Movement Skills for Children
Article by Chris Chapman
Fundamental movement skills form the bedrock of athletic development and physical literacy in young people, serving as essential building blocks for both sporting excellence and lifelong physical activity.
Movement is the starting point for wiring the brain for learning.”
Gill Connell Child development expert and founder of Moving Smart Ltd
For coaches and PE teachers, understanding the vital role of these fundamental movement patterns goes far beyond simply teaching children how to run, jump, or throw.
When we develop solid movement foundations in our young people, we're not just preparing them for sports performance, equipping them with physical competencies that enhance their learning capacity, boost their confidence, and set them up for active, healthy lives.
‘Can’t catch, can’t play’
Just as a house needs solid foundations before adding the walls and roof, young athletes need mastery of basic movement patterns before they can successfully develop sport-specific skills. This approach to physical development creates more adaptable, resilient individuals who are less prone to injury and more capable of reaching their full potential across multiple sports, physical activities and a positive life-long relationship with movement.
Did you know that movement enhances the ability to learn? When children are physically competent, they are able to focus better, and research shows that they have improved academic performance in school. Building and developing complex movement patterns engages the brain, further develops the neural pathways and benefits all-round performance.
Athletic development is based on the development of fundamental movement skills before sport-specific skills.”
Vern Gambetta
Help the children you coach unpack their kitbag of skills to a happy and fulfilling life.
- Locomotion
- Stability and balance
- Body manipulation
- Object and implement control
Mix and matching activities to create fun games, engaging warm-ups or puzzles and challenges to solve within sessions. The key is maintaining an enjoyable, challenging environment while ensuring everyone maintains safe form and progression. Use a variety of approaches from progressive challenges, unstructured play, open exploration and games to keep engagement high and develop confident movers.
Four fundamental movement skills ideas to get you started
Movement Orchestra
The children copy your different movements and keep up to the ‘beat’. You can skip, crawl, gallop, slide, hop, jump, changing the speed, tempo and range of movements.
Animal Tag
The children move like different creatures when escaping the chaser. These could include a gorilla bounce, crab walk, bear crawl or bunny hop.
Balance Challenges
The children move around the space, the coach calls out a number and they have to balance on the number of points called by the coach on the floor. Change the rules and don’t allow them to use the same body part twice; buddy them up so that they have to support, balance and weight bear with a partner.
Wobble Challenge
You will need a long sports sock or tea towel for each pair of children.
Both children stand on one foot holding the sock in one hand. The challenge is to wobble the other person with the sock so that they put their foot down. They can change feet and try again. Try a best of three challenge. It’s easy to create a ladder system in your group which means the winner moves up each time.
Increase the challenge with their eyes closed. For the ones who find this easy, ask them to lay on the floor with their eyes closed, ‘pop’ up like a surfer and immediately balance on one leg. A great way to finish as a ‘champion of champions’ activity.
Always remember to:
- Start simple and progressively add complexity.
- Give clear demonstrations and success criteria.
- Allow time for practice and mastery.
- Using a practice before a challenge helps remove the pressure, increase confidence and competence in the activity.
- Celebrate effort, progress and improvement.
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