“Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas.”
~ Dr. Maria Montessori, The Secret of Childhood

The Big Deal about Gross Motor Development

Why is developing gross (or large) motor skills so important for children? A little background about my family: We recently moved 30 miles out of the city to a beautiful town on the edge of the mountains. We live on six acres. We moved to give our young children (4, 3 and due 5/1) all the opportunity to explore the world through the lens of nature.  Even with plenty of trees to climb and trails to hike, we opted to add a play structure, tree stumps and recycled rubber tires to our outdoor space.  This year the boys also get their own garden plot to plant whatever they wish (even if my 3 year old wants to grow chocolate, we will find a way). The outdoors provide an amazing sensory experience rich for development. The outdoors provide room to truly develop gross motor skills in our budding children.

Thank you to The Kids Backyard Store for Sponsoring this Post. All opinions are 100% mine.

What is gross motor development so important?

• Health – obvious benefits of exercise to the body and mind, more specifically
• Confidence & Self Esteem – important in childhood, yes, but arguably a more important life skill
• Ability to Assess Risk – another important life skill, not only with physical well being but with taking risks in life with decision making
• Energy Release – physical, social and emotional
• Brain Development – the early years lay the foundation of brain pathways for lifelong motor skills and aids in learning, especially learning skills that require advanced thinking and mental dexterity

Why promote gross motor development?

• Fosters Imagination through Story Telling and Active Play
• Encourages Problem Solving and Critical Thinking (e.g. how am I going to climb over this log?)
• Hones Risk Taking Skills
• Ignites a Sense of Awe and Wonder about the Nature World
• FUN!
• Better Sleep
• Happier Children

How to Integrate Gross Motor Development

• Check out the book The Brain Gym for loads of ideas for indoors and outdoors that focus on movement, using both sides of the brain and crossing the midline
• Tree Stumps – the wind knocked down many trees in our area over the lat several months. So we took advantage of the cutting and removing of the trees. Our stumps provide so much enjoyment to our sons. It is actually a little crazy how much they enjoy the very simple set up.
• Hiking – what better way to develop gross motor skills than to explore the natural playground?
• Rubber Tires – these are a new item for us. Excited to see the boys jump and explore through the course.
• Climbing Trees and Rocks
• Obstacle Course
• Yoga indoors and outdoors (we love these Yoga ABC Cards for Kids)
• Games like freeze tag and hide and seek are great for self regulation work and brain development generally
• Purchase a customizable Play Structure (like our structure from The Kid's Backyard Store!) fit your family's needs & safety

“Since it is through movement that the will realises itself, we should assist a child in his attempts to put his will into act.” ~ Dr. Maria Montessori

 Our Play Structure

We searched for the perfect play structure and decided to work with The Kids Backyard Store, a company that designs residential and commercials play spaces. Not only are the sets beautifully made, we got to customize our play structure to include a rock wall, covered ‘tree house', trapeze bar, slide and swings, and work with several wonderful, friendly installers. These guys know what they're doing (and let our boys ‘participate' in ‘building' the set, which was a cool experience in itself). We love the result. Our boys play on the structure every day. I highly recommend The Kids Backyard Store.

I have written many posts on Gross Motor Development:

• Montessori: Movement (The Brain Gym)
• Walking the Line 
• Yoga Books for Children
• The Sensitive Period for Movement – Yoga
• Yoga Resources & Why Yoga is part of our Home
• Culture & Movement Activity for Kids

Enjoy!
Marnie

More About The Kids Backyard Store

The Kids' Backyard Store offers Backyard Adventures' full line of premium-quality cedar playsets. These modular play structures are built with the finest materials, including beautiful cedar, unique compression technology and exclusive features & safety systems developed by Backyard Adventures.

Turn your backyard into the adventure of your kids' life with themed structures such as the Treehouse Series, Peak Series, Expedition Series and Explorer Series playsets, and of course the finest Cedar Swing Set ever made. Growing children require new challenges, so customize your play sets with many accessories, including swings, slides, rock walls, crawl tubes and more. All of our cedar forts and swingsets are made by the most reputable play structure manufacturer around, Backyard Adventures.

The Kids' Backyard Store also offers cedar sheds by CedarShed Industries and the finest in commercial play structures by PlayCraft Systems for apartments, day care centers, churches and homeowners associations.