Movement as a Life Long Habit

825 Words4 Pages
Early childhood educators play an important role in a child's life. They provide opportunities for the children to grow and learn at school and with their peers. Not only is learning and growing an important aspect of the child's early years, so is physical activity. By being active at an early age the child is lining themselves up for a healthy lifestyle when they are older. The role of the educator in this particular area is just as important as helping them learn their printing or letter sounds. Activities that keep the children can be implemented in planned activities, transition times, and child initiated activities while also following the national guidelines. Movement can be supported in planned activities by creating a game to go along with what the children are learning. Doing this will make the learning process more enjoyable for the children and keep them interested in the activity. A great example of this would be doing Jolly Jump Up. This is great for when learning their jolly phonix and also gets them moving. The new letter sound that they just learned gets placed in the middle of the pile that they have previously learned and when the new letter comes up the students jump up and do the action. This helps them with their gross motor skills which will later be used for running and jumping. This is enjoyable for the students as well because it keeps them interested in the activity by giving them the sense of suspense. Another way to get the children moving during planned activities is a movement activity before doing circle to help them in sitting for the long period of time. A great way to do this is sing a song about wigging each part of their body or doing the hokey pokey. This gets them moving their whole body, and teaches them the different body parts at the same time. The great thing about this activity is that it could be done at any time
Open Document