Physical Development at Pre-school

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults.

At Hopscotch we plan for children’s physical development by creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors. Adults support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility.

Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. These gross motor skills are developed at pre-school through PE lessons, outdoor learning activities and at Forest School, through climbing, jumping, rolling, riding bikes, digging and scooters and lifting large items in the outdoor classroom, such as tires and large scale building blocks.

Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination, which is later linked to early literacy. We provide repeated and varied opportunities for children to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools. Feedback and support from adults allows the children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.