Strategies & Activities

Early Learning, Ages 3 to 5

Physical Education

Introduction

Physical education helps kids grow up healthy and strong. It helps kids learn to work with others, think hard, and try many activities. This can help them stay healthy their whole life.

Moving our bodies helps kids feel good about themselves. It helps them feel confident (sure of themselves) and fit. Studies show that kids who move their bodies for 60 minutes a day are healthier. They feel more confident. They learn better. They miss less school.

When kids get better at moving, they also get better at thinking. This helps them do well with friends and in school. Kids learn important life skills by playing games with others, both working together and playing against each other.

Good physical education gives kids activities that fit their age. This helps them feel good at things like sports, dance, playing outside, and exercise. The most important part is making sure every child can enjoy it and feel successful. Kids need lots of playtime to grow both their big muscles and their small muscles.

Some Words to Know:

• Motor skills means moving your small muscles and big muscles.
• Gross motor skills (big muscle moves) are things like walking, kicking, hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping, leaping, and jumping. These are the building blocks of movement.
• Fine motor skills (small muscle moves) include using two fingers to pick up tiny things (called a pincer grasp) and holding small objects. These skills help kids get ready to write.
• Locomotor skills are moves that take you from one place to another, like walking, hopping, running, jumping, galloping, leaping, and sliding.
• Non-locomotor skills are moves that stay in one spot, like balancing on one foot, moving one body part at a time, bending, twisting, and turning.

How Adults Can Help Kids Learn

Adults help kids learn physical education when they:

• Keep encouraging and challenging kids to grow their big and small muscle skills. They do this by teaching and showing kids how to:
• Run, gallop, throw, catch, hop, kick, dance, jump, climb, pull, carry, stretch, bend, twist, and move one body part at a time.
• Practice building with blocks, using clay, using scissors or tongs, stringing beads, putting pegs in holes, doing puzzles, using a computer mouse, and using different writing tools (like pencils, crayons, and markers) and art materials (like paint and stamps).
• Join in fine and gross motor activities with the kids.
• Teach and show safety rules, and make sure kids follow them.
• Give kids chances for both planned games and free play.

Strategies & Activities for 3-Year-Olds

Strand 1: Motor Skills and Movement

Motor skills include both small muscle and big muscle moves. Big muscle (gross motor) skills include walking, kicking, hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping, leaping, and jumping. Small muscle (fine motor) skills help make hands and wrists stronger. This helps kids get ready to write.

Part 1: Gross Motor (Big Muscles)

General Ideas for Big Muscle Skills:

• Set up a simple obstacle course to practice different big muscle moves.
• While walking in a line, have the first student name an animal and show how it moves. The other students copy the movement.
• Use different kinds of balls to practice catching, throwing, and kicking.
• Use equipment that stays in place and equipment that can be moved around to build big muscle skills.

Standard: Kids should join in activities that help them control their body and balance while moving from one place to another. (Examples: walk in a straight line, hop, run and stop, change direction, jump over low objects.)

Ways to Practice:

• Play games where kids move (run, jump, hop) from one spot to another.
• Use colored cones. Show kids what movement to do as they go from one cone to the next.

Standard: Kids should join in activities that help them balance and move without traveling to a new spot. (Examples: balance on one foot, move one body part at a time.)

Ways to Practice:

• Play copying games in small or big groups, led by a teacher or started by the kids.
• Let kids practice moves like standing on one foot, bending at the waist, or reaching up on their tiptoes.

Standard: Kids should join in activities that help them use their big muscles to control objects. (Examples: throw and catch a ball, hit a ball with a club, ride toys with wheels.)

Ways to Practice:

• Play music and use props like streamers or scarves to encourage big movements.
• Use hoops or targets on the ground and try to drop a ball on the target.
• Start practicing how to safely use wheeled toys.

