Enabling Environments: Climbing - Up the wall

Four-year-olds attending a Leeds children's centre have been building their confidence, concentration and motor skills through trips to a local climbing wall.

'Leeds has a big focus on movement and physical skills, so as part of that focus, I decided to provide more opportunities for climbing,' says Swarcliffe Children's Centre teacher, Christine Floyd-Smith. 'I think climbing can develop organisational and cognitive skills that other types of movement can't.

'It is a wonderful way of developing perseverance, confidence, concