The freedom to be physically active - and on different scales - is something that no amount of indoor space can provide in the same way as the outdoors.
The outdoors has always been linked with physical activity, which is perhaps why, in the recent past, outdoor learning has been seen as less important than the learning that occurs inside the nursery. This was not true in the early days of nursery education, when pioneers such as Margaret McMillan based all their provision on the outdoors and saw no distinction between the bodily development of a child and the growth of their mind.
Thankfully, we are beginning to link our knowledge of child development with the technological advances of neuroscience to reaffirm the idea that physical activity and movement are vital to all-round intellectual, social and emotional development. And, yes, movement can happen anywhere, indoors or out, but it is in the great outdoors that children have the freedom to use their whole bodies to explore the world and make their connections with it.
But like every other aspect of learning, we have a responsibility to provide the best learning environment and the right kind of support to make sure that children get the most from it. Just as with any other area of learning, we need to be knowledgeable about physical skills and how they develop. We can't just step back and assume that because we have created a space with some planks and a climbing frame that all children will learn to move skilfully. D L Gallahue pointed out as long ago as 1982 (in Understanding Motor Development in Children) that 'too often children are turned loose on various forms of equipment and expected magically to develop efficient forms of movement behaviour on their own'. He added: 'Only through wise guidance, thoughtful interaction and careful planning can we assure proper development of children's movement abilities.'
This is no different to the way that, for example, the development of reading and writing is supported in the early years through a mixture of rich, continuous provision, small group activities and sen sitive, one-to-one interaction on the part of key carers.
MOVEMENT FRAMEWORK
The Developmental Physical Education Group at the University of Edinburgh has devised a 'movement framework' to support practitioners. Four elements known as 'generic movements' underpin all movement and combine in a variety of ways:
- Balance Static (the body is held still) and dynamic (the body is moving)
- Co-ordination The relationship between a body sector (for example, upper/lower-right/left) and body parts (such as head, arms and knees)
- Posture The main positions in which the body is held (including upright, mid and lying posture)
- Rotation This happens around the different axes of the body (for example, turning, twisting, rocking, rolling and spinning).
Think of a child rolling lengthways down a slope - that's a combination of rotation and posture. Clambering along a plank on all fours? A combination of dynamic balance, mid-posture and co-ordination of the left and right side of the body with hands, arms, feet and head.
These are examples of the specific 'basic movements' which emerge from combinations of those non- specific 'generic movements'. All are a technical way of describing the movements children use all the time, in varying degrees of maturity, when playing and doing everyday things.
Having the opportunity to develop a 'solid generic movement foundation' of balance, posture, co-ordination and rotation allows children to begin the process of developing basic movements, in which they become increasingly confident and skilful.
Children need experience of large-muscle movements in order to develop the small-muscle movements which come later. For example, they need lots of opportunities to strengthen their large arm muscles in physical play, before the smaller arm muscles are ready for writing and drawing. So, time spent swinging from a rope or digging has an important part to play in developing the finer muscles children need for drawing and writing.
BASIC MOVEMENTS
Many of the basic movements can be linked to travelling from one place to another and are sometimes called 'locomotor' skills. These can include: running, walking, sliding, hopping, jumping, climbing, skipping, crawling, creeping, stretching, spinning, rocking, rolling, twisting, wriggling and shuffling. Other basic movements might be about 'object control' - kicking, throwing, catching and striking, for example.
But we should not just think about these movements in isolation. The movement framework also includes 'movement concepts', which describe the ways in which children use their movement skills to interact with the world around them.
This means observing, and planning for, children's use of:
- Space Including their own awareness of personal space, the directions and levels they move in, and the 'pathways' that they create when they run in straight lines and in circuits, or zig-zag their way across, say, the garden
- Effort The speed, force and flow of their movements
- Relationships That is with: parts of their body; objects (moving over, under, on and off them, etc); and other people (in unison, shadowing, chasing them, etc).
SCHEMA
Daily access to a rich outdoor environment, with a variety of natural obstacles, surfaces and structures, will challenge and motivate children to extend their movement skills.
They may also be driven by their schema, or 'patterns of action'. Marjorie Ouvry, in Exercising Muscles and Minds, describes how 'these schema reveal the kind of movement and investigation that individual children are most interested in, and are particularly noticeable outside because a well-planned outdoor area offers children more opportunities to explore possibilities and to make choices'.
So, children absorbed in:
- vertical trajectories often enjoy: jumping up and down, bouncing balls, climbing up and down ladders, building towers of crates
- horizontal trajectories might like to: sweep sand, etc, push prams or trolleys, walk on lines
- rotation may be keen on: going round and round things, spinning until they are dizzy, riding on bikes or wheeled toys.
- Anne O'Connor is an early years consultant
BEST PRACTICE
As with songs to promote numeracy and activities to promote listening ability, practitioners should have a repertoire of ideas to teach movement skills.
- Think about vigorous games where you and the children can get out of breath.
- Encourage children to ask themselves, 'What can I do with my body?' And be supportive when they experiment.
- Find playful ways of encouraging children to repeat moves and actions so that they can practise and refine their skills.
- Know your children well so that you can recognise when they are ready for 'next steps' and when you should step back, allow them to take risks and solve physical problems for themselves.
- Be enthusiastic about physical activity and be ready to experiment with your own movement skills.
RESOURCES
Arranging the outdoors in zones is a good way to ensure that all areas of the EYFS curriculum are covered, although this should not mean that resources are static or limited. Look for open-ended equipment with flexible functions that encourage children to use them creatively. Helen Bilton suggests a 'gymnasium zone' could include:
- planks, A-Frames, moveable climbing frame, boxes, milk crates, barrels, tunnels, ladders, hoops, half logs, carpet squares, tyres, cones, ropes, thick rope secured between two posts to create a monkey bar.
Involve the children in setting up equipment and listen to their ideas about how and where to place things or link them together.
MORE INFORMATION
- Outdoor Play in the Early Years: Management and Innovation by Helen Bilton (David Fulton)
- The Well-Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning by Sally Goddard Blythe (Hawthorn Press)
- The Great Outdoors: Developing Children's Learning Through Outdoor Provision by Margaret Edgington (Early Education)
- 'Move on' (Nursery World, 28 January 2009) by Mike Jess and Jan McIntyre (of the Developmental Physical Education Group, University of Edinburgh)
- Exercising Muscles and Minds: Outdoor Play and the Early Years Curriculum by Marjorie Ouvry (National Early Years Network)
- Understanding Motor Development in Children by D L Gallahue (John Wiley & Sons)
- Creating a Space to Grow: The Process of Developing Your Outdoor Learning Environment by Gail Ryder-Richardson (David Fulton)
- Learning Through Landscapes www.ltl.org.uk
