Gross motor activities are movements of the entire body such as the ability to roll over, walk, hop, climb, crawl, and jump. These activities increase blood flow, which feeds the brain.
Movement experiences should be introduced early in life and built upon year after year with classes and team sports.
Guidelines for Everyday Gross Motor Activities
Your child should have at least 30 minutes of structured (adult-lead) physical activity each day. The following activities can be fun for the entire family: taking a walk in the neighborhood or playing T-ball. Activities such as T-ball also help to develop ball skills such as catching, throwing, kicking, and hitting.
Your child should engage in 60 minutes or more of unstructured (free play) physical activity each day and should not be inactive for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping. If your child is involved in active play at an early age she will stay active and be physically fit in the future.
A great example of unstructured play would be taking your child to the neighborhood park and using the playground equipment. Encourage your child to go on the slide; because she needs to climb up stairs and position her body to sit on the slide so that she does not tip over, she develops balance and strength.
As your child develops, her gross motor skills will go from mastery of simple skills like jumping and crawling to more complex skills like riding a tricycle and standing on one foot.
