I Move We Move - Good For Kids - NSW Government

A description of the three developmental periods and broadly what movement skills are important
to develop in each period is provided below:
1. Babies (birth to 12 months)
Appropriate developmental movement helps babies to develop their muscles, inner ear and eyes
in preparation for developing fundamental movement skills. This includes tummy time, where
activities such as reaching for objects, turning of head or rolling toward a stimulus and movement
of the arms and legs are encouraged16 .
Development of locomotor skills occurs from about six months of age. These include crawling,
using an object to pull themselves up to a standing position then continuing to use the object to
support moving in an upright position, and finally walking 16 .
2. Toddlers (one to three years old)
Appropriate fundamental movement skills for toddlers to explore are:
• Stability – balancing, bending, stretching
• Locomotor – crawling and walking then run, jump, hop and gallop
• Manipulative – catching, throwing and kicking
Once children are walking well, development of other locomotor skills can be encouraged as well
as stability and manipulative skills 16 . Children under two years of age are unlikely to have the handeye
and foot-eye co-ordination required for manipulative skills, but encouraging experimentation
will develop this co-ordination 15 . Nor will children less than two and a half to three years of age be
likely to have an awareness of their preferred hand and foot for catching, throwing and kicking
etc 15 . So, when encouraging toddlers to attempt catching, throwing and kicking it is important to
let them choose which hand or foot to try first and then encourage them to have another go using
the other hand or foot.
Did you know?
The awareness of preferred
hand and foot, and hand-eye
co-ordination developed through
experimenting with manipulative
skills is also important for other
skills like reading and writing
where there needs to be
co-ordination of the child’s
preferred hand and eye 15 .
I Move We Move, The Guide Edition 1 August 2009
AREA HEALTH SERVICE
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