Promote Young Children’s Physical Activity And Movement Skills

1.1 Explain why physical activity is important to the short and long term health and well-being of children: Physical activity is extremely important to the short and long term health and well-being of children. Without physical activity children’s growth and development would be affected. Physical activity strengthens children’s bones, improves their flexibility, strengthens muscles and often improves their balance. There is also a less likely chance of them developing heart disease in later life if they are engaging in enough physical activity. When involved in team sporting activities children often learn how to interact better with other children and by taking part in exercise the child will often develop their self-esteem. A child needs to be physically active to prevent their health being affected both in long and short term.

Short term health

A child who takes part in enough physical activity will be more energetic and less stressed out than a child who takes part in no physical activity at all. It is more likely that a child who is engaging in physical activity will sleep easier and often sleep for longer lengths of time. Sufficient sleep and enough exercise make’s a child’s immune system much stronger which will help prevent the child from catching any infections like colds and flu.

Long term health

Enough physical activity when a child is young will have long term positive effects on their life. A child who is physically active for at least an hour a day is less likely to become over weight in later life. A child who is less likely to become over weight in later life is also less likely to suffer from health problems that include heart disease and cancer. Physical activity in younger life will help strengthen bones in later life. Physical activity in younger life will also reduce blood pressure and with a lower blood pressure you are less likely to suffer from strokes or heart attacks
in later life.

Children need to be active every day to promote their healthy growth and development. Kids who establish healthy lifestyle patterns at a young age will carry them – and their benefits – forward for the rest of their lives. (healthyfamiliesbc.ca)

1.2 Explain the development of movement skills in young children and how these skills affect other areas of development When taking part in physical activity children are developing movement skills. These movement skills include: balance and coordination, travel and object control. Travelling skills will help children to learn how to move their body from one space to another whether it is by hopping, skipping, running or walking. Movement skills will help a child develop awareness of what their bodies can do. Object control movements involve throwing a ball, dribbling a ball and catching a ball. These all involve the object being sent, received or travelled with. To be able to do these movements the child needs to have good hand-eye and foot-eye coordination. This involves the brain sending out information to the eyes to direct attention and to the muscles to perform a task, for example looking forward and reaching your arms out with your hands cupped to catch a ball.

To perform a task or movement, our brain sends signals to our motor units (individual nerves and collections of muscle fibers) at precise intervals to orchestrate the contraction of muscles throughout our body. Learning a motor skill is like writing a computer program to a disk – the program, imprinted on the brain, plays back as a motor reflex. The method of imprinting a motor skill “program” on the brain is repetition (i.e., “practice, practice, practice”). Over time, basic motor skills can be combined and built upon to master more complex skills. (greatplay.com)

Just like learning the alphabet in order to learn how to read, children must learn movement skills in a correct order to live a healthy, physically active life. Movement skills are a part of everyday life so if not learnt correctly other aspects of a child’s can be affected.

Webliography

www.greatplay.com/resources/how.html (17.35, 23/04/14)

https://www.healthyfamiliesbc.ca/home/articles/importance-physical-activity-children (18.17, 23/04/14)