Gross Motor Skills

The big movements. Running, jumping, climbing, balancing, hopping, throwing and catching, and holding yourself upright while you do something else. Bodies build from the inside out, so core strength comes first, then shoulders, then hands. That is why core strength turns up in handwriting, and why a child who slumps at the table is often working on a different problem than the one it looks like. It is also worth knowing that how neatly they do any of it matters far less than how often they get to practise it.

Work out what is behind it before you practise anything. Is it their balance, so they lose their footing. Is it knowing where their body is in space, so they clip doorways and furniture. Is it the planning, so they are halfway through a movement before they have worked out the rest of it. Does it happen all the time, or only when they are tired, rushing or somewhere new. Then practise at the thing itself, made easy enough to succeed at. Our stepping stones, spot markers and bean bags are all for making a game simple enough to win and then slightly harder, and the 40 activity cards each carry an easier and a harder version so you are not inventing it yourself.

Whole body games, not just exercises. Our core strength cards use planks, bridges and superman poses, which are the same movements a physio or an occupational therapist would use, turned into something a child will do more than once. Animal walks do it without naming it at all, because crawling like a bear and waddling like a duck are both hard work through the middle. A crash mat helps here too, because a child will do it again and again.

Less than people expect. Spot markers, bean bags and stepping stones between them make most of the games on our activity cards possible, and they pack away. A crash mat is the one bigger thing worth the space, because it turns jumping and landing into something you can say yes to indoors and outdoors. Our Gross Motor Play Kit gives you a great starter kit of tools plus the guidance you need to understand how to develop their skills and strength from home, through play.

Most of this collection can be used both indoors and outdoors. Spot markers and stepping stones make an obstacle course down a hallway, the buzzer timer gives a child something to beat, animal walks and the movement dice need no extra equipment at all, and the scavenger hunt cards work in a house as well as a yard. The pickleball set has lights in the paddles, which is an outdoor thing, but it does mean the game does not have to end when it gets dark.