“I like this one the best!” (Juliette)

Children have a natural appetite for moving, a physical need and motivation to move. Movement is a central part of the children’s action, thinking and feeling, and highlights the pleasure and sense of well-being which is experienced as they are helped to raise their bodily potential.

This week the children and families of EY1 and EY2 celebrated with a showcase of their physical skills and the multi-faceted role that movement plays in their development. Children have a natural appetite for moving, a physical need and motivation to move. Movement is a central part of the children’s action, thinking and feeling, and highlights the pleasure and sense of well-being which is experienced as they are helped to raise their bodily potential. Children thrive by challenging their bodies. Throughout this event, the children demonstrated body control and spatial awareness, and were cooperative and supportive of each other’s efforts. They were confident and capable. Some children challenged themselves further by deciding to adjust the activity to make it more difficult, such as by jumping backwards or by moving the target further away. Such a marvelous example of the intrinsic motivation of children and a desire to continually learn more and try things out. 

The children considered what they thought of the sports activity day…

“This is fun! Kicking the ball and running. I know how to throw things. I’m good at throwing.” (Talia) 

“I liked the hula hoops because I could jump through them one at a time.” (Hayley)

“Here is the football, I kicking it up. I do skateboard. I kicked the ball. Boom! Goal! Jumping, making frog jumping in the hoops.” (Talia)

“I think jumping hoops and kicking the ball. Boom! I jumped through the hoops then I kicked the ball in the goal. Me and my mum.” (Theodore)

“I was doed the egg and spoon race. It didn’t fall off. I balanced the egg. I holded it really carefully.” (Blaike)

“I made the hoops. I put balls inside. We jumped over the hoops, over, over. The egg spoon race. Everywhere, all the way to the balls.” (Karma)

“I did the hula hoop race. I balanced the egg. I good on the skateboard. I like doing the egg race.” (Melissa) 

“I liked jumping in the hoops. also rolling on the skateboard. Mum and dad were taking photos of me. I was having fun. I loved it.” (Holly)

“Me jumping in the hula hoops. There’s the ball. Then I throw kick it in the net. I went under the parachute and getting a ball. The best bit was rolling on the skateboard. I liked mummy and daddy watching me.” (Elif)

“These are the things I did that I liked. I loved the egg and spoon race. I loved going under the parachute and zig zagging. And under and over things. I liked the ball race. You have to put the balls inside the hoop. The best thing is my mum came. My mum is watching. She has an eye on me. She watched all my races.” (Julliette) 

“Mummy watching. I was throwing the ball. My sister is watching and my daddy is watching.” (Sofia)

“I liked the basket ball. We tried three times. I really liked the cones because I could do zig zag.” (Olivia )

“You throw the bean bag at the ball and the ball falls off.” (Luke)

“I liked soccer. I liked the lights. Doing the soccer was the best because i scored a goal three times.” (Aiko)

I was certainly touched by the smiles on the children’s faces and for many of them the pure delight they felt in their hearts. I hope that the children continue to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy and relish challenges and that we as adults, continue to view movement as vital to children’s learning and that children’s thought processes, expressive and social behaviour can also be looked at through a movement lens. 

And as many of the children’s reflections revealed to us, one of the most important aspects of the morning was having their mum or their dad or significant person present and sharing the experience with them.