Lessons · Teaching · motor skills, and the order children acquire them in
The order children actually acquire movement in
Fundamental movement skills come in three families: locomotor, which move the body from place to place; stability, which control it in one place; and manipulative, which act on an object. They develop in a broad order, and a skill missing from the base makes everything built on it look like clumsiness.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
A child who cannot catch is not uncoordinated, they are usually missing a step that was never taught. Naming the families lets you diagnose that in one lesson instead of writing a child off as unsporty, which is a judgement that sticks for a decade.
How to think about it
Watch for the base skill under the failing one. A child who cannot strike a moving ball may not be tracking it with their eyes. A child who falls when changing direction may not have the stability skills to stop. Teach the missing base directly rather than repeating the task they are failing.
Worked example
Locomotor: run, hop, skip, gallop, leap, jump, slideMoving the body somewhere. Skipping is later than it looks and is a real milestone.
Stability: balance, twist, turn, bend, stop, land, dodgeControlling the body in place. Landing and stopping are taught skills, not instincts.
Manipulative: throw, catch, kick, strike, dribble, rollActing on an object, and the family most affected by a missing stability skill.
Catching develops from a large slow ball close in, outwardA child failing to catch a tennis ball may catch a beach ball perfectly. Change the object before changing the child.
Your turn
Name the family of skills that move the body from place to place.
Running, hopping and skipping are skills
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Calling a missing skill a lack of talent. Nearly every primary child who looks hopeless at a game is missing one teachable base skill, and the only way to find out is to look at what is underneath rather than at the game.