All you need to know...
Bilateral coordination is the ability to use both sides of the body at the same time in a controlled and organized manner. Being able to coordinate both sides of the body is an indication that both sides of the brain are communicating and sharing information with each other.
The ability to identify colours is considered a marker and milestone in a child’s cognitive process and is often part of early screening for development and educational admittance. Recognizing the colours and identifying the colour names is an important part of a child’s development. Early identification of colours helps to create the cognitive link between visual clues and words. Numeracy is the ability to apply maths concepts in all areas of life. We all need numeracy and maths skills to do everyday things like: Solving problems, analyse and make sense of information, understand patterns.
Spatial awareness is a complex cognitive skill that children must develop at an early stage in brain development and can be improved. It is a skill that is learned and developed through playing and physical activity. The key to developing spatial awareness is to have adequate awareness of the body, relative to other objects and / or people. For example, when a child reaches for a toy, she or he must learn how far to stretch the muscles in the arms to reach that toy. Over time, the child is able to reach for objects automatically and with accuracy.
Hand-eye coordination is one of the most important parts of the learning process. It helps your child track the movements of their hands with their eyes, which is essential for reading and decoding. Because your child also uses their visual system with hand-eye coordination, it can greatly impact their writing skills and handwriting as they use their eyes to guide, direct and control their hand movements across the page as they write letters and words.
Social skills are behaviours that promote positive interaction with others and the environment. Some of these skills include showing empathy, participation in group activities, generosity, and helpfulness, communicating with others, negotiating, and problem solving. The development of social skills lays a critical foundation for later academic achievement. Social development is such a key issue with young children that a number of methods to address social skills have been advocated. Some of these methods include setting up classroom activities to enhance social development, and providing play opportunities to promote social functioning.
A child's enthusiasm for play stems from pleasure rather than an interest in boosting their own self-confidence, but the two are intertwined. The more they play, the more they strengthen their conviction in his own abilities, and this in turn makes them want to play with more challenging activates the next time and carry on learning. The experience of successful play and learning activities boosts confidence.
Physical activity and sports are promoted for their positive effect on children's physical health. Regular participation in physical activity in childhood is associated with a decreased cardiovascular risk in youth and adulthood. There are many reasons for why exercise is beneficial, including:
• a healthy weight
• strong bones and muscles
• balance and flexibility
• posture
• cardiovascular fitness
• blood pressure, cholesterol
• relaxation
• self-esteem
• social skills
• Increased blood and oxygen flow to the brain,
• Increased levels of norepinephrine and endorphins resulting in a reduction of stress and an improvement of mood.
Teamwork requires children to work cooperatively with other children towards a purpose that they share. When children learn to be part of a team, they learn more about interpersonal ways of thinking, improving their ability to communicate with others. Teamwork also helps children feel like a part of a community and can help in all areas of learning. Communication, social, and emotional skills are all strengthened when children learn to work as a team, which can help improve self-esteem and confidence in themselves.
Teaching problem solving as a general skill is invaluable to children’s learning, confidence and independence. Problem solving isn’t just common sense. Children need to be taught how to identify problems, generate ideas for solution, and then learn to try to solve the problem. Children have to learn how to make decisions independently; to be personally responsible for their decisions. It develops creativity, persistence, a proactive mind set and prepares children for real life in the real world.
Children are more likely to keep to a healthy lifestyle if it's made fun for them. Being physically active every day is important for the healthy growth and development of babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. For this age group, activity of any intensity should be encouraged, including light activity and more energetic physical activity. Toddlers and pre-schoolers should be physically active every day for at least three hours. This should be spread throughout the day, indoors or outside. The 180 minutes can include activities like skipping, hopping, running and jumping.
