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| Feature | No.65 October 2013 |

Growing Physical Literacy in the Young Child

Patricia Maude

Abstract

This paper is based on the premise that childhood lays the foundation for the journey in physical literacy that commences before birth and continues throughout life. To provide an extensive and comprehensive foundation is the challenge for all who work with or legislate for the well-being of the young, in ensuring that all children achieve their potential and lead happy and fulfilling lives. The discussion in this paper sets out the importance of enabling the growth of all aspects of physical literacy in young children, both through maximising opportunities to develop physical competence and through the provision of stimulating environments and scaffolded support and intervention to promote cognitive, social and emotional development.

Introduction

The Early Years are exciting times for children’s physical development as they grow, constantly changing in size and shape, and for their movement development, as they gain awareness of the body and explore the increasingly vast range of movement experiences in their ever-expanding environment. Childhood is the time to learn how to move, to find out how to become physically competent and to discover how to use movement to access all other areas of learning. Childhood is also the time to nurture self-confidence and self -esteem as well as to establish self-motivation and commitment to moving and learning.

Achieving optimum physical development is the prime business of infancy and childhood. Physical development proceeds from the brain downwards and from the centre of the body outwards, such that the muscles of the legs are later to develop than those of the arms, and the hands are later to develop than the shoulders. However, the keys to development are the brain and movement.

In her paper entitled ‘The Importance of Movement in Early Development’ (in this Bulletin) Goddard-Blythe describes the development of the brain and the development of movement, and states that: ‘movement is the most important function of the brain’.

Ratey (2008:p4) confirms this when he states that: ‘exercise cues the building blocks of learning in the brain’ and: ‘exercise is the single most powerful tool to optimise brain function.’ He reminds us that ‘to keep our brains at peak performance our bodies need to work hard.’ Whilst this applies throughout the lifecourse, from infancy through to old age, consideration here is confined to the provision of sufficient appropriate physical activity, in order that young children can achieve their full potential in physical competence and make optimum progress in their physical literacy journey. Minimising sedentary activity and maximising active play are essential factors in success for children of all ages. In 2011, due to the growing awareness of the benefits of physical activity both for development and for health, the Department of Health, produced a report ‘Start Active, Stay Active’ containing the following Guidelines for children under the age of 5 years:

1. From birth, until they can walk, infants should participate in floor play and water-based activities

2. Pre-school children who are walking unaided should be physically active for at least 180 minutes, spread throughout the day.

3. All children under the age of five should minimise the amount of extended periods of sedentary time except when sleeping

Minimising sedentary time allows for maximising active play, which as Lee (1984:34) claims: ‘is the main business of life’. Saach goes further (1988:27) in stating:

Play is an extremely important human activity; it is a basis for culture. Play is not only a biological function, but the primary function for man. Play is a process by which a child develops mature understanding; it is an exploration of one’s self in relation to the world; it is a process of accepting oneself.

Play enables infants and young children to build their movement vocabulary, just as they are also building their verbal vocabulary. Children are endowed with an amazing capacity to explore the world around them, to experiment in movement, to find out what they can do, what they cannot yet do and continually to seek to expand their experience. They have the potential to increase their movement vocabulary exponentially. Through recall, repetition and practice of individual movements, through applying known movements in a variety of situations and by creating patterns and sequences of movement, learners gradually develop their movement memory. Through increasing postural management, balance, coordination, control, strength, stamina, as well as committing to continuous repetition and practice, learners can also enhance and refine the quality of their movement patterns, developing into articulate movers and achieving, as the extended definition of Physical Literacy states:

‘the ability to move with poise, economy and confidence in a wide variety of challenging situations’ Whitehead (2010) p13

