The first three years of human life are impressive. If all goes well, our babies - who start as physically helpless newborns - are transformed month by month into people who support their own weight and start to move independently. Even the most cautious toddlers persevere, despite tumbles and tearful frustrations, to become active two- and nearly three-year-olds.
* The baby who not so long ago needed her head supported with such care, becomes a physically adept two-year-old. She strides purposefully around the garden with her watering can, she stops to look at little creatures that catch her eye and can beckon others with a wave to come and see. She moves effortlessly from standing upright, to a secure bent-knees position and then back up again.
* The young toddler who took an age to feed himself has now become a confident two-year-old, who wields a wide range of tools and is keen to offer help in his turn to the baby. He will not give up easily on his chosen task and moves his trolley back and forth several times to get it successfully round a corner. He is now so confident in his own body that he larks about, making people laugh with his 'funny walks'.
Watch them go
The four logos on the Development Matters boxes in Birth to Three Matters remind practitioners to notice and respect each step of early development.
There are clear messages in the Birth to Three Matters video about giving babies and young children the time and space to use and develop their physical skills.
Watch the video again and really notice the two-year-old with his dustpan and brush, the baby who uses hands and eyes to co-ordinate the balls, the young child balancing and the group of children on their clamber wall.
The Birth to Three guidance for Scotland is full of photos of physically active and engaged babies and young children. Under-threes are shown grasping interesting play resources - indoors and outside - and using their current physical skills to the limits.
Muscle control
Babies need time and comfortable space to become attuned to their own body.
They build the muscle control to hold up that heavy head and to realise that their wavy limbs belong to them.
Once babies have strength in their neck and shoulders, they need to spend time on their stomachs when they are awake. (The crucial advice about putting babies on their back is for when they sleep.) Babies are then well placed to get into the crawling position: excellent for speedy independent movement, because babies have to co-ordinate both sides of their body.
Even given every opportunity to crawl, some babies still choose to bottom-shuffle before they shift into upright walking. All is not lost, because most toddlers and two-year-olds love a game when you get on all fours and play crawl-chase with them.
When you watch an older baby learn to crawl, you are observing from the outside how that baby's brain forms permanent neural connections through practice. Very soon a confident baby will move from sitting to the crawling position, speed across the room and plump back into the sitting position to get her hands on to what she spotted earlier. Her brain has established a strong neural pathway that includes not only the complex physical skills but the cognitive development that supports purpose through 'I see it, I want to touch it and I can get there all by myself.'
Babies and young toddlers use their current skills to 'work upon' their world. Early years practitioners may be aware of the kind of schemas developed by older toddlers and young children. (See the information that can be downloaded under 'Me, myself and I' on the Birth to Three Matters CD-Rom.)
The early physical schemas are single repeated actions like grasping, rubbing or pulling close to stare and inspect an item of interest.
Small-scale movements like grasping, throwing or dropping are all skills that need to be practised, and very young children can slowly understand that some items are not to be dropped or thrown. These important physical developments are best supported by simple play resources and you as a playful companion, who is also of direct interest. Plastic, battery-operated wizardry is far less useful.
Babies and toddlers are literally becoming aware of their own bodies and learning to understand those messages. This awareness develops from very young babies whose startled reaction reminds you that they are in the process of realising that this little hand or that foot is joined to them.
Toddlers and very young children need help to manage how they move themselves and their resources or vehicles through routes and spaces. They will be aware of what hurts their own bodies long before they have grasped that other people, children and adults, experience the same sensations under similar circumstances.
In principle
One of the ten principles of Birth to Three Matters is 'Children learn when they are given appropriate responsibility, allowed to make errors, decisions and choices, and respected as autonomous and competent learners.'
This principle applies to young children's physical competence just as much as to other aspects of early learning. The Development Matters section of 'Healthy Choices' provides the timely reminder that, 'As young children become more mobile and their boundaries widen, they make choices that can involve real risk. Adults need to ensure their safety, whilst not inhibiting the risk-taking.'
Responsible adults ensure that the indoor and outdoor learning environment is safe enough for children to explore independently - young children must have scope for adventures. Steps between parts of the garden, a gentle slope and the low jump provided by a pallet are all challenges that delight very young children. They provide interest and motivation for honing physical skills and visual co-ordination. Even toddlers learn to judge their jump and will choose to to clamber up and down garden steps many times. In a relaxed atmosphere under-threes do their own practice-makes-perfect.
Another relevant principle set out in Birth to Three Matters is 'Young children are vulnerable. They learn to be independent by having someone they can depend upon' (see Principles which underpin the Framework).
Two-year-olds will want to have a go on a climbing frame or obstacle course that is more geared to three- and four-year-olds. But with a friendly adult close by, these very young children will be able to indicate when they want to hold your hand or when they are fine and do not want help thrust upon them. NW
Further resources
* Learning and Teaching Scotland (2005) Birth to Three: Supporting our youngest children, www.ltscotland.org.uk/ earlyyears/birthtothree
* Blythe, Sally Goddard (2004) The Well-balanced Child: Movement and early learning, Hawthorn Press
* Sure Start/DfES (2002) Birth to Three Matters: A framework to support children in their earliest years, www.surestart.gov.uk/resources/childcareworkers/birthtothreematters
* Johnson, Kate, 'Let's get physical' (Nursery World, 16 February 2006)
* Blythe, Sally Goddard, 'Mind and Body' (Nursery World, 15 June 2000)