Part 2: Fine Motor (Small Muscles)

General Ideas for Small Muscle Skills:

• Give kids small toys to build finger skills, like beads to string, blocks to stack, puzzles, and large connecting blocks.
• Encourage kids to put on their own clothes (jackets, boots, socks, gloves, hats).
• Give kids different tools to write and draw with, like paint, paintbrushes, crayons, markers, and chalk.
• Give kids chances to move their arms across the middle of their body (called the midline) through dancing, playing, and writing.

Standard: Kids should be able to handle small pieces or objects (like puzzle pieces, small blocks, tongs) and build with different kinds of blocks.

Ways to Practice:

• Give kids different sizes and kinds of blocks to stack and build with.
• Help kids start practicing zipping their own backpack or jacket.
• Give kids scissors to practice cutting fringe in paper, snipping straws, or cutting playdough.

Standard: With some help, kids should build small muscle control by making lines, circles, and scribbles with writing tools (like chalk, crayons, paint, markers, or a tablet).

Ways to Practice:

• Let kids practice writing strokes with their finger in sand, shaving cream, or finger paint.
• Give kids tools for pouring or digging.
• Give kids tongs to pick up pom-poms, seeds, or beads. This makes their hands and fingers stronger.

(Two more standards for this age begin at age 4, so there is nothing to add here yet.)

Strand 2: Moving Well

Moving well means kids control their body better and understand personal space (the space around their own body).

Standard: Kids should start to notice that everyone has their own personal space.

Ways to Practice:

• Use hula hoops or have kids stretch their arms out to show their own space.
• Guide kids as they play together, and talk about how their movements affect others.
• Use music and movement games to help kids move while keeping their own space from others.

Strand 3: Moving to Feel Good

Kids will notice which activities make them happy. They will think about how moving their body can help them stay healthy their whole life.

Standard: Kids should notice how exercise and moving affects how their body and feelings. (Examples: feeling their breathing or heartbeat change, talking about how it helps their muscles, thinking about which activities they enjoy.)

Ways to Practice:

• Let kids play hard and notice how their body changes, like their heartbeat, before and after moving.
• Plan time to move every day and talk about why it matters.
• Share books and pictures about moving and exercise for kids to look at and try.
• Give kids equipment to use for exercise that fits their age.

Strategies & Activities for 4-Year-Olds

Strand 1: Motor Skills and Movement

Motor skills include both small muscle and big muscle moves. Big muscle (gross motor) skills include walking, kicking, hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping, leaping, and jumping. Small muscle (fine motor) skills help make hands and wrists stronger, getting kids ready to write.

General Ideas for Big Muscle Skills:

• Set up a simple obstacle course to practice different big muscle moves.
• Taking turns, have kids name an animal, show how it moves, and have others copy.
• Use different balls to practice catching, throwing, and kicking.
• Use equipment that stays put and equipment that moves to build big muscle skills.

Part 1: Gross Motor (Big Muscles)

Standard: Kids should show control and balance while moving from one place to another. (Examples: walk in a straight line, hop, run and stop, change direction, jump over low objects.)

Ways to Practice:

• Play games where kids move (run, jump, hop) from one spot to another.
• Use colored cones to show paths where kids use different moves to get to the next color.
• Set up a simple obstacle course for kids to practice many big muscle moves.
• Play copying games in small or big groups led by a teacher.
• Play simple relay races and games where kids take turns using different moves.

Standard: Kids should show balance and control while moving without traveling to a new spot. (Examples: balance on one foot, move one body part at a time.)

Ways to Practice:

• Let kids practice moves like standing on one foot, bending at the waist, or reaching up on their tiptoes.
• Play copying games in small or big groups, led by a teacher or started by kids.

Standard: Kids should show control of big muscles to handle objects. (Examples: throw and catch a ball, hit a ball with a club, ride toys with wheels.)

Ways to Practice:

• Play music and use props like streamers or scarves to encourage big movements.
• Use different balls to practice catching, throwing, and kicking.
• Use hoops or targets on the ground and try to drop a ball on the target.
• Start practicing how to use wheeled toys.

Part 2: Fine Motor (Small Muscles)

General Ideas for Small Muscle Skills:

(This section was not finished in the source document.)