, jump, wiggle

Try introducing these Movement words into your activities:

SHAPE WORDS:

Small, round, tiny, bendy, wiggly, straight, broad, high, low, up,

down, big, large, enormous, narrow, short, long, bulbous.

LOCOMOTION (travelling) WORDS:

Crawling, walking, tiptoeing, creeping, sidestepping, galloping, jumping, stomping, dribbling, wading, skipping, rolling, slithering, sliding,  twisting, hanging, swinging, leaping, riding, hopping, turning, swirling, twirling, stepping.

POSITION/DIRECTION

In, out, over, above, under, astride, on, backwards, forwards, sideways, start, stop, change, through, around, between, crouch, along, upwards, curved, zigzag, away, in front, behind, towards.

ACTION WORDS

Balance, hit, throw, catch, retrieve, kick, aim, strike, bounce, curl, clap, bat, climb, swing.

Provide a multitude of stimuli, apparatus and space to ensure the children can explore their physical potential

How to plan a lesson?

•  Observe the children, are there any emerging topics or interests
• Maintain some ‘flow’ and consistency (Schema)
• Include time for children to have agency over the activity
• Plan ‘unfolding enlightenments’
• Reflect in action and use your toolbelt
• Be conscious of FMS and weave them into the lesson
• Don’t have long periods of time sitting or waiting
• Keep activities succinct, and repeat if enjoyed
• Use stimuli and develop the usage over time

Sit less, move more!

Helen is an internationally renowned consultant, trainer, author and speaker in Physical activity/movement in Early and Primary Education with an MA in Early Childhood Physical Activity.   Her training style is energetic, passionate and highly motivational.   Helen is respected globally for her valued contribution to raising the profile of early years physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours.

Helen’s work with families and communities has been exemplary in exploring perceptions around movement and physical activity and subsequently the development of various initiatives and schemes to increase movement potential.

Helen was the lead physical development advisor on Change4life's 10 Minute Shake Up Cards (UK) and is frequently found presenting at education conferences across the globe.  In 2021 Helen developed a Physical Phonics programme for The National Literacy Trust, the programme will be rolled out across the UK in the academic year 2021-2022.

2018 saw the release of Helen’s first publication Music and Movement: The Early Years, to find out more please visit: http://www.musicandmovement.org.uk/music-and-movement-the-early-years-publication/   Helen’s second publication with Bloomsbury publishers was released in Spring 2020.

Find out more about Helen's course here.