Gross Motor Skills
During the first half term, we heavily focus on developing your child's gross motor skills. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies that are strong, balanced and coordinated. We develop your child's gross motor skills in lots of different ways at Tanworth: for example through building and climbing obstacle courses; creating big art using paint rollers and long-handled brushes; and taking part in our Squiggle whilst you Wiggle program.
Squiggle whilst you Wiggle
Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle is an early writing program created by a Shonette Bason-Wood, who also created the program: Dough Disco. Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle incorporates dance, music and large movements to help children develop the fine muscle control they need for writing. During Squiggle sessions, your child will learn a new gross motor movement to a piece of music while holding 'flappers' (bits of fabric) and dancing along to the music. The children then transfer these movements to floor level and swap their flappers for writing tools (crayons/pens/chalk, etc) to make marks, this could be in foam, on paper, in sand, etc. Finally, your child will then use this action to think of letters they can form that use this shape. These sessions are great fun but most importantly help your child to be confident mark makers.
Please see the video below to see which movement we are currently practising.
Dough Disco
Once the children have settled into Reception, they participate in regular Dough Disco sessions. We use Dough Disco as a warm up before our handwriting sessions as it helps the children to develop strength in their hands and fingers in preparation for holding a pencil and writing.