The Importance of Movement in Child Development

While passive learning may be easier for adults to control, it's not as good for your child's brain. Many studies have demonstrated that children need opportunities to move as part of their development.

Research shows that encouraging free movement can give children space to develop self-awareness, learn non-verbal ways of communicating and to get to know themselves and their body. Children learn their range of motion, balance, muscle strength, coordination, and endurance.

The role of active play has been established not just as a part of learning, but as the basis for overall healthy social and emotional development. In America where learning has become a lot more structured and passive, some child education centres are seeking ways to bring physical movement back into the classroom in different ways - whether its dance, yoga, or free play. Schools and early childhood centres that have integrated more movement into the children's day have seen noticeable gains in their student's attention spans.

We also now know that memory and movement are linked and active play has been found to provide important opportunities for learning and development. Emily Cross, a professor in the School of Psychology at the United Kingdom’s Bangor University has studied the impact of movement on memory and learning. New neuroscience research shows that active learning, where the learner is doing, moving, acting, and interacting, can strikingly change the way the brain works, accelerating a child's learning process, she has said.

In other words, children will absorb new skills better while doing, engaging their bodies and their minds rather than by simply observing or reading.

With large indoor and outdoor spaces, the Learning Tree child care centres are fully committed to the development of your child.