Creative Ways to Add Movement to Your Homeschool
Humans are born to move, from the tiniest of babies to the greatest of grandmas still caring for their loved ones. The most basic yet critical movement skills develop between the ages of 0-3: rolling over, crawling, walking, and running. Young children spend much of their time learning and developing these motor skills, but less importance is placed on movement as they age. Since the 1960s, there has been a decline in free movement and an increase in sedentary lifestyles, which has lead to an epidemic of obesity and an alarming increase in learning and behavioral problems.
What is the solution? Movement! Movement is the key to learning. It activates the neural wiring throughout the body improving cognitive function. It is important to note here that movement does not only mean exercise, but the act of moving the body. Our bodies and brains were not meant to still for long periods.
It’s hard to know where to begin when trying to rethink something so big, but we’ve got you. First, create an environment where your children have the freedom to move. Then add movement with intention like yoga, dance, and martial arts. You’ll find this to be a very valuable way to aid in your children’s overall brain health!
Movement Enriched Environment
Between school and screens, children spend a lot of time sitting or staying stationary. I encourage you to think about ways to invite your children to move. This doesn’t just need to be making them participate in physical activity. Instead, get creative with your environment and provide opportunities for movement!
Movement Friendly Space
Look at your home. Are there multiple places to sit? Open spaces to move? Space can be limited, but there are ways you can make it movement friendly. If your children have desks, give them opportunities to work at them for a time and then find a new place to work for the next subject or activity. Where possible, make open floor space to encourage crawling, dancing, wrestling, and exploration. Creating a reading nook could be a great way to utilize a small space like the corner of a room, a closet, or under a table.
Don’t have enough space inside for movement? Get outside!! Whether it’s your backyard, the community park, or a city walk, get moving. Check out the 1,000 Hours Outside community for inspiration to get outside.
Inspire Movement
Now it’s time to inspire some opportunities for movement. Here are some of my favorite movement inspiring ideas:
FREE TIME - I’m always amazed at how my children naturally move through the house when given time.
Music - keeping some music on in the background can be very inspiring. Mix up the genres to see what your children seem to move to naturally. Turn up your favorite jams and try NOT to move!
Props & Equipment - keeping movement inspiring toys, costumes, props and equipment is an excellent way to get kids moving: trampolines (mini or large), pogo sticks, bouncy balls, bicycles, scooters, exercise balls, climbing rope, jump rope, butterfly wings, scarves, wands, etc. etc. etc.
Move Yourself - that’s right, model what you want to see. Keep yourself moving throughout the day and invite the kids to come with you… sometimes, when you aren’t in need of alone time.
Movement With Intention
As a dance educator of nearly 20 years, this section is my favorite! I love providing movement prompts to children and finding ways to challenge and inspire them to move creatively.
Amongst the arts, dance is unique in its ability to weave together music, movement, and developmental skills (cognitive, emotional, physical, and social) in educational settings. There are many studies that show dance not only improves cognitive function in students, but social emotional learning.
Warm-Up the Brain for Learning
I developed this warm-up when I began a Creative Dance for Early Childhood course through the National Dance Education Organization as part of my Certificate in Dance Education. I learned that this warm-up was exciting for children of all ages and abilities. Even children with no interest in dance enjoy this warm up. Because this warm-up stimulates the brain, it is an excellent way to start the day before academic learning begins! This creative movement warm-up was inspired by Anne Green Gilbert's BrainDance, a full body-brain exercise based on development movement patterns.
Movement for Brain Breaks
Take movement breaks often throughout the day to break up the amount of time spent sitting or studying. Here are some of my favorite ways to invite your kids to move:
Dance Party - throw on some music and invite your kids to dance it out with you
Freeze Dance - play DJ for a little while and have your kids dance to their favorite songs while you pause the music intermittently making them freeze until you start it again.
Action Dance Songs - if your kids love music and following along, try some action dance songs. You can use my favorite playlist for young children or create your own.
Creative Movement Prompts - find ways to connect your academic lessons to movement. If you studied butterflies, for instance, ask your kids to show you how butterflies move. Ask them to think about that movement, is it sharp or smooth? Fast or slow? It doesn’t need to be overly complicated, it just needs to be movement with meaning.
Yoga - introduce your children to yoga in your home. Try Cosmic Kids Yoga! Jamie is super entertaining and has themes that are bound to peak your child’s interest.
Lessons Outside the Home - look for martial arts, soccer, track & field, dance, or swimming lessons for children who need more movement opportunities or have the desire to develop a skill.
Movement Integration
Consider integrating movement into the teaching/learning of other subjects. Math, for example, is very easy to create movements to help master concepts whether it is recognizing patterns, learning shapes, understanding angles. The body is a great tool to visualize and feel these concepts.
There’s a huge movement advance arts integration into the school classrooms as it is highly beneficial for academic achievement and future success. It is much more of a challenge for public, traditional schools to integrate the arts, but us homeschool families have a much easier job of it! For more on this, I suggest reading Reinvesting in Arts Education and The Kennedy Center’s, What is Arts Integration?
Moving is an integral part of our lives, put some intention into encouraging more movement in your home and observe the benefits it may have in your children. Now, cue up some music and…