On 28 May 2022, we had our third Explorers@Makerspace on Motor Skills Development! Read on to see what we have explored and learnt in our activities and discussions within the Makerspace!
What did we do?
This E@MS session was centered around Motor Skills Development (MSD), with the question:
“How can we integrate motor skills development into other domains?”
During the sessions, we tried out two integrated MSD activities designed by the Community of Learners (COL) team before planning our own, coming up with ideas to integrate MSD with others domains. We experienced each group’s activities, shared our thought processes, and reflected on what we learnt.
Kicking off the E@MS, the COL facilitators shared the recommended duration of physical activity for children and the benefits that a healthy physical development has on all other areas of learning and life. The facilitators also talked about what quality physical movement in the preschool looks like, highlighting teacher intentionality, use of movement vocabulary, problem-solving opportunities, and of course, integration across domains. We exchanged our experiences and observations on outdoor play and exercise from the ground too!
Thereafter, we moved on to two sample activities organised by the COL facilitators.
Ball Game
The first activity was a ball game. We were tasked to collect as many balls as we could as we navigated through a maximum of 10 hoops horizontally or vertically without dropping the balls. Points were awarded based on the size of the balls collected by the participant. As two participants played the game each round, the game also required us to plan and be quick in our movements to ensure that the opponent did not overtake us and take the balls away.
Have a watch of the videos below to see how we fared in the ball game! What learning domains do you think are included should children play this game? How do you think you can improve this ball game to cater to different age groups?
Here are some of the learning domains included in this game, based on what we discussed after the game:
Motor Skills Development: Walking, balancing, understanding physical limits
Numeracy: Tracking and counting to 10, attributes and relationships (bigger ball means more points)
Problem-solving: How can I get the most points in 10 hoops? What path should I take? Would the use of the powerup (i.e. stilts allow us to move diagonally) help me in getting more balls?
Body Painting
The second activity was body painting, with us trying many ways to use different parts of our bodies to paint on big pieces of paper taped to the wall and the floor. Have a look at the photos we took to see what body parts we have used to paint!
Below are the results of our body painting after the two sessions!
What learning domains do you think are included in this activity? Here are some that we have discussed:
Motor Skills Development: Moving parts of our bodies to paint (e.g., fingers, hands, elbows, knees, feet, hair), vestibular processing
Aesthetics and Creative Expression: What can I paint on the canvas (in relation to the outdoor theme)?
Discovery of the World: Mixing of paints from three primary colours, textures from printing
Sensory Development: How does paint feel through touch?
Social and Emotional Development: Some participants felt that touching paint and engaging in paint were “therapeutic” and hence allowed them to feel relaxed. This can apply to children too!
Creating Our Own Activities!
After the two sample activities, we were put into groups to plan and create our own activities based on the domains we have randomly picked. Like the last E@MS, we then took turns to play the games created by each group!
Here are the activities that we created!
Hopping Snakes and Ladders (Numeracy)
Shapes and Colours Twister (Numeracy)
Exploring Textures with Open-ended Materials (Discovery of the World [DOW])
What have we learnt?
Here are some key takeaways that we have learnt as we reflected on what we have learnt from our experiences.
Thinking questions when planning for integration: Here are some questions we have pondered about while creating our activities:
What skills/learning goals from the domains am I targeting?
Must children be seated at their chairs for the activity?
Can I make it a game? How can I design the rules of the games to address the learning goals and vary the challenge level? e.g., having children complete a task within 10 steps and counting with each step (numeracy)
How can I vary children’s movements to increase the challenge level? e.g., hopping instead of walking
What movement resources can I use indoors/outdoors?
How can I ‘enlarge’ the activity or materials? e.g., life-size version of board games like Snakes and Ladders, big canvas
Different types of MSD: MSD includes both gross and fine motor skills, and both can be supported in outdoor and indoor contexts. Moreover, fine motor skills development can be fostered not only through the conventional colouring and writing, but also through other activities such finger painting, gardening, and messy play.
