School ReadySchool Ready Quick Reads
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Physical Development
Providing lots of opportunities to develop gross and fine motor skills will really benefit your child. These skills are absolutely essential for completing a large number of everyday tasks at school (and home).
Physical Development – Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor skills allow us to make big, powerful but controlled movements. An essential part of pre-school preparation is providing lots of opportunities for the development of big muscles.
Strength for Reading & Writing
Gross motor strength is directly linked to the skills needed for reading and writing. A strong core enables us to sit upright. We need strong shoulders and arms to brace ourselves into a correct writing or reading posture.
Have you ever seen a child or an adult slumped over their desk when they are working? This might well be because they have not developed strength in their back, shoulders, core or arms to enable them to sit correctly. Encouraging pre-school children to develop their gross motor strength not only benefits their start to school but also their posture and strength later on in life.
Sitting Cross-Legged
Stop & Think: As an exercise have a go at sitting cross-legged on the floor (if you can’t cross your legs lay them out in front of you). Try & maintain a straight back, staying seated in that position whilst you read a story to your child.
How did you get on? What muscles in your body did you begin to notice?
These are the muscles your child will need to make use of everyday at school. Providing opportunities for your child to develop a strong core and back will give them a great start to school.
From day one, this is the position that your child will have to sit in at school. Some children struggle with this and end up uncrossing their legs or wriggling around to make themselves more comfortable. It is for reasons like this, why starting school with good core and back strength is really helpful.
‘W’ Sitting
At times children sit in a ‘W’ position. This is where their bottom is on the floor but their legs are bend backwards either side of their body in a ‘W’ like shape. When a child does this, it can be an indicator of poor core strength. This position can put pressure on knee and hip joints and can lead to poor posture. If your child sits naturally in this position encourage them to sit in an alternative way; such as with their legs straight in front, to one side of their bodies or better still crossed in front.
If your child starts school with good gross motor strength they will be ready to learn.
Active children become strong children and strong children are ready to write!
Physical Development – Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills allow us to use the smaller muscles in our hands and wrists to make accurate and controlled movements. These movements enable us to complete tasks such as holding and controlling a pen or a pair of scissors correctly. If children don’t spend time developing their fine motor skills before they attempt sophisticated tasks such as writing words or sentences, then writing may end up being uncomfortable and unenjoyable.
The last thing we want is for children’s early writing experiences to be negative as this can fuel unhelpful mind sets around the task of writing, such as, “I don’t like writing” or “I can’t write.”
These thoughts can be difficult to combat and unfortunately can follow a child throughout their time at school. Early years teachers work hard to ensure writing experiences are enjoyable and rewarding for children. If children are not ready to write, there can be challenges to this.
Independence
Fine motor skills are necessary for completing a number of everyday tasks which enable children to become increasingly independent. Brushing teeth, managing zips and buttons, turning taps on and off, using a knife and fork, to name but a few, all require good fine motor control.
Fine and gross motor skills are interrelated. For instance, in order to write correctly at a table we need to develop our core strength (gross motor) so that we can support our bodies and sit in an upright position. In addition, we need to be able to hold our pencil securely in our chosen hand using our finger and wrist strength (fine motor).
Physical Development – Cross-Lateral Development
Most of us have a dominant side to our bodies, which means we find it easier to control our movements on that side. However, in order to be able to write, children need to coordinate both sides of their bodies at the same time. The process of writing includes; being able to use one hand to hold the paper, while the other controls the pen to make meaningful marks. This ability to coordinate the two sides of the body (while doing different things with each side) is known as ‘cross-lateral integration’. It allows us to perform a multitude of everyday tasks.
Activities which develop cross-lateral integration are ones that encourage hands and feet to cross the core of our bodies. Lots of Yoga exercises encourage cross-lateral development as does riding a bike or scooter.
