Action plans

From a relatively early stage in pregnancy mothers begin to sense the foetus moving inside them. The experience is peculiar and everyone tells a different story about what this extraordinary sensation of harbouring another being feels like. It signifies that the developing body and limbs of the baby are in motion as they explore the surrounding space. So, it is hardly surprising that after babies are born they continue to enjoy physical activity.

The way they behave and interact over the next three years is predominantly through physical responses, using their senses to experience and explore the world, including the people who care for them. It is for this reason that adults must provide an environment that is both safe and stimulating, so babies and toddlers learn to move through it purposefully and with confidence. In this way they gain an awareness of themselves and the impact they have on their surroundings.

Promoting a healthy baby

Birth to one year

The first movements of babies up to three months include: turning the head from side to side, flapping the arms and kicking the legs, making facial expressions and responding with the whole body to make their needs known.

* At this stage ensure that you support the head, which is the heaviest part of the baby's body.

* Create variety during their wakeful hours, carrying them about in a kangaroo pouch on your front, placing them in comfortable bouncy seats and lying them flat on their stomachs or their backs. In each of these positions young babies will develop a sense of themselves as individuals, learning how they affect the people and objects around them.

* Show interest and excitement in each new element of control that babies learn, such as kicking or reaching for toys dangling near them.

* Enrich their points of view by moving them about indoors and outdoors.

* Invite older children to interact with the babies by playing alongside them, so that they are stimulated by the activity and conversation of their older peers.

Giving babies reasons to move

Six months to one year

By six months, babies are responding more purposefully to the objects around them. They like investigating their surroundings and strain to be part of what is going on near them. They gain better control of their head and learn to roll over when they are changed or dressed. They can sit up if they are supported on your lap or with cushions on the floor. They are also able to pick up objects in their hands and let them go.

* Ensure that you take care when changing babies, never letting go of their squirming bodies.

* A bouncing baby of six months will love sitting on your lap to enjoy a story and participating in social activities such as lunchtime, singing and playing games.

* Prop babies up on the floor to ensure that they can see what is going on.

* Take them out in to the garden with other children so they can enjoy games and the equipment on which you can support them.

* Encourage them to stand on their feet on your lap so that they can delight in their first efforts to support their own weight.

* Put objects just out of their reach on a rug and see how intently babies stretch to grab them.

* By eight months, most babies will like sitting in a safe seat or a high chair at the table to enjoy a social meal. Always make sure that you offer lots of finger foods they can grasp in their palms or in a pincer movement, using their thumb and index finger.

* They will also be crawling or bottom shuffling and this makes their experience of the environment so much more fulfilling. They will be getting from A to B under their own steam, so make sure that you have interesting spaces for them to explore. Try using simple role-play boxes, treasure baskets, a book area, a building area and attach ballet bars at low levels so they can pull themselves up and practise a few first steps.

Walking and talking

One to two years

Between the age of one and two years, babies gain control of their whole bodies and achieve incredible skills in co-ordinating their arms and legs to balance themselves in an upright position. This is walking! It is the complex culmination of repeated attempts to stand upright for short periods and propel the body forward with the constant support of adult hands or a low-level, push-along trolley.

* From this upright position young toddlers can participate much more fully in all the exciting physical experiences offered to older children, including kicking a ball around, learning to catch and throw, making choices from a wider range of activities, and taking objects with them from one place to another.

* Help toddlers to indulge their curiosity and sense of adventure by involving them in movement activities such as marching to strident music, running in the garden, and digging in the sand pit or nursery allotment.

* Offer trolleys and trucks that they can push around and fill with objects.

* Involve them in creative experiences with paint, dough and drawing.

* Make sure there is a wide variety of props to play with, such as bags, hats and beads.

* Provide cosy reading areas indoors and outside where they can 'crash out'

for a while to listen to a story with you.

* Make all physical experiences fun and memorable by helping toddlers to engage in conversations with you. Doing is the most meaningful part of their lives at this stage and they will learn words and expressions that represent what they enjoy most.

Confidence in achievement

Two to three years

Two- to three-year-old children are well known for exhibiting strong independence skills and an attitude which communicates that they really do not want adults to intervene or help.

* Early years practitioners should be acutely aware of the importance of not doing things for young children, while realising that their efforts still require lots of encouragement, interest and acknowledgement.

* Set challenges that children can achieve, such as simple races carrying balls from one point to another.

* Provide basic trucks and bikes to mount and propel forward with their feet, so they will feel more grown-up as they copy the older children pedalling their bikes.

* Draw lines or circles in chalk on paving so they can move through this symbolic obstacle course like acrobats at the circus.

* Give them large paintbrushes and paint to turn simple cardboard boxes into boats, cars or aeroplanes.

* Use building blocks in the garden to encourage them to move objects around and have fun while creating interesting structures.

Being active is an essential and healthy part of being alive, so we must ensure that babies and young children have all the resources and encouragement they need to enjoy learning to control their own bodies.

From these firm foundations, the excitement of developing physical skills should stay with them throughout their lives. We have a great responsibility to support them so that they become confident and active members of our community. NW