MSD and the body: We realised that our activities included plenty of bodily explorations and sensory experiences, which are beneficial for children’s development. Another consideration is that while we usually think of hands, arms, feet and legs when discussing MSD, we can let children focus on other areas of their body, such as forearms, elbows, knees, and shoulders so that they are more aware of what their bodies can do, such as shrugging shoulders and rotating knees.
DIY: Even when there is a limited amount of resources for movement activities, we can DIY our own materials with what we have. For example, the Twister game was made using foam cutouts pasted on the floor and a DIY arrow spinner made from chopsticks and foam cutouts, allowing us to adapt the Twister game without the need of the actual game materials.
Games and Numeracy: We learnt that games are an effective way to integrate motor skills development into other domains, especially when the contents of the learning domains are more structured, such as mathematics. Games allow such structured content to be learnt in a fun and playful way, and can be created based on children’s learning outcomes. Within the rules of the game, children are free to explore and construct their own meaning as they play.
Relationship between MSD and Biology (DOW): Exercise and play can be an opportunity for children to realise how their bodies work as they move, such as the feeling of their heartbeat after outdoor play.
Relationship between MSD and Physics (DOW): With the use of paint and other mark-making materials, children are able to learn how they move and how things move as the materials allow them to “see” the movement. This allows physics and MSD to be easily integrated.
Practicality of implementing activities with integration of motor skills development in Singapore’s early childhood context: Many of the activities we came up with required large spaces and had elements of messy play to allow us and children to engage in their bodies freely. However, we reflected that implementing such activities require some considerations, such as the available space in the classroom, centre guidelines, and the schools’ and parents’ view on messy play. As such, we may have to adapt these activities so that it is feasible in different classroom contexts.
In conclusion, we managed to use the Makerspace as a studio for exploration and experimentation as we make hypotheses of the successes of our activities and suggest improvements for them. We also learnt that intentional integration of learning domains and MSD is quite naturally recurring through open-ended activities, as children use their multiple intelligences to engage in the activities in their own ways.
How can we improve?
Here are some questions you can think about after reading our key takeaways:
How can we improve and adapt the activities suggested to different age groups?
As we have explored Numeracy and DOW, what are some activities from other learning domains that can allow the integration of MSD?
Aesthetics and Creative Expression
Social and Emotional Development
Language and Literacy
With that, we hope you enjoyed reading our insights into integrating MSD to other domains for our third E@MS! Our next E@MS will happen after the semester break in August, hope to see you there!
Resources
Here are resources the COL facilitators referred to for this E@MS. Check them out to learn more about outdoor play and movement activities in the early years!
Archer, C. & Siraj, I. (2015). Encouraging physical development through movement-play. Sage Publications Ltd.
Archer, C. & Siraj, I. (2017). Movement environment rating scale (MOVERS) for 2-6-year-olds provision: Improving physical development through movement and physical activity. UCL IOE Press.
Ebbeck, M., & Toh, W. (2022). Outdoor play and the well-being of children. Early Childhood Development Agency. https://www.ecda.gov.sg/growatbeanstalk/Pages/Learning/Outdoor%20Activity%20Ideas%20for%20Young%20Children/Outdoor-Play-and-the-Well-Being-of-Children.aspx
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. (2022, 21 Jan). Singapore integrated 24-Hour activity guidelines for children under seven years launched. https://www.kkh.com.sg/news/announcements/singapore-integrated-24-hour-activity-guidelines-for-children-under-seven-years-launched
Outdoor Learning Committee. (2019, September). Outdoor learning: A national guide for early childhood educators. Early Childhood Development Agency. https://www.ecda.gov.sg/Documents/Outdoor%20Learning/ECDA%20Outdoor%20Learning%20Guide%20Book.pdf
Writers
Publicity: Lee Kia Kiat
COL: Kok Xiu Wen, Evan How Jia Zong