Fundamental Fun: 132 activities to develop fundamental movement skills

132 activities to develop fundamental movement skills

Fundamental

FUN Rachael Jefferson-Buchanan

Please see my book for further details. I have only included a few sample pages and extracts here. My book is available for purchase from me directly as the author for AUD 30, or GBP 23 (including p&p – can be posted from the UK or Australia).

Introduction Purpose of the book This book strongly supports the Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) Resource and programme developed by Dr Beth Hands and Marie Martin, in that it is an amalgamation of fundamental movement skills and principles with the author’s tried and tested physical education activities for children aged 4–8. All children are special, but children at the beginning stages of primary education are particularly special, as they are physically developing at such fast rates and their enthusiasm for movement experiences can be capitalised upon and personalised. Thus, the purpose of this book is to provide educative, developmentally appropriate, fun activities for children aged 4–8 in the primary physical education context. Young children need exposure to many movement activities if they are to develop their fundamental movement skills proficiency individually and fully; this book offers an activity menu to aid educators and their children in this important process.

Nature of the activities The activities in this book are designed to promote holistic physical activity by fostering children’s social, emotional and cognitive development through skill learning opportunities. Children are encouraged to communicate, make decisions, listen to and help others, share ideas, roles and equipment, understand skill development processes, and participate at their own level, while immersing themselves in the physical. Young children need generic movement experiences if they are to develop and extend their foundation movements for more specialised, complex activities at a later stage. Notwithstanding this, several of the activities are inevitably more appropriate for a gymnastic or dance context rather than a games or athletics session. The key message, nonetheless, is that these types of fun, FMS-oriented activities should be incorporated into a child’s day, every day.

How the activities are grouped, how they might be extended or adapted, and an explanation of the terms used Six different activity ideas for each of the twenty-two fundamental movement skills are presented, and these are placed within their respective categories of body management skills, locomotor skills and object control skills. According to the FMS Resource, ‘body management skills involve balancing the body in stillness and in motion’, locomotor skills involve transporting the body in any direction from one point to another, and object control skills ‘require controlling implements (for example, bats, racquets or hoops) or objects (such as balls) either by hand or foot’ (FMS Book 1, p. 15). Each activity description also includes a suggested number of players and a list of resources for the main activity and its variations. Furthermore, there is a ‘Catering for individual differences’ section, in which five aspects of the activity are explored by focusing on and changing task demands, rules, teaching cues, players and equipment. Approximately one in five children in England and Wales is now identified as having a special educational need, so primary physical educators need to become familiar with ways of simplifying or extending movement content in order to facilitate pupils’ accessibility and entitlement to inclusion. The five aspects detailed in each activity mirror Module 5 of the 12-hour FMS teacher course, in which differentiation possibilities are reviewed in order to ensure that children’s learning success and participation levels are always maximised:

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Task demands

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Rules

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Teaching cues

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Players

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Equipment

See FMS Book 1, p. 37 for further details regarding ‘individualising learning experiences’.

How to choose an activity Even though the 132 activities are intended for children aged 4–8, they could be modified for use with preschool and upper primary pupils, since it is well known that children develop at different rates at different times and that the majority of children aged 9 are not fully proficient in all fundamental movement skills. Please see my book for further details.

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Activity 2

Treasure Hunt Number of players Any group size Resources • Playground or hall • Cones • Coloured bands • Skipping ropes • Hoops • Beanbags • Low beams and/or benches

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Organise the children into different coloured teams and give each team a set of coloured bands to wear. Each team also has an ‘island home’ that is made of a circle of cones. Set up a series of skipping ropes in straight lines with about 2 metres between each one, randomly placed in the playing area. Place some hoops in the 2-metre gaps with a number of beanbags inside; these beanbags represent the ‘treasure’. Ask the children to ‘walk the plank’ (that is, the ropes), fetch a beanbag from the treasure chest and bring it home to their ‘island’ by walking back with it balanced on their heads.

Catering for individual differences Task demands Repeat this activity with the children increasing the speed of their return to their

island homes with beanbags on their heads by introducing a very fast walk or jog.

Place different coloured beanbags in all the hoops. Ask the children to hunt for coloured treasure that matches their team colour; that is, the blue team hunt for blue treasure (beanbags). Rules

Teaching cues Encourage an awareness of the toes facing the front by challenging children to

‘walk the plank’ on their tiptoes.

Players Direct teams to work in pairs, with one child at the back holding on to the waist of the

child in front as they walk the plank together. Have them split up to collect one treasure each and then see if they can return joined together in some way (for example, arm in arm, holding waists). Equipment Repeat this activity with children travelling along a low beam or inverted bench instead of skipping ropes.

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Body management skills