Whether kids are learning to roll, walk, read or write, movement is an integral part of their early child development.
Here are 5 reasons why movement is important for early child development –
1. Movement allows children to connect concepts to action and to learn through trial and error.
2. Movement encourages exploration –
When children engage in any physical activity, they explore the world around them. This helps them process and understand complex information which helps in early child development.
3. Movement helps children in their brain development –
98% of a child’s brain develops in the first 6 years. Physical movement plays a vital role in the creation of the nerve cell networks that are at the core of this brain development.
Source – Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head, Carla Hannaford
4. Movement helps children in their physical growth –
Regular physical activity helps children in their major body and muscle development in early years.
5. Movement is an essential factor in intellectual growth
Through physical activity, children come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that they eventually acquire even abstract ideas.