Last week we chatted about the Social skills that our little ones need to develop before being able to sit comfortably in a classroom to concentrate on their work. (If you haven’t read it yet, please click here[KH1]  to follow the link and don’t forget to leave a comment!) This week, we’re going to tackle another misconception which is their Physical Development. Luckily, this is something that we can all work on during the Summer Holidays with our kids!

Most of us look at our little ones and think that, because they’re roughly the same height and size of an average 6 year old, they must be sufficiently physically developed. But this is actually not the best indicator to check.

Rather check out for these pointers to see if your kids are lacking in their physical development: <

  1. They battle to site still or upright, especially over a longer period of time.

  2. They are fidgety and battle to concentrate on one activity at a time.

  3. They move their tongues while cutting or drawing.

  4. They press too hard on the paper and maybe break their crayons.

     

  5. Now you may be wondering what on earth concentrating and fidgeting has to do with your kids’ Physical Development, but this is because their Physical School Readiness skills are actually also very closely linked to your kids’ muscle tone, as well as their fine motor skills.

If your kids battle to finely control their little fingers before they start school… they’re going to battle to do all sorts of activities like writing and crafts.

If their muscle tone is so poor that they can’t sit still for long periods of time… they’re really going struggle to focus on and finish one activity. And if they’re not doing the activities in class, they’re not going to learn that skill that the teacher has planned! See the problem here?

Now before you start stressing that your kids are not physically developed before the New Year, growing your kids’ Physical Development skills is actually pretty easy. Now is actually a perfect time of year to focus on developing your kids’ Physical skills because of the glorious Summer Holidays starting! It just requires a bit of patience and energy from your side too like:

  1. Rolling or throwing a ball.

  2. Building blocks like Lego.

  3. Any activities that require movement like running, crawling or skipping.

  4. Any activities where their heads are lower than their hands – like a puzzle on the floor.

Once again, I hope that you have found this post useful! Please don’t forget to comment below. I’d love to hear from you! What outdoor activities have you got planned with your kids these holidays? Next week we’ll focus on a couple that will keep your kids entertained for hours!

Also, if you’re keen to receive our monthly newsletter packed with Acornkids Specials, Competitions and much more, please pop an email to me on
yvonne@acornkids.com.  

Yours in positive parenting,  <

Yvonne Mom of two wonderful kids and owner of Acornkids