March 2012 - Green Meadow Waldorf School

Nurse’s Corner
The Importance of Movement in Child Development
By Green Meadow School Nurse and member of the Wellness Committee, Jeanne Schirm
Children have the capacity to
move even before birth. In fact
movement starts in the womb.
Growth movements, differentiated
movements and formative
movements begin in the womb.
When we are born, we have a
breathing movement, which allows
us to be on the earth. The sense
of movement in the newborn child
is developed slowly. A beautiful
movement that perhaps many of
us have observed is at about three
months of age when the child
begins to observe his own hands
and then later, feet. Stretching and
reaching and playing with hands
and feet are all exercises which
support the development of the
sense of movement. The best way
to ensure that children have enough
physical activity is to see that they
have enough rest. Perception of
movements requires rest. Too
many gestures around the child
are unfavorable. It is important
that children develop their own
individual movement patterns on
their own time and in their own way.
The sense of movement enables
the human being to determine
the position of limbs in relation
to the body and to another. The
sense of movement can teach the
child to perceive movement and
form in the outer world and can be
activated throughout life. This sense
is probably educated the most and
often not in the right way. Inwardly,
on the soul level, mobility gives us
a sense of freedom. The hopping,
skipping dancing child is an example
of this. The opposite of this feeling
can be observed in differently abled
children. They do not have this
ability to move freely and thus, feel
bound to their bodies.
Bodily motions are meaningful
for children when they fit their
possibilities and life situations. For
example, it would not be desirable
to hold a child’s hand when they
would rather crawl, just as it would
not be helpful to teach them to skip
or hop before they would naturally
be ready to learn these things. This
would go against the nature of
movement.
The organs for movement are located
in the muscles. They include muscle
spindles, motor endplates and all
stretch sensitizer organs that are
distributed over the entire movement
organization, including tendons
and ligaments. In this way, the body
can perceive stretching, tension,
relaxation and position in relation to
other parts of the body. The entire
body is involved when we move even
if we are only moving one part. The
entire movement organization of
the human being is involved in the
perception of movement.
We find more and more children
today are not used to moving and
playing and because of this, have
missed important developmental
stages in movement. Many people
are not sufficiently aware of their
bodies, their motions, and their
orientation in space. This lack of
awareness has repercussions for
learning and general health that can
last well into adulthood. Many of
the learning disabilities and social
problems that exist today can be
traced to missed or hampered
development in movement. Spatial
Dynamics is a form of movement in
Waldorf education that stimulates
this development through ageappropriate
movement exercises.
For instance, very young children
develop fine-motor control
and a sense of rhythm through
finger games, string games and
clapping rhythmically. Circle games
and jumping rope can further
develop their sense of rhythm and
relatedness to the surrounding
space. These activities aid in
developing an enhanced sense of
self-awareness of their personal
space, yet with clearly defined
boundaries, thus enabling young
children to move fully and at the
same time know who they are.
In this way, they can enter into a
more healthy relationship with
the world more ready to meet its
requirements.
Another factor that is immensely
important to mention in regard to
movement is that young children
The sense of movement can teach the child to
perceive movement and form in the outer world
and can be activated throughout life.
in their early years learn through
imitation. They will imitate the
inward gesture of much that
surrounds them by way of others
and even by way of technology and
TV characters if they are exposed
to this at an early age. What one
wants to strive for in gesture is to
know the world. For example, how
does a plant grow What is the
squirrel’s quality of movement
Imagine then, how you could convey
these qualities in gesture so that
the children, imitating you, can feel
the plant growth or the animal’s
movements. The key with gesture
is be something rather than explain
something. Try to be aware of as
many of your gestures as possible,
for this is what the children imitate.
They most long to do everything as
the adults do around them. There
is a real need for them to have
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The Bulletin • March 2012 • 9