CPD - Continuing Physical Development

Physical development is prioritised as one of three prime areas in the Early Years Foundation Stage, aligning with the NHS recommendation that early years children engage in 180 minutes of physical activity per day. With the recommended activity for adults being considerably less, at 150 minutes per week, I wonder how we can effectively enable children to access their full physical potential.

I guess we begin by ensuring that we are reaching those 180 minutes, with a hefty chunk of that time in outdoor, bumpy, sloping and unpredictable spaces that physically challenge and appeal to the eight senses (Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Taste, Movement, Balance, Internal Awareness).

We can also consider schemas (Athey, 2007, building on Piaget) when planning and responding to children's physical patterns of behaviour and interests. I find that the desire to transport, enclose, position and rotate are often observable in play.

Diving deeper, Goddard Blythe's (2023) work on the primitive and postural reflexes can help us to understand the development of balance and coordination. Primitive reflexes, or involuntary, survival responses to stimuli, are mostly developed in utero and suppressed by the frontal lobe as it develops in the first 6 months of life. Postural reflexes develop after birth and are needed throughout life.

These concepts are complex to explore in a single blog, but perhaps highlight the intricacies of physical development in early years and the need for more training for early years practitioners, if we are to support children to reach their full physical potential.