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Does body awareness really matter?

Blog
Learn Well
28 Nov 2022

Effective body awareness helps us to understand where we are in space and where we are in relation to objects around us. It also informs our brain how tightly to grip, how far to step over an object, and how hard to throw a ball. Body awareness helps us to coordinate our whole body – our eyes with our hands and feet.

Our brain works hard to connect body-awareness sensations with other sensory information being sent to it. This can be from the eyes and through the tactile system too. Body awareness is also essential in the development of dominance and an innate understanding of which is our left and right side.

Body awareness comes from our proprioceptive sense. You may have heard of this. Proprioceptors are found in our muscles, joints, and ligaments. They help us know where our body is and where our limbs are. If you close your eyes now, you still know where your left elbow is without having to look to check (or we hope so!). This is your proprioceptive sense telling your brain, your position.

Children can process this sensation much more easily when they are moving – and it is the reason that young children never stop moving and fidgeting. Children in your class will be particularly fidgety when they are letting you know that they still have a massive need to move!

Proprioception also plays a large role in regulation and being calm and ready for learning. Think about when you have been for a good walk or done some exercise: your body then enjoys being still and resting. Children’s bodies and minds are more able to calm and self-regulate when they have had movement breaks.

Things to look out for

Your awareness of your own need to move around is important! How hard is it to sit still for long periods? Some find it easier than others. Some children will need more movement than others. Spot the ones who kneel on their chairs, wind their legs around the chair legs, or find constant reasons to get up out of their seat. They need to move! Without movement, brains struggle to focus.

Target movement breaks before an important thinking activity or a new topic that you want to teach them, taking advantage to engage with children when they are at their best! Have some ‘body stations’ for children to go to during lessons (with appropriate boundaries, of course). If they learn to recognise how much they need a movement break, you are supporting a lifelong positive strategy.

Ideas for 'body stations':

A balance board – stand on the balance board for one minute.
A short obstacle course – crawl through and between cardboard boxes.
Hoop up and over – stand in a hoop, bring the hoop up over your head and step into it again. Repeat four times, and then go back to sit down.

Let's get active!

Here are a few ideas to help you embrace the need for movement in a positive way:

Bean-bag pick-up

Lie on the floor on your back. Place a few beanbags on the floor above your head. Curl up and pick up a beanbag with your feet and place it down in a pile by your feet, Repeat! Great fun!

Use opportunities when the class is changing venues to give a strong movement break – skip/ hop/jump to… assembly, out onto the playground, along the corridor. Excitability can be an issue for some, so be clear about how you expect the children to follow the instructions. For example: quietly, spaced between peers, or with some nearer to you than others.

Big stretch and flop

Standing in a space (this could be at their desks if there is enough room), stretch up high on tiptoes, with both hands reaching for the ceiling, and then steadily and slowly relax and flop to a bent-over position. Hang there, relax, and go floppy. Slowly come back to standing. Stretch arms out wide to the sides, up to the ceiling, and then sit back down.

For more insight and activity ideas relating to body awareness, get stuck into the 'Start Big Stay Big' book by Learn Well (306969). Inside the book, you'll also find theory and easy-to-do activities on a range of different topics including posture, visual skills, motor control, getting ready to write and movement in maths. The activities are perfect for young children, and they offer practical ways to increase movement, making sure to exercise all key sensory systems.

This blog has been taken from Little Learners, a FREE magazine full of early years resources and activities. Click here to read our latest issue!

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Author

Learn Well

Child development is at the heart of everything at Learn Well. Each product is thoughtfully created to give young children and older ones with special needs a broad range of sensory learning experiences. Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain's pathways; so Learn Well think about sight, sound, smell and touch as each product is in development.