Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Aesthetic & Physical Development Chapter 9
MOVEMENT
• Acknowledge integration in your plans, e.g.,
the writing area emphasizes small-muscle
development, oral language skills, and
concepts about print and visual arts.
At the beginning of life, movement allows a child to
explore the world and separate the me from the not
me. Movement and learning are inseparable. Infants
repeat and refine movements to develop control of this
tool for learning and outlet for emotions. Providing a
safe, open environment for movement exploration is
critically important. “Children need opportunities to
express intent – to plan and talk about what they are
going to do before they act. They need opportunities
to carry out their plans and then recall what they have
done. Planning and awareness are keys to thoughtful,
purposeful movement” (Weikart, 1989).
Movement is part of our social language
by which we are able to communicate with
others. The art form of dance is a way of
forming and sharing the way we respond
to the world in which we live by paying
particular attention to experiences and
giving them significance, particularly
those experiences that can be organized
and ordered in bodily movement (Lowden,
1989).
Fundamental movement abilities include:
steady beat independence, coordination, aural/visual
processing, attending and concentrating, spacial
awareness, language acquisition, creativity and problem
solving, planning and decision making, and energy and
vitality. Movement experiences need to be engaging,
enabling and extending (Weikart, 1989). Creative
movement education:
• develops neural networks necessary for future
learning;
• increases the child’s movement vocabulary,
leading to competent and confident movement;
• increases the language vocabulary, particularly
verbs and adverbs;
• is a source of personal meaning, significance
and power through self-concept;
• offers opportunities to solve problems
through physical action;
• provides opportunities to develop relationships
with others through leading, following,
allowing time and space for others, and
being a contributing member of a group;
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• releases high energy or tension, leading to
relaxation; and
• provides imaginative ways to explore or
practice concepts and skills from other
subjects (Weikart, 1989).
Movement experiences are noncompetitive.
Children learn about working with others and about
how to share space without interfering. They learn
about their own bodies in space and how to control
movement, direction and tempo. Confidence, creative
ideas and self-esteem all result from quality music and
movement curriculums.
Best Practices
The following best practices in the areas of creative
movement and dance are recommended for use by early
childhood educators.
• Provide children with a vocabulary to
describe their movements: high, low, under,
as slow as, etc; and provide opportunities for
children to talk about their movements.
• Move to show placement, e.g., over, around,
through, on, in, next to; and to show emotions
such as anger, fear and happiness.
• Give directions for movement. Start with one
step and gradually increase the complexity
of the directions as children’s skills develop.
Start with large-motor coordination and build
a movement vocabulary before focusing on
small-motor coordination.
• Use a variety of music, from classical or jazz
to world music, to stimulate different types
of movement. Encourage children to notice
changes in pitch and tempo and to adjust their
movements.
• Involve all children in movement activities,
but allow a choice of participation.
• Be prepared for the excitement that
movement activities create. Begin slowly
and be patient.
• Describe and label the children’s movements
to encourage new and more elaborate
movements (e.g., Xavier is walking on tip
toes. Holly is spinning like a helicopter. Sam
is stopping when the music stops and listening
before he begins again.).
• Use movement to illustrate the characters and
action of stories. Sing songs with structured
movements such as Bluebird, Rig a Jig Jig, I’m a
Little Teapot, or Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes.
• Move to music of different cultural groups,
especially those represented in the class.