Childhood is the time to introduce infants and children to this wide variety of challenging situations. From their earliest days, infant play is often floor-based, including extensive tummy time, with a range of toys to manipulate, grasp, wave, pat, lick, chew and bang together and against available surfaces. Infancy is also an ideal time for introducing water-based activity. Music, rhythms and dancing add variety to play for all young children as does being played with, in safe rough and tumble play and in calming rocking and soothing activity. In addition to indoor play and water-based play, the outdoor environment also offers a wide range of challenges. Perry (2001) suggests that: ‘Outdoor play settings may be the one place where children can independently orchestrate their own negotiations with the physical and social environment, and gain clarity of selfhood necessary to navigate later in life’. Outdoor play engages children in physical learning through enjoyable, exploratory experiences, using the body meaningfully, purposefully and with imagination. (Maude (2009:46)

Whichever setting constitutes the play arena, it is best provided for when furnished with a range of natural and man-made resources and equipment and the participation of significant others as play partners, playmates and play facilitators. What pleasure can be gained from running through fallen leaves in Autumn and trying to catch some as they fall or jumping to catch bubbles blown by a play partner!

It was sometimes believed that children’s time should be spent in ‘free’ play, without intervention. Whilst this indeed constitutes a valuable play experience, it is not sufficient by itself. Active and varied play is vital for optimal development and therefore it has been proposed by the British Heart Foundation (2012) that there are four types of play, namely:

1. Unstructured play – free exploratory play without adult support

2. Child-initiated play – with appropriate adult-enabling, in the form of scaffolded support which is temporary and offered at the child’s moment of readiness

iii. Focused learning play – adult guided

iv. Highly structured play – planned and adult directed

The objectives of any intervention given should be to facilitate, develop, enhance, encourage, challenge and add pleasure and satisfaction to the child’s play experience.

Scenario

‘Ben makes a star shape’

Ben loves going to gym sessions with his dad. He is seen here making a big star shape and looking at what he has achieved in the mirrored wall just opposite. He and his dad are talking about whether his elbows and wrists are straight. His dad gives feedback both verbally and by supporting the position of Ben’s arm. They are also deciding if his legs are in a star shape and whether his knees and hips are straight.

There are many ways in which children learn, though broadly these can be categorised under three headings, with the acronym ‘V A K’, namely: Visual learning, Auditory learning and Kinaesthetic learning. It is thought that most children seem to have a natural preference for one of these. Ben seems to have the potential here to gain from all three. He may be receiving visual feedback on his star shape from the mirrored wall in front of him, auditory feedback from his dad and kinaesthetic feedback both through the internalised ‘feel’ of his body as well as the ‘touch-sense’ from his dad’s hand contact.

Goddard-Blythe, in her paper in this Bulletin states that

physical literacy begins with mastery of the body in space, the physical sense of self and security in space and the development of a rich vocabulary of non-verbal skills as well as supporting verbal expression.

The above scenario ably demonstrates that Ben has started out well on his physical literacy journey!

As his play partner, Ben’s dad has developed both movement observation and feedback skills. He has observed his son’s star shape and names the joints, elbows, wrists, knees, hips, to help Ben to focus on the specific parts of his body to be made straight. Focused observation, accompanied by movement knowledge and accurate vocabulary enables observers to provide feedback that is fit for purpose. (Maude 2003).

Turning attention now to other attributes of physical literacy as detailed in the short definition, we further consider the contributions of knowledge, understanding, motivation and confidence. Although physical competence is a key attribute in physical literacy, it is not sufficient without accompanying knowledge and understanding of self and the self as a mover, engaging and exploring in the world through movement. Possessing and maintaining the motivation to continue this exploration and engagement, to increase and memorise movement vocabulary, to enhance movement quality, to be determined to persist, to face and manage failure and to celebrate and be spurred on in movement by success, are enduring and worthwhile life skills.

Nurturing the natural exuberance normally seen in the movement of young children and embedding in them a sense of self-worth in movement is invaluable. This is especially so when, at around the age of seven, they begin to compare their movement skills with those of their peers and realise that they may not, after all, be the best! Recognising and celebrating achievement and progress and maintaining and building up children’s confidence in their movement is essential, particularly for children who feel that they are not as good as others. Seefeldt (1993) states that children who have been deprived or frustrated in their early movement experiences often avoid physical activity and thereby develop inadequate movement skills. They may then go on to feel excluded from the play experiences enjoyed by their peers, and may thereby face limitations in their social and emotional development. This may eventually lead to a lifetime of inactivity, poor self-image and confidence.

In the scenario below we see that Emma demonstrates that her physical literacy is progressing well. Although she is naturally shy, she is physically competent, knowledgeable about the task she has chosen to undertake and is both self-motivated and confident in her endeavour.

Scenario

Emma has recently started attending her local nursery. She has ventured outdoors and is sitting at the edge of the play area looking around at the other children and particularly focusing on several children on balance bikes. She is a shy child who is not naturally adventurous and usually needs encouragement to try new activities. However she has a trike and a scooter at home and enjoys going to the park and pedalling or scooting along the pathways. Her care worker sees Emma eyeing the balance bikes and decides to watch and, if necessary, suggest to her that she might try one. There proves to be no need as Emma goes over to a bike, picks it up, sits on it and then starts to walk along to the end of the path. Carefully she turns the bike around and walks back, easily keeping her balance and control of the bike. Noticing a child who is jogging on his bike she too speeds up as she travels to the end of the play area where she slows down and stops, having ably kept the bike travelling in a straight line. She practices this several times before laying the bike down and going back indoors. At her next outdoor session she sees children who run along on their bikes, then take their feet off the ground for a moment and put them down again to stop. This challenge is soon within Emma’s grasp and she confidently lifts her feet momentarily and puts them down again, increasingly gaining confidence in maintaining her balance and enjoying the feel of real cycling.

This is an example of a child who not only demonstrates increasing physical competence, but also is able to transfer knowledge and understanding of a similar activity from her own previous experience into this new situation. She is clearly motivated to meet the challenge of travelling on a two-wheeled bike with no pedals. She shows determination and commitment to persist. She shows great confidence, both to venture into the unfamiliar large outdoor space by herself and to try out and succeed in a new activity.

Summary

In this paper we have considered some of the conditions and means whereby young children can be enabled to establish a strong foundation in physical literacy. These include provisions for achieving optimum physical competence, through wide-ranging active play, with minimum sedentary activity, abundant enabling environments and appropriate intervention, support and feedback. Further responsibilities to be addressed by parents, teachers and carers are to sustain and enhance children’s confidence and motivation as they explore, experiment and discover, and as they build their movement vocabulary, memory and quality towards becoming articulate and knowledgeable movers.

References

1. Asher, J. (1983) Learning Another Language through Action. Los Angeles: Sky Oaks

2. Lee, C. (1984) The Growth and Development of Children. London: Longman

3. Maude, P. (2009) Let’s Play: Physical literacy Outdoors. (Vol 10 No: 12. April 2009) Early Years Educator (EYE). London: MA Education Ltd.

4. Maude, P. (2001) Physical Children Active Teaching. Buckingham: Open University Press

5. Maude, P. (2003) Observing Children Moving. Reading: Tacklesport (CDRom)

6. Ratey,J. J. and Hagerman,E. (2008) SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown & Company

7. Saach, C. (1988) Childhood and Play. New York: New York Press

8. Seefeldt, V. (1993) Developmental Motor Patterns. In R.Nadau, C.W. Holliwell and K. G. Newell, (eds) Psychology of Motor Behaviour in Sport. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics

9. Singer, D., Singer, J. (2005) Imagination and Play in the Electronic Age. Cambridge Ma: Harvard University Press

10. U.K. Chief Medical Officers. (2011) Start Active Stay Active. London: Department of Health

11. Whitebread, D (Ed). (4th edition forthcoming 2014) Teaching and Learning in the Early Years. London: Routledge (Chapter 11 – Maude, P. From Movement Development into Physical Literacy)

12. Whitehead, M. (2013). www.physical-literacy.org.uk

13. Whitehead, M. (Ed) (2010) Physical Literacy Throughout the Lifecourse. Abingdon: Routledge

Contact

Patricia Maude
Email pmm24@btinternet.com

http://www.icsspe.org/