The importance of children's physical development is given just prominence in the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as one of the three Prime areas, and it can be argued that gross motor skills are the bedrock of this.
Gross motor skills are the bigger movements that we make. They involve a co-ordinated effort of the body's large muscle groups and enable important actions such as crawling, sitting upright, walking and running. These abilities are usually acquired during infancy and early childhood and by the time children are two years old, most can do them with confidence. Children continue to build on these skills and gain better control throughout their early years and even into adulthood.
Gross motor skills share connections with our other physical functions, so children with poor gross motor skills may have problems with sitting still, maintaining balance, co-ordination or spatial awareness. They can also struggle with fine motor skills, such as holding a pencil to write, because they have not first gained control over their upper limbs and torso. For these reasons, it is essential that children's physical development is not left to chance and children of all ages are given plenty of opportunities in their everyday play to use these bigger movements, develop confidence and competence, and build their awareness of how their bodies move.
Julie Mountain, director of Play Learning Life, emphasises, 'Gross motor skills are the building blocks to cognitive development and fine motor skills. Encouraging young children to move, as well as putting emphasis on physical development, has a really big impact on children's attention span, helps them to play collaboratively, gets them to use all their muscles in their bodies and helps with school readiness.'
Factors taken into consideration when evaluating gross motor skills include strength, muscle tone, movement quality and the range of movement. If given the suitable space, encouragement and resources, children should develop in all these areas during pre-school years. Too much time fastened into baby walkers and prams or occupied in sedentary pursuits such as watching television can inhibit this development.
Early years consultant Jan White says, 'Settings need to acknowledge the importance of movement as a deep underpinning of everything else. Look for children to be stimulated and using their bodies all the time, and plan for a movement-rich life. Children are not made to be still. They are designed to move and it is very important that they have the opportunity to respond to their own internal movement.'
MAXIMISE OPPORTUNITIES
While gross motor skills are vital for development, they are also key to having a fun and exciting childhood - imagine being deprived of the enjoyment of dangling upside down from a climbing frame, the delight of rolling down a hill or the sense of achievement gained from climbing to the top of a large structure.
'The current shift in emphasis on physical development in the EYFS means that settings have got the perfect opportunity to review their practice to maximise opportunities for children to gain these skills,' says Gail Ryder Richardson, early years trainer and consultant at Outdoor Matters.
'Providers need to offer meaningful and worthwhile opportunities for movement and repetition of movement and challenge so that children can repeat actions and become confident and competent.'
So how can you look afresh at the opportunities offered for encouraging gross motor skills in your 
setting? Ms Mountain suggests the best place to start is to explore the different ways that children like to use space by taking them to a local park and watching what they do there, rather than what they do with equipment.
'It is good to get a clear understanding of what children want to do with their whole body. This can range from running to rolling on the grass or digging. Look at what children's preferences are, then consider where there are gaps in provision and what needs to be offered,' she advises.
Armed with that information, practitioners can plan their outdoor and indoor areas to accommodate these preferences and introduce appropriate equipment. Ms Mountain adds, 'With settings not having much money they need to be absolutely sure that any equipment they buy is right for them. It is all about making judicious choices and purchasing open-ended materials and equipment.'
Climbing frames
Climbing frames are a great way to encourage children's gross motor skills (see case study). They enable children to use their limbs on a big scale and help them to develop their strength, hand-eye co-ordination, agility and flexibility.
If investing in a climbing frame, choose one that is open-ended, rather than in the shape of a boat or house, for instance. Materials can be draped over it, things can be built around it, other equipment such as rope ladders can be added, and it can be used in different ways depending on the children's fascinations. Muddy Faces provides play and safety rope, as well as useful construction and den building materials.
It is important to site a fixed climbing frame in the right place, so carefully consider what impact its position will have on the overall play area. Many early years advisors and practitioners recommend 'A' frames as a good alternative to climbing frames because they are easily moved and can be adapted to be used in many ways to give open-ended play (see case study).
Early Years Resources' Climbing Frame and Ladder has two 'A' frames and two connecting ladders (£385), or NES Arnold has the Activity 'A' Frame (£219.95), plus various accessories available. Consider adding fixed and rope ladders, planks to walk across, scramble nets and ramps.
SOFT PLAY
Another staple for helping foster children's physical development (and more) is soft-play equipment. Many of the major suppliers supply kits, among them the All Sorts Soft Play Kit from Hope Education (with 25 soft-play shapes with textured surfaces), the TTS Portable Soft Play Set (containing 19 giant shapes) and the NES Arnold Rough N Tumble Soft Play Set, which has ten giant pieces. All are priced at £399.95.
Galt Educational offers a portable Soft Play Bag (£289.99) of 14 shapes and a huge Soft Rocker Box of 19 giant play shapes (£1,119.95), including rockers, slides, cylinders, wedges and mats. Wesco sells soft play shapes individually, including cylinders (from £18.80), small cubes (£19.80) and a valley (£46.80).
ALL AGES
Of course, settings should not focus exclusively on big play equipment for encouraging gross motor skills and need to cater for all ages.
Under-threes
Choose furniture that is stable enough for children to pull themselves up on. Twoey Toys has a new Mini Range of sturdy furniture aimed at the under-threes, including a basic Mini Play Pod for early role play (£179.99).
- Encourage 'roly-poly' play with piles of cushions to climb over, or things to push through such as ball pools.
- Provide loose materials such as cardboard boxes and tubes to climb in or through, move and stack. Consider Cosy's resources.
- Provide different textures and surfaces both in and outdoors for babies to roll on and crawl on.
- Encourage babies to move into different positions by attracting their attention with noisy, colourful toys or equipment such as wind chimes.
- Provide interesting things for toddlers to transport objects in, such as small baskets or scrunch buckets that won't hurt if a child falls on them. Try the Mini Micro Scrunch Bucket (£7.95).
- Look creatively at your outdoor physical landscape and incorporate slopes or steps into children's play. Buy loose parts, such as tyres, crates and scaffolding, to create interesting features. Check out the Cosy or the TTS range.
- Toddlers and older children can enjoy dancing and making large gestures with equipment such as streamers, parachutes and pom poms - available from companies such as Reflections on Learning, NES Arnold and TTS.
- Make space for children to clamber and climb. Asco's Adventure Mats (large, £495; medium, £395) allow you to create 'mountains', 'valleys' and other 'landscapes' by simply throwing the mat over a selection of balls, cushions and rolled up rugs. Wesco's Gymbaby Kit (£516.80) consists of 14 pieces, including two central semi-cubes, two steps, six corner mats and a soft 'wave'. Community Playthings now offers a gym designed specifically for the under-threes. Settings can select from a variety of units, including a ramp, slide, steps, tunnel and bridge (from £736), to build a gym that encourages a range of movements (see case study). A DVD of children using the gym, made by Siren Films and filmed over a week in Pen Green Centre, is also available. Email sales@communityplaythings.co.uk or telephone 0800 387 457 for a free copy.
Three- to five-year-olds
Children in this age range will benefit from:
- large wooden blocks to carry, build and climb on, such as Community Playthings' range of wooden Unit and Hollow blocks, or Giant Outdoor Hollow Blocks from TTS (from £189.95)
- big musical instruments, such as a giant xylophone or tubular bells that can be played with the whole body. Examples include the Hand Made Places Chimes (£565) and Amadinda, a xylophone (£2,805)
- traverse walls that encourage balance and agility, available from companies such as Rockworks or Mock Rock
- ropes to balance along or skip with, climbing nets and rope ladders to encourage grip and develop hand, arm and leg muscles
- ropes and pulleys for hauling buckets of sand and water. Consider Block and Tackle from Reflections on Learning (£39.99) or Wooden Pulley System from TTS (£29.95)
- bikes because they stimulate so many areas at once. For example, cross-lateral, vestibular and proprioceptive, while also involving gross motor skills
- big paint brushes and paint on a large canvas or outdoors. Chalking on the walls or floor is also very physical, or try the Wheelie Painter from TTS (£57.95).
CASE STUDY: RANDOLPH BERESFORD EARLY YEARS CENTRE, LONDON
Michael Pettavel, head of Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre, London, says, 'Without developing gross motor skills children are not able to develop fine motor skills. They need to learn the large movements and then they can refine them.
'It is important that children are moving so they can get used to their bodies and find out what they are. This movement sets the scene for controlled movements later.
'We wanted to give the children something to challenge them - something that they can't necessarily do but can aspire to. We have room for a big climbing frame without it dominating the outdoors so we purchased an irregular climbing frame from Timberplay. It's very big and it's not often that you see that level of climbing frame in a nursery. People tend to be anxious by such things and put off but it has been carefully risk assessed.
'We have clear rules -for example, not helping children on to it so that they are not put into a position they are not developmentally equipped to do.
'Children do quite often say that they are stuck but, rather than lift them down, we help them to climb down by themselves so that they become more independent.
'What settings need most to encourage gross motor skills is flexible equipment they can change around. I'm a big fan of old-fashioned 'A' frames because they can be changed and have more than one function.
'Scramble nets are great because they are non-regular and I like bird perches - poles with hand and foot holes either side. We also use ladders and roly-poly bars, and obstacle courses to develop gross motor skills, agility and body strength.
'Through all of these children are encouraged to make big movements, concentrate, assess, take risks, overcome barriers to learning and develop the physical sense that they are not two-dimensional, which is all quite complicated.'
CASE STUDY: THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE MONTESSORI NURSERY, LEWES
Lindy Baldwin, owner and manager of The Old School House Montessori Nursery in Lewes, East Sussex, says, 'We encourage the children's gross motor skills throughout the nursery. In the under-twos room there is a great Community Playthings' gym. Children crawl up the carpeted slopes and through the tunnels and the walkers go up the steps and enjoy going down the slide. There is challenge and access for all the children and they can go on it whenever they like.
'It helps to develop their gross motor skills by encouraging big movements and learning how to use the space. All young children want to move and this gives them a challenge and a stimulus to do that.
'All our Montessori equipment encourages learning that encompasses gross motor skills, such as the maths equipment, is floor based and quite big. This means that the children need to lift and carry and have to use big arm gestures to roll out floor mats before they put out equipment. They are learning and moving at the same time.
'We encourage children to lie on their bellies to do large wooden puzzles on the floor with their friends, rather than sit at tables, and child-height shelving gives them the freedom to choose equipment, but they also have to learn how to lift down and carry.
'There is free-flow outside and lots of physical exercise that encourages use of gross and fine motor skills, with things such as balls, hoops, bats, balance equipment, obstacle courses and group games that encourage running, jumping, balance and use of the whole body.'
Consultants
- Julie Mountain, director, Play Learning Life, www.playlearninglife.org.uk
- Gail Ryder Richardson, Outdoor Matters, www.outdoormatters.co.uk
SUPPLIERS
- www.ascoeducational.co.uk
- www.community playthings.co.uk
- Cosy, tel: 01332 370152 or email: info@cosydirect.com
- www.earlyyearsresources.co.uk
- www.handmadeplaces.co.uk
- www.micro-scooters.co.uk
- www.mockrock.co.uk
- www.muddyfaces.co.uk
- www.nesarnold.co.uk
- www.reflectionson learning.co.uk
- www.rockworks.co.uk
- www.timberplay.com
- www.twoeytoys.com
- www.wesco-eshop.co.uk