How embracing outdoor learning can positively impact the development of gross motor skills for young children

Frank McNally of the Irish Times and former LAI keynote speaker, recently posted a video on Twitter, depicting a bustling Dublin city centre, comparing it to the Latin Quarter in Paris. The video shows people enjoying this recent and ‘new normal’ move to dining al fresco, drinking coffee al fresco and pretty much doing everything else ‘al fresco’.

It reminded me of another popular news story that I had seen, that also highlighted our newfound dependency on the outdoor environment – the construction of an outdoor classroom – ‘The Learning Lodge’ in St Patrick’s National School, County Wicklow. I wondered subsequently, about the opportunities that Covid-19 is presenting us with in relation to outdoor learning and the important development of gross motor skills.

Gross motor skills, while typically associated with physical education and sporting participation, are a vital component of literacy learning. Gross motor skills – balance, stability, core strength, bilateral coordination, crossing the mid-line and proprioception are key to the development of emergent writing in young children (Feder & Majnemer, 2007, Ayres, 1989). Research indicates that poor motor skills and handwriting skills may impede children’s writing efforts by interfering with other writing processes (Graham, 2008). Graham et al (2011) refer to the Writer Effect, which describes how handwriting “consumes an inordinate amount of cognitive resources” (p. 226, 2016) until it becomes a fluent and automatic skill. Poor handwriting fluency causes the child to have to switch attention during composing to think about how to form a particular letter, which subsequently leads to the child forgetting their writing ideas or plans. It is critical therefore, that we not only consider the role that gross motor skills play in the development of writing skills, but that we continue to actively promote and encourage the development of these fundamental skills.

So how can we capitalise on the opportunity that Covid-19 has presented us with? That is, to use whatever outdoor space we have available to us in order develop the gross motor skills and the emergent writing skills of our young learners in a safe and socially distanced manner? The Irish Primary PE Association (IPPEA) has presented a number of popular Webinars in conjunction with Education Centres all over the country over the past month. The Webinars have provided guidance on the safe provision of Physical Education in schools during the Covid-19 pandemic and are informed by the Returning to school: Curriculum guidance for primary school leaders and teachers (July 2020) and the European Physical Education Association Position Statement on Physical Education in Schools, During The Covid-19 Pandemic (June 2020). The demand for the Webinars and the numbers of teachers seeking information and knowledge are evidence that Physical Education and Gross Motor development remains a priority for teachers in these challenging times.

Below is a table of suggested activities across four strands of the PE curriculum which has been adapted from the IPPEA Guidance Document for Teaching PE. The PDST have also produced a very useful and comprehensive resource for the teaching of PE throughout the current pandemic – 120 Non-Contact Activities for Physical Education Across the Primary School. All of the activities listed can be delivered in a safe and socially distanced manner and are in-line with the aims and objectives of the PE curriculum. However, the table highlights the Gross Motor skills specific to the development of emergent handwriting skills that can also be developed through engagement with these Physical Education activities. Covid or no Covid, let’s motor on and use this time to embrace children’s natural love of outdoor and active learning. The proof of time well spent will be in the pudding or in this case hopefully, the handwriting copies.

Strand	Activity*	GMS for Writing*
Athletics	Jumping: chalked activities that involve leaping, jumping or hopping on the ground   Walking: physically distanced follow the leader, ‘funny walks’	Balance & Stability Core-strength Bilateral-coordination Spatial awareness
Games	Playground games without equipment / minimal equipment (Wall Ball, What Time is it Mr. Wolf, Mother May I?)   Sending, receiving, travelling using personal piece of equipment (ball, hurley, unihoc stick)	Hand-eye coordination, Proprioception Balance & Stability Core-strength Bilateral-coordination Spatial awareness
Dance	Creative dance: Mirroring and matching/leading and following movements in pairs with suitable distancingUsing songs and poems as stimuli for dancesUsing a dice to call travel actions, pathways and directions of movementFocus on developing dances and performances	Visual tracking Crossing the mid-line Hand-eye coordination, Proprioception Balance & Stability Core-strength Bilateral-coordination Spatial awareness
Gymnastics	Task cards (attached to wall) for individual balances   Travelling on feet with distance between pupils   Where sanitised mats are available try simple rolls/sequences, keeping children in allocated pods	Hand-eye coordination, Proprioception Balance & Stability Core-strength Bilateral-coordination Spatial awareness

* Adapted from IPPEA Guidance Document for Teaching PE
** Adapted from author’s PhD Research Stud