Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives7. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination, which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

ELG: Gross Motor Skills

• Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others.
• Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing.
• Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing.

ELG: Fine Motor Skills

• Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing – using the tripod grip in almost all cases.
• Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery.
• Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.

Birth to Three Years Old

Gross Motor Skills

• Tummy time.
• Opportunities to play sitting.
• Opportunities to pull myself up.
• Walking and running.
• Moving on different surfaces and at different heights.
• Climbing using steps and ramps.
• Big movements outdoors.
• Using bikes and scooters.

Fine Motor Skills

• Playing with small toys.
• Mark making using different media.
• Handling fine objects like sand.
• Developing hand strength using playdough and other malleable materials
• Joining pieces of small construction together.
• Using tweezers.
• Threading

Nursery 3-4 Years Old

Gross Motor Skills

• Opportunities to move in different ways.
• Moving like animals, with weight on the hands, building strength.
• Using movement adaptations of effort, space and relationships to develop different ways of moving. 

Fine Motor Skills

• Providing lots of small objects for children to move with their fingers.
• Activities such as putting coins into a money box, beads onto laces and boxes to wrap up.

Reception 4-5 Years Old

Gross Motor Skills

• Link different ways of moving. e.g. ask children to skip to the water tray, hop to the sand.
• Introduce rhythmic movements that take a lot of coordination.
• Use the movement adaptations of effort, space and relationships to enhance walking and running

Fine Motor Skills

• Variety of writing opportunities, labels, lists, and sentences.
• Making loom bracelets or bracelets with beads.
• Variety of malleable materials.
• Using buttons and zips.

Birth to Three Years Old - babies, toddlers and young children will be learning to:

• Lift their head while lying on their front.
• Push their chest up with straight arms.
• Roll over: from front to back, then back to front.
• Enjoy moving when outdoors and inside.
• Sit without support.
• Begin to crawl in different ways and directions.
• Pull themselves upright and bouncing in preparation for walking.
• Reach out for objects as co-ordination develops.
• Pass things from one hand to the other. Let go of things and hand them to another person, or drop them.
• Fit themselves into spaces, like tunnels, dens and large boxes, and move around in them.
• Enjoy starting to kick, throw and catch balls.
• Build independently with a range of appropriate resources.
• Begin to walk independently – choosing appropriate props to support at first.
• Walk, run, jump and climb – and start to use the stairs independently.
• Spin, roll and independently use ropes and swings (for example, tyre swings).
• Sit on a push-along wheeled toy, use a scooter or ride a tricycle.
• Use large and small motor skills to do things independently, for example manage buttons and zips, and pour drinks.
• Show an increasing desire to be independent, such as wanting to feed themselves and dress or undress.
• Start eating independently and learning how to use a knife and fork.

3 and 4-year-olds will be learning to:

• Continue to develop their movement, balancing, riding (scooters, trikes and bikes) and ball skills.
• Go up steps and stairs, or climb up apparatus, using alternate feet.
• Skip, hop, stand on one leg and hold a pose for a game like musical statues.
• Use large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks.
• Start taking part in some group activities which they make up for themselves, or in teams.
• Increasingly be able to use and remember sequences and patterns of movements which are related to music and rhythm.
• Match their developing physical skills to tasks and activities in the setting. For example, they decide whether to crawl, walk or run across a plank, depending on its length and width.
• Choose the right resources to carry out their own plan. For example, choosing a spade to enlarge a small hole they dug with a trowel.
• Collaborate with others to manage large items, such as moving a long plank safely, carrying large hollow blocks.
• Use one-handed tools and equipment, for example, making snips in paper with scissors.
• Use a comfortable grip with good control when holding pens and pencils.
• Show a preference for a dominant hand.
• Be increasingly independent as they get dressed and undressed, for example, putting coats on and doing up zips.

Children in reception will be learning to:

• Revise and refine the fundamental movement skills they have already acquired:
• rolling
• crawling
• walking
• jumping
• running
• hopping
• skipping
• climbing
• Progress towards a more fluent style of moving, with developing control and grace.
• Develop the overall body strength, co-ordination, balance and agility needed to engage successfully with future physical education sessions and other physical disciplines including dance, gymnastics, sport and swimming.
• Develop their small motor skills so that they can use a range of tools competently, safely and confidently. Suggested tools: pencils for drawing and writing, paintbrushes, scissors, knives, forks and spoons.
• Use their core muscle strength to achieve a good posture when sitting at a table or sitting on the floor.
• Combine different movements with ease and fluency.
• Confidently and safely use a range of large and small apparatus indoors and outside, alone and in a group.
• Develop overall body-strength, balance, co-ordination and agility.
• Further develop and refine a range of ball skills including: throwing, catching, kicking, passing, batting, and aiming.
• Develop confidence, competence, precision and accuracy when engaging in activities that involve a ball.
• Develop the foundations of a handwriting style which is fast, accurate and efficient.
• Further develop the skills they need to manage the school day successfully:
• lining up and queuing
• mealtimes