Nursery World - Physical development: Strategies to deliver the best range of experiences for young children

Good physical development (PD) practice starts in the setting, says Dr Lala Manners in this first part of a new series exploring how staff can increase knowledge and balance in-house activities with those outsourced.

'In the EYFS, physical development is limited to motor skills despite its impact on cognitive and emotional development' PHOTO Terri Pengilley, Ore Church Mice Pre School, Hastings

The level of children’s physical development informs not just their overall health and wellbeing but also how their bodies and brains can work together most effectively. ‘A child’s movement abilities reflect developmental maturity within the central nervous system,’ Sally Goddard Blythe said at Nursery World’s recent physical development conference. Movement builds these ‘motorways of the mind’ – neural networks which underpin children’s learning and development.

Physical development is ‘intricately interwoven with emotional, social, cognitive and language development’, says the Birth to 5 Matters guidance. But how many children are really getting this ‘extensive physical experience’ when their overall health and wellbeing has been of concern for many years and lockdowns provoked a rapid decline in their physical strength, confidence and competence, communication skills and emotional equilibrium?

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