Outdoors exercise enhances the development of children’s motor skills

Children’s gross and fine motor can be trained and give them opportunities to develop as good as possible through giving right incentives and tasks on the right time of the developmental phase. When around 12 months old child stands alone taking her first steps or learns how to climb up the stairs and later on discovers the joys of running, a journey of a discovery begins. Children around two year old already know how to jump and can keep their body stable on a balance beam. A three year old child can jump with one foot and stand on it for awhile.

Good places to develop both fine and gross motor skills are for example parks and playground areas (in Finnish: leikkialue), where there is a safe environment to search the boundaries of ones abilities and reach over them learning new skills. On playground areas there is possibility to practice for example jumping over object and rope climbing or glide on slides and have a safe landing, usually on the soft sandy ground. Even if the child seems to be confident and solid with his physical skills the safety rules are good to remember on the playground areas.

Playing games and taking part on child’s journey through new and greatly inspiring environments makes the learning a discovery not only for the child, but for the parent as well. Outdoor activities together build also the bond between the parent and the child. Exercising with the family helps to mediate healthy way of living for next generation. It also gives to a child a non-competitive environment to practice motor skill, without having the pressure to succeed and having a go to try again and again and learn through mistakes. The learning and discovering of the new abilities and motor skills also improves child’s self-esteem and gives positive experiences.