Physical Development
Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives9. 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. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination, which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.
The Early Years Statutory Framework 2024
Activities at Home
- Play board games
- Take a trip to the park so your child can run, climb and jump
- Talk about how your body feels after running and jumping
- Feeling messy? Make some playdough, paint, use tweezers to pick things up or bake
- Take a pot of water and a paintbrush outside so your child can 'paint' the pavement, fence or shed
