Physical Development is split into our gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills involve large muscles in our torso, legs, and arms. They involve whole-body movements. Fine motor skills involve making movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists.

Gross Motor Skills

Our indoor and outdoor PE focuses on developing our gross motor skills. This term in outdoor PE we are learning simple movements of running, jumping and ball skills. You could try some of these games to help improve your skills:

• Leap frog
• Hopscotch
• Tag
• Stuck in the mud
• See who can jump the highest / furthest
• Use a skipping rope to practise jump skipping
• Create an obstacle course that includes obstacles you have to run between or jump over

In indoor PE, we will begin our Healthy Movers programme, focusing on agility and locomotion. You can try some of the Healthy Movers activities at home, just click on the document below.

Fine Motor Skills

In school this term, we will be learning to pinch and pick up a pencil. To get better at this we need to build up the muscle strength in our hands. Try some of these activities at home to improve your wrist and hand muscle strength:

• Help to hang up the washing using pegs
• Make a spider or octopus by rolling playdoh into a ball, flatten it down, and then pinch out eight legs using your pincer fingers (thumb and index finger)
• Popping bubble wrap
• Thread plastic beads on to a string
• Get crafty! Crumple small pieces of crepe or tissue paper into balls to decorate craft projects