What are Gross Motor Skills?
- Gross motor skills involve movements of the large muscles of the arms, legs, and torso.
- Children need to use their gross motor skills for everyday activities at school, at home and in the community.
- Children who struggle with gross motor skills have trouble doing whole-body movements like climbing and star jumps.
Why is it important?
Gross motor skills are linked to many other key aspects of development:
- Balance
- Coordination
- Body awareness
- Physical strength
- Reaction time
All of these abilities help children participate successfully in activities at school, at home, and in the community. Linked gross motor skill development can have an additional impact on self-esteem and self-worth.
What is The Beacon Centre doing to help?
Both Beacon Primary and Beacon Secondary have put in place resources and activities to aid in the development of Gross Motor Skills in children and young people in our care. For instance at Beacon Secondary, weekly activities which involve balance, strength building and physical exercise are all designed to include elements are gross motor skill development.
At Beacon Primary, daily gross motor skill activities are set up to help the younger children to continue with the early stages of gross motor skill development. This includes obstacle courses, activities which focus on balance, dancing and co-ordinated playground play.
