Physical Development in Foundation Stage

Physical Development is one of the prime areas of learning and development for Foundation Stage. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a large indoor space to offer further physical development opportunities for our youngest learners here at Bangkok Patana. With the recent poor air quality, it has been especially important to ensure that this indoor space is exciting, engaging, varied and set up to facilitate fantastic, child-led learning. Through movement, children develop:

• Strong hearts, muscles and bones
• Social interaction skills
• Movement and coordination
• Thinking skills
• Self-esteem and self-confidence
• Emotional skills
• Communication skills
• Concentration
• Fundamental movement skills

The areas within the Physical Development space include:

• The Dance ‘Studio’ is an area with access to music and movement prompts to encourage the children to create their own routines with friends.
• The Yoga ‘Studio’ encourages the children to learn the different ways in which they can move their bodies and how to control those movements. Prompt photographs and key vocabulary created by last year’s FS2 children support independence.
• The Balance Trail develops our student’s core strength, spatial awareness, learning how to manage risk and make decisions.
• There is a Mark Making Area which provides space for the children to explore a variety of mark making tools in a big open space. When children are making these early marks, they are practising to hold a pencil and are attempting to control their marks with their muscles. This enhances their physical development by improving their fine motor skills and helps to develop their hand-eye coordination.
• The Football Area is a safe indoor space to develop increasing control over an object (in this case, a ball) by pushing, patting, throwing, catching or kicking it. The children can then go one step further and record their scores using mark making and linking to Mathematics.