5 The ABCs of movement

As babies develop into toddlers and on into young children, they build upon their existing acquisition of movements. Gross movements (or ‘motor skills’) are developed first, which then allows the smaller more refined movements (called ‘fine motor skills’) to be learnt and put into action.

It is important to note that foundation/fundamental movement skills (FMS) usually emerge in a specific order, but that the rate of development, the confidence and movement competence depends on the learning environment, the opportunities they are provided with and the motivation they have to learn. Children often skip movement ‘milestones’ and catch up later through spikey or uneven (known as asynchronous) development.

Figure 7

This is usually of little concern and as such the organic process of acquiring movement skills should be supported through the infusion of the movement culture discussed later in this week. At this point it is worth noting that children with Down syndrome often experience delays in motor milestones (Hayward and Getchell, 2014).

Listen to Audio 2 in which educator Lala Manners talks about the link between developing gross and fine motor skills and the development of health, self-care, learning and physical literacy.

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Transcript: Audio 2

LALA MANNERS:

Movement is often called the first language or currency of childhood. Both terms reflect the critical role physical skills play in the lives of babies and young children. Being confident and competent movers has a positive effect on the development of their communication and language through play. The forming of long-term friendships is helped by being able to join in, keep up, and contribute ideas. And their physical health, wellbeing and development is properly supported through daily experience of a range of movement opportunities.

So what exactly are gross motor skills and why are they so important? Basically, they are the big body movements, the fundamental movement skills that most children, regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture, or environment, will gain in roughly the same order over a similar period of time. They are fundamental to ensuring children gain the strength, agility, balance, and coordination to learn more complex movement skills as they grow and develop.

Strong foundations ensure children are safe and secure in all environments when being physically active. Even babies in the womb are continually practising their movement skills. All the vigorous kicks and pummels, squirming, and wiggling are really important as they explore their watery environment, communicate likes and dislikes, and get themselves in the right position to be born, often a massive physical effort for both mother and baby.

The first year of a child's life is all about laying down firm physical foundations so that, at every developmental stage, a new skill can be seamlessly added to those already evident. So practising rolling over front to back, back to front, gives babies the strength needed to lie on their tummies and push up on their hands. At some point, they will get onto their hands and knees and start to crawl. This is the most brilliant whole-body workout. They have to be balanced, coordinated, agile, and strong to move in different directions around obstacles and at different speeds. All the strength, balance, and coordination gained at this point goes towards being able to sit independently, then stand, then start to walk.

What we need to remember is that all movement experience is of enormous value, and that standing or sitting still is one of the most physically challenging things for children to do. Practising the big-body gross motor skills, like rolling, crawling, climbing, walking, running, and jumping, must not be forgotten just because they've moved on to other activities that are more complex and demanding. These are the movements that give children the overall body strength, coordination, agility, and balance that means they can move fluently and easily on land and in water, and then use these movements in different combinations with apparatus and music in team games or as part of gymnastics, dance, and martial arts.

By ensuring the pelvic and shoulder girdles are stable, more complex, manipulative, or fine motor skills may be learned. Pelvic stability means children's core strength is well enough developed to ensure they can sit still on a chair for a few minutes at a time to listen and concentrate. Likewise, shoulder stability affects the stability at the elbow and wrist joints that, in turn, will determine how easily and fluently they engage with writing and drawing materials. It is really important to remember that all the fine motor or manipulative skills, like cutting, threading, modelling, writing, painting, and drawing, are completely dependent on reliable gross motor skills. Without strong roots, beautiful plants may not flourish and grow.

End transcript: Audio 2

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