I Move We Move - Good For Kids - NSW Government

Adult guided fundamental movement skills learning experiences for toddlers and
preschoolers
Similar to babies, adult guided fundamental movement skills learning experiences for toddlers
mostly involve one on one interaction with adults. For older toddlers this could occur in groups
and for preschoolers, adult guided fundamental movement skills learning experiences could involve
participation in large groups of children, small groups, pairs or as individuals.
Frequency and Duration
Programming adult guided fundamental movement skills experiences
into each day will enable all children attending the service to have the
opportunity to participate several times a week. When deciding on
learning experiences consider how much physical activity time your
service is aiming for each day and ensure there is an appropriate
balance of adult guided fundamental movement skills learning
experiences as well as free active play.
Verbal prompts
Providing appropriate verbal prompts and feedback will enhance children's
experience of learning fundamental movement skills. Providing feedback
to children on what they need to do to improve their skills greatly enhances their
learning. Try to ‘sandwich’ corrective feedback with two positive comments e.g.
“That was a great effort. This time let’s put the other foot forward. Keep trying!” 23
I Move We Move, The Guide Edition 1 August 2009
Did you know?
There is also a specific type of verbal prompt that explains how to perform a skill, known as a
teaching cue. Teaching cues can be a very powerful strategy to help young children understand
how to perform a skill. They should use simple words and/or imagery to describe a skill component
and act as the stimulus for skill execution. For any of the skills you can demonstrate the movement
and ask children to talk about what they think it looks like. Children can then come up with the
cues for these movements themselves 23 .
See Table 1 (page 5.7) for some examples of teaching cues that use imagery and
simple words.
AREA HEALTH SERVICE
5.6
Preschool aged children
need a balance of adult
guided activities and free
active play every day.