Physical Development
Physical Development is broken down into two main strands Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills. At Westfield Primary Community School we know that a healthy child has balance of good gross motor skills which can support the development of effective fine motor skills. We provide our children with experiences of physical activity through PE sessions and daily opportunities to access and explore the outdoor classroom. Our curriculum includes many opportunities to support healthy choices. We have topics which support oral health, healthy eating and the importance of exercise and rest.
Gross Motor Skills
What are gross motor skills?
Gross motor skills are large muscular movements such as sitting, running, throwing and catching and climbing stairs. Gross motor activities are crucial for everyday self care skills like traveling around your home safely, dressing and being able to balance while putting feet through tights or trousers and climbing in and out of bed. They also influence other everyday functions such as being able to maintain an upright posture while sitting at a table to eat, draw or later write. Without good gross motor skills, a child will struggle with many day to day tasks such as eating, packing away their toys, and getting onto and off the toilet.
Our large outdoor space enables children to revisit the learning opportunities from inside but on a larger scale. The children have the opportunity to explore turn taking whilst sharing resources and negotiating equipment as well as navigating spaces whilst using large and small equipment. In school we encourage children to be independent in many daily living skills such as putting their own coat on, using task plans to support their resilience when changing for PE or putting aprons on.
To support their resilience in some gross motor skills you may want to use some of the following task plans at the bottom of the page:
Click on the link below for more activities:
What are fine motor skills?
Fine motor skills are smaller muscular activities which involve reaching, grasping and manipulating objects with our hands. Fine motor skills based activities involve the small muscles which control the hand, fingers and thumb and they also involve the combination of these hand movements and vision. With the development of these skills, a child is able to complete important tasks such as helping with buttons or doing up zips, getting dressed independently, developing self care such as feeding themselves, turning pages in books and writing.
You might want to make some play dough at home so your child can build up their hands' muscular strength.