Early Years is an area within its own right and we must make sure provision is developmentally appropriate for this age range.

Created by Early Childhood, Physical Activity and Movement Play Specialist, Helen Battelley, this course is suitable for anyone working with children aged 3—7 years and it will be instrumental for your future practice in PE and physical activity provision.

Combining practical and theoretical content, Helen will give you a wider understanding of the physical and social challenges facing the Early Years sector and help you to gain confidence in the areas of movement play and physical activity.

Module 1 

Unit 1: Introduction and course aims

Unit 2: The Early Years – why is it so important?

Unit 3: Does being active REALLY make a difference at a young age?

Beginning in the womb, movement is key to a healthy early childhood. The fact that you are considering taking this course shows that you already appreciate the importance of movement in the Early Years, but Module 1 will give you the data and science to back up what you innately know, thus supporting you in developing your practice.

To begin with, you will look at the guidelines around movement in the Early Years and reflect on why the first five years are so important. You’ll also examine statistics around obesity and inactivity, and consider what factors are causing these problems in society.

Module 2 

Unit 4: Physical activity, physical development, physical education and physical literacy

Unit 5 : Developmentally Appropriate Practice – assessing their needs and Early Inspection Framework

Unit 6: Teaching strategies to improve engagement

Unit 7: Midline development and laterality

It’s quite common for people to use terms Physical Activity, Physical Development, Physical Education and Physical Literacy interchangeably, but by defining each one and exploring the terminology fully, you will be able to contemplate how relevant each one is to your practice. The tutor will take you through why free-flow provision on its own is insufficient to meet physical activity guidelines and help you to address the question ‘How can we best support children to become physically literate in early childhood?’.

Module 3 

Unit 8:  Do fundamental movement skills meet all the physical needs of Early Years children?

Unit 9:  The power of music

Unit 10: Exploring the 7 senses

Unit 11:  The best way forward – a canopy movement experience

Unit 12: Lesson planning

This final module starts by ensuring you understand what fundamental movement skills are, the principles of movement, movement vocabulary and transferability. Having worked through these important areas, you will be better equipped to answer the question ‘Do Fundamental Movement Skills meet all the physical needs of Early Years children?’