The Importance of Movement in Early Childhood Development

Movement in a child’s early childhood development has a positive effect on children’s motor skills and executive functional skill development. Research shows that in a child’s first few years of development, different types of movements–skipping, hopping, jumping, running, rolling, crawling, etc.–significantly benefit cognitive development, coordination, and motor skills.

According to early childhood education expert Iram Siraj-Blatchford, “Left to their own devices we know that the play of children often becomes repetitive, and effective educators therefore encourage children to take on new challenges and introduce new and extended experiences.”

For parents who are new to gymnastics or want to get their children or teenagers started with gymnastics, start with the beginning participation class at our gym! Recreational gymnastics is a non-competitive and inclusive learning environment and challenges children’s movement abilities in a supportive environment.

Try This At Home:

• On a weekly basis, have all family members practice movements that are challenging for their age group: maybe balancing on one foot, doing a handstand, or walking in a straight line from toe-to-toe.

• Practice toddler and preschooler-age movements together to build family relationships and to help younger-age children feel more comfortable with a new movement: everyone practices rolling, everyone practices skipping, and everyone practices crawling.

• Play some favorite music and dance with your child and explore new movements, even if they feel silly.

Want to Learn More? Read This!

• Gill Connell and Cheryl McCarthy’s A Moving Child is a Learning Child: How the Body Teaches the Brain to Think (Birth to Age 7)

• Carol Kranowitz’s Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn, and Grow

• Carol Archer and Iram Sira’s Encouraging Physical Development through Movement-Play

• Amy Laura Dombro, Judy Jablon, and Charlotte Stetson’s Powerful Interactions: How to Connect with Children to Extend Their Learning

Work Cited

Siraj-Blatchford, Iram. “Conceptualising Progression in the Pedagogy of Play and Sustained Shared Thinking in Early Childhood Education: A Vygotskian Perspective.” Education and Child Psychology, volume 26, number 2, 2009, pp. 77-89.