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When four-year-old Mia first attempted to climb the playground ladder, she hesitated, her small hands gripping the sides with uncertainty. After weeks of encouragement and practice, that same ladder became her favorite challenge—conquered with confidence, joy, and a proud smile. This transformation wasn’t just about mastering a physical skill; it represented the development of Mia’s physical literacy—a foundation that will influence her relationship with movement and activity throughout her life.
As early childhood educators, we witness these pivotal moments daily. The preschool years represent a critical window for developing physical literacy, yet according to research published in Frontiers in Public Health, children aged 3-6 spend 50-94% of their time sedentary, with only 1-17% engaged in moderate physical activity. This statistic is concerning, especially considering the World Health Organization recommends at least 180 minutes of daily physical activity for children aged 1-4 years.
The good news? We have tremendous influence over children’s physical development during these formative years. By understanding physical literacy and implementing intentional strategies, we can help every child build the movement skills, confidence, and motivation needed for an active, healthy life.
Physical literacy goes beyond simply teaching children to run, jump, or throw. According to Active for Life, it encompasses three essential components:
These include fundamental movement skills that serve as building blocks for more complex movements:
Children need to develop a belief in their own physical abilities:
The emotional component of physical literacy is crucial:
Recent research from MDPI confirms that physical literacy in preschool children manifests across four domains—physical, cognitive, affective, and social—highlighting the holistic nature of this development.
The benefits of developing physical literacy in early childhood extend far beyond the preschool years:
Before implementing strategies, it’s helpful to understand where children are in their physical literacy journey. While formal assessment tools exist, such as the Test of Gross Motor Development-Third Edition (TGMD-3) mentioned in PMC’s research, simple observation can provide valuable insights:
Watch for children’s ability to:
Notice how children:
Observe children’s capacity to:
Look for signs that children:
The environment we create significantly influences children’s physical development. Here’s how to design spaces that promote physical literacy:
Stock your environment with versatile equipment that supports various skills:
While free play is valuable, research published in Frontiers in Public Health indicates that fundamental movement skills do not develop naturally—they require structured instruction and practice. Here are strategies for intentional instruction:
Dedicate short periods (5-10 minutes) to focus on specific skills:
Weave physical literacy into other curriculum areas:
Modify activities to ensure success for every child:
Structure activities to ensure children experience achievement:
Here are ten classroom-tested activities that promote various aspects of physical literacy:
Skills developed: Locomotor movements, body awareness, creativity
How it works: Create cards with different animals. Children draw a card and move like the animal on it across a designated space. Examples include bear walking (on all fours), frog jumping, crab walking (on hands and feet with belly up), and snake slithering.
Extension: Add habitat obstacles that animals must navigate—”elephants” step over “logs,” “fish” swim under “bridges.”
Skills developed: Multiple locomotor and stability skills, spatial awareness, sequencing
How it works: Create a course with 4-6 stations that require different movements, such as crawling through tunnels, balancing on tape lines, jumping into hoops, stepping on stumps, etc.
Extension: Let children help design courses and add narrative elements—for example, “We’re explorers crossing a jungle” or “We’re delivering important packages through a busy city.”
Skills developed: Coordination, rhythmic movement, spatial awareness, creativity.
How it works: Provide scarves and play music with different tempos. Guide children to move their scarves high/low, fast/slow, swirling/straight while moving their bodies in complementary ways.
Extension: Introduce simple choreographed movements that all children follow, then allow for creative interpretation.
Skills developed: Throwing, rolling, eye-hand coordination, and spatial awareness.
How it works: Set up various targets (buckets, hula hoops on the ground, tape marks on walls) and provide different objects to throw or roll (beanbags, soft balls, rolled socks). Children practice aiming from various distances.
Extension: Create a scoring system or challenge children to hit targets in a specific sequence.
Skills developed: Static and dynamic balance, core strength, body awareness
How it works: Create a series of balance challenges: standing on one foot, walking heel-to-toe on a line, balancing a beanbag on different body parts, or freezing in different positions.
Extension: Turn it into “Balance Simon Says,” where children must maintain balance as they follow directions.
Skills developed: Arm strength, coordination, cooperative movement, timing
How it works: Using a play parachute, guide children through activities such as making waves, forming mushrooms (lifting and going under), rolling balls, and cooperative games.
Extension: Add literacy elements by acting out stories with the parachute (e.g., “calm sea” vs. “stormy sea”).
Skills developed: Bilateral coordination, rhythm, following sequences
How it works: Provide rhythm sticks and teach patterns: tap together, tap the floor, tap a partner’s sticks. Gradually increase the complexity of the patterns.
Extension: Create movement sequences in which children tap sticks, perform a movement, and then tap again.
Skills developed: Throwing, catching, kicking, striking, and hand-eye/foot-eye coordination.
How it works: Set up stations focusing on different ball skills: throwing at targets, catching with partners, kicking toward goals, and striking with racquets or paddles.
Extension: Create skill-challenge cards for each station with progressively more difficult challenges.
Skills developed: Jumping, hopping, leaping, landing safely
How it works: Create various jumping challenges, such as jumping over lines, hopping in and out of hoops, jumping for distance or height, and leaping over small obstacles.
Extension: Measure and record jumps to help children set improvement goals.
Skills developed: Body awareness, coordination, social interaction, observation
How it works: Children pair up and face each other. One child performs movements while the other mirrors them. Start with slow, simple movements and progress to more complex sequences.
Extension: Add music and have partners create a mirrored “dance” to share with the class.
Physical literacy development is most effective when reinforced at home. Here’s how to engage families:
Implementing physical literacy programming isn’t without challenges. Here are solutions to common obstacles:
How do we know our physical literacy efforts are working? Look for these indicators:
When we prioritize physical literacy in early childhood, we give children more than just movement skills—we provide a foundation for health, confidence, and joy that can last a lifetime. In a world where physical activity levels continue to decline, our role as early educators has never been more important.
As Active for Life notes, developing physical literacy is similar to developing language literacy—it requires daily practice, encouragement, and joyful engagement. Just as we wouldn’t expect a child to become a reader without regular exposure to books and reading experiences, we can’t expect children to develop physical literacy without intentional opportunities for movement.
By creating environments rich in movement possibilities, implementing thoughtful teaching strategies, and celebrating physical development, we help ensure that every child has the opportunity to discover the joy of movement. According to PE Scholar, physically literate individuals are more likely to maintain healthy weights, build strong bones and muscles, and experience better cardiovascular health throughout their lives.
The benefits extend far beyond physical health. Research highlighted by Connected PE shows that skills developed through physical literacy—such as goal setting, perseverance, teamwork, and communication—transfer to other areas of life and learning. When children develop confidence in their moving bodies, they often develop confidence in their thinking minds as well.
Perhaps most importantly, physical literacy fosters a lifelong love for movement. Children who experience success and joy in physical activities during their early years are more likely to seek out and enjoy active pursuits throughout their lives. As one study published in PMC describes it, the preschool stage is the starting point of the “journey of physical literacy,” critical for developing fundamental movement skills and establishing healthy behaviors that ensure long-term success.
Every time we encourage a child to try climbing just one rung higher, help them experience the satisfaction of catching a ball for the first time, or celebrate their creative movement expression, we’re not just teaching physical skills—we’re nurturing their relationship with their own bodies and with the physical world around them.
This is the true gift of physical literacy: opening a door to a lifetime of movement, health, and joy that every child deserves to discover.
What physical literacy strategies have worked in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments below!
