The time spent on physical activity was found to have direct repercussions on the overall health of the child in the early stages of development. Classroom-based physical movement and playful learning are directly linked to improved brain development and gross coordination skills.

Play is the supreme contributing factor for children to learn, develop, and grow. For children to have all-around development in their preschooler, one must focus on motor skills development. Playing with preschoolers strengthens their muscles and bones besides developing communication skills. Your toddler may gain confidence, as different playful activities enable toddlers to know about their hidden abilities, like climbing higher, running faster and jumping further.

Montessori Daycare in Surrey offers to learn through cognitive and movement exercises. Children learn through rolling, crawling, skipping, and jumping, along with a variety of other movement activities, which are essential for brain development in the first years of a child's life. 

Also, it is undoubtedly good to move and play as lots of physical activity is good for the overall health and well-being of a child.

Can play activities affect the brain?

Yes, it is true. Toddler Montessori in Surrey uses cheerful activities to make children learn and enables them to use their brains. The brain doesn’t function at birth time, as the environment plays a big role in brain development. So, as preschool educators, teachers need to sculpt the brain every day through different movement experiences in their classes. Too much sitting during the day can cause problems. 

Brain scans show that children learn best while moving and learning at the same time. 

How do movement and playful learning affect overall learning skills in preschools?

Some brain-body activities such as balancing on an exercise ball, doing a tree pose, or even tossing a bean bag in specific ways improve learning skills. Many brain-balance activities improve reading skills.

There are different play activities where the child needs to imagine and pretend to play, creative activities such as drawing and making them play physical games, such as rolling a ball or dancing. The movement apart from contributing to brain development also helps to build coordination and strength. Children can explore the world through different movement exercises and games to know better about their surroundings.

It would be unwise and impractical to not provide them with a structure supporting playful learning through movement. We must equip early childhood classrooms with activity stations to align with today’s learning needs.

Here, I have discussed some significant benefits of regular movement activities in children.

1. Physical Development

A child’s physical development depends on how much active the child is. Different physical milestones can be achieved if a child’s environment is conducive and provides an opportunity to move constantly.

2. Improved Fine Motor Skills

To develop fine motor control, children need to perform a few activities, like writing. This will certainly help them polish their gross motor skills, which is a prerequisite to fine motor coordination.

3. Improved Concentration

Regular movement helps children to re-energise and refocus their concentration. Regular activities help children to gain strength, improve their concentration and extend their focus. Plus, the attention span of children also improves.

4. Increased Brain Development

More movement means more oxygen. Better oxygen levels increase circulation, resulting in increased brain activity because of continuous movement.

5. General Health

Sedentary lifestyles pose serious health threats. To maintain the overall health and well-being of children, physical movement is necessary.

Play ideas to get your preschooler moving:

To develop movement skills in preschoolers, I am sharing some ideas to help you have fun together!

Make them enjoy some child-friendly sports like bat-ball or throwable beanbags.

With the help of some large cardboard boxes, children can climb on top, crawl and push.

A balance bike with training wheels can be used.

Make time for outdoor play in the playground. Moving around helps them to develop strength, balance and coordination.

Dance is also a good exercise for movement.

Nature walk helps your child move. You can instruct the child to collect leaves, sticks or pebbles.

Conclusion

This article concludes that movement in children through playful activities can help increase memory, develop perception, improving attention, emotion and decision-making. Helping children moving not only helps with their development but also helps them to stay healthy and active. Developing movement skills early on can help promote a healthy lifestyle, learning, and overall well-being.

Discover movement and playful learning with the best Childcare in Surrey. As “learning through play” is promoted by preschools. Teachers develop engaging movement activities and expose children to new experiences every day. The learning program at Kidzville offers holistic development opportunities to children in the early childhood stage.