Heather Bilton, Ed.D., NBCT

 

Movement is essential to learning. Movement integrates and anchors new information into our neural networks. –Carla Hannaford

The focus of today is to provide enjoyable developmentally –

appropriate movement experiences to increase

gross motor development, coordination, balance, and

relaxation.

Physical Fitness and the Young Child

Children 2 to 5 spend an average of 25 ½ hours per week watching television.

What impact does that have on young children?

Recent brain research is confirming what many educators have believed all along: the mind and body are not separate entities.

Jensen (2008) confirms that not only do children learn by doing – and that movement is the child’s preferred mode of learning – but also that physical activity activates the brain much more so than doing seatwork.

While sitting increases fatigue and reduces concentration, movement feeds oxygen, water, and glucose to the brain, optimizing its performance. Furthermore, learning by doing creates more neural networks in the brain and throughout the body, making the entire body a tool for learning (Hannaford, 2005). Active learning is also more fun for young children, which means it matters more to them!

http://www.movingandlearning.com/Resources/Articles40.htm

Managing Movement

Know your children.

Discuss safety and personal space.

Give clear directions- one at a time!

Model what you want to see.

Ignore when appropriate.

Stop if necessary with the magical phrase, “This isn’t working right now, we will try it again later.” (Jane Bluestein)

Toddler Play

The control of the body develops from top (head) to bottom (toes) and from the middle (trunk) to the outside (extremities). The control of the body also develops from large (gross) motor to small (fine) motor.

Toddler Activities

Jumping

Rolling Balls- Beach ball Bowling

Mirror Games/Follow the Leader

Use imagery

So…let’s keep moving…

Body Parts Activity

Flag Activity

Exploring Upside Down

From : Experience in Movement, Rae Pica (1995)

Personal SpaceGetting into your personal space. Circle the

rope (island, spot, bubble.)

Carpet square

Don’t burst the bubble

Hoola Hoop

Time

The element of time refers to how slowly or quickly a movement is performed.

Force

Force concerns how strongly or lightly a movement is performed.

Balance and Coordination

  Movement activities provide opportunities to

cross the body's midline. Doing so requires the left and right hemispheres of the brain to communicate across the corpus callosum. This integration of the brain's hemispheres is essential to the ability to read and write.

 

Confucius said it best: "What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember.

What I do, I know."

Social- Emotional Learning through Movement

Daniel Goleman tells us creativity does not happen only in the mind. Self-expression is critical to creativity; the relationship between thinking and feeling and between mind and body.

Make –Believe Walks ActivityMake-Believe Shapes Activity

Linking to Academics…

Children learn experientially.

Muscle memory and sensory learning

Thirty to forty percent of children are kinesthetic/tactile learners

Movement

Children learn best through active involvement. Prepositions, for example, are very much a part of physical experiences. As children move over, under, around, through, beside, and near objects (under the monkey bars, through the tunnel, over the balance beam), these words take on greater meaning and significance.

Fauth (1992) tells us we retain:10 percent of what we read;20 percent of what we hear;30 percent of what we see;50 percent of what we hear and see at the same

time;70 percent of what we hear, see and say; and90 percent of what we hear, see, say, and DO (acting

out, dramatizing , dancing, painting, drawing, constructing).

Low Cost Movement Materials…

This set of cards is an innovative combination of yoga postures and language development activities written specifically for preschool to early elementary aged children. ABC Yoga Cards for Kids blend the calming, restorative, and stimulating aspects of yogic movements with targeted developmentally appropriate learning goals.

www.learnwithyoga.com

Row, Row, Row your boat.

This is a great yoga exercise to do when kids need to burn off energy. 

1. Come to sitting position on the mat with legs extended in front. Sitting on a blanket or solid cushion will help keep the back straight.

2. Raise your arms up parallel to the floor. Inhale and bend back. 

3. Exhale and lean forward, bending your knees slightly as you bring chest to knees. Attempt to touch your toes. 

4. Inhale and lean back. Repeat this motion in rapid sequence. Row your boat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGyWxRLzXdo&feature=related

Helping children cope with anxiety and stress:

Teach children relaxation techniques. Consider suggesting to a child such things as "take three deep breaths"; "count backwards"; "tense and release your muscles"; "play with play dough"; "dance"; "imagine a favorite place to be and visit that place in your mind" (use creative imagery) (O'Neill, 1993).

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/childstress.html

Relax

Ocean Breath pose is a simple but very effective pose for calming down and focusing. This is a great exercise to be done stand alone as a quick transition break.

Calm Your Class in One Minute with a Breathing

Sphere

One of the most effective tools we have found for teaching relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing. Watching the sphere's three-dimensional action combined with the "belly breathing" calms, centers and relaxes children and adults alike.

http://www.yogacalm.org/store.asp

Ready…Set…RELAX

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

Wash Away Tension script

Heather Bilton, Ed.D., NBCT

 

heatherbilton@aol.com

Movement is essential to learning. Movement integrates and anchors new information into our neural networks. –Carla Hannaford