Nursery World - Enabling Environments: Post-walking physical skills

Walking and running are both challenging locomotor skills for
children to master. But the right approach can maximise opportunities
for learning, says Lala Manners.

What is it about running - more than any other physical activity - that young children enjoy so much? Is it the freedom to push personal boundaries, the risks associated with speed, or the quiet satisfaction experienced through competition and achievement and the maturity gained through independence and decision-making?

Running emerges from walking and is possibly the most demanding locomotor/travelling skill for children to master because it demands a wide range of competencies. These are:

Ability and enjoyment of running will depend on environment, opportunity, peer group interest, adult affordance, basic physical make-up and temperament.

There will always be natural sprinters and endurance athletes - those more suited to team pursuits or solitary endeavours - and the constraints of time and space will always be a factor in the choice of physical activities children experience.

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