5.1 Gross motor skills
When babies are born, they are able to do a few things, breath, cry, suck and move their legs in alternating patterns (Hayward and Getchell, 2014).
As you are aware, this does not mean that they are able to walk straight away! With time they acquire and refine FMS, strength and stability. These skills are vital to their development towards overall locomotion, object control and stabilisation. Being able to identify what FMS individual babies, toddlers and young children should be acquiring through rehearsal and refinement at specific ages is useful to all those supporting physical development.
Activity 3
When babies and young children are learning the gross FMS, it is important to note that they do not need to be forced into actions, e.g. sitting up, crawling or walking. Supporting walking and jumping through the use of baby walkers or jumpers for example is not required for them to learn these FMS and can in fact compromise their smooth emergence/acquisition.