Core strength refers to the underlying muscles of the torso, and a child’s ability to maintain
their position and move from the centre of their body outwards. It’s an essential component
of a child’s ability to balance, and their sense of where their body is in relation to
the environment. Opportunities for play, both indoors and outdoors, mean adults can support
children’s core strength and co-ordination through subtle interaction, as well as playing
games. A child’s early years are essential for physical and sensory development and this,
in turn, supports learning and development outcomes across the curriculum and beyond,
including long-term health. We’re talking about core strength and co-ordination,
and I’m interested to know, in your practise, how does that manifest and how do you support
children to be physically active and keep moving?
So I’ve been thinking about large things. Wheelbarrows, spades, buckets. And things
that we have available every day in the water park. Adult-sized buckets and adult-sized
containers – really big containers. And the other day a couple of children were filling
up a plastic jug full of water that was impossible for them to lift. And there were a couple
of them playing together and thought I’d just put the pole through and just wondered
what they would do. And I thought oh what are you going to do with that? And they both
picked up the water container and carried it from the bottom of the garden all the way
up to the sand to make their volcano. And it was this real strength of lifting and perseverance
as they moved up the garden together. I’m thinking more about babies, really,
and about how they have that kind of opportunity to be active even if they’re non-mobile,
in the kind of non-mobile sense of not being able to walk or crawl yet. I know our setting,
quite a lot of the time we split our babies into two groups to make sure that there’s
space for them to really want to move. They’ve got a lot of space and freedom and time to
be able to explore the space around them. And having the resources at their level, but
actually that aren’t too close, so some of them are potentially a bit more challenging
to get to so that they have that kind of intrinsic motivation to want to move to get to something,
I find is beautiful to watch and see how they develop that active role in their physical
development. Another thing that’s really jumped into my mind in terms of sensory development
is about being barefoot. I think actually in early years settings a lot of the time
that kind of risk aversion can really come into play from adults when they’re potentially
worried about hazards from children not wearing shoes and socks, especially outdoors. But
actually for that sensory development there’s nothing like being able to get your toes into
grass or sand or mud, and that doesn’t actually have to mean you’re outside the setting.
You can provide that in tough trays and in different sensory experiences, even water
trays. Allowing those younger babies to kind of really be as free as they possibly can
be, provides a wealth of opportunity in terms of sensory development.
Definitely, I think you take in a lot of information from your feet when you’re moving around
barefoot. And also, actually, it means your body’s moving in a different way. So you’re
using your muscles differently. So it links in again with core strength and co-ordination
in a big way. Children need limitless opportunities to move
in ways that challenge them and help them become stronger and more co-ordinated. This
is the foundation for physical development, and everything else that depends upon it.
Children have a natural instinct to explore and be curious about the world around them.
Environments that invite children to touch, taste, smell, listen and look provide a wealth
of opportunities for developing core strength and co-ordination.
Go outside. Be in spaces that give children a sense of big boundless physical play. Being
outside in the fields and woods, parks and playgrounds, running in the wind, clambering
over logs and climbing up trees, promotes power, co-ordination and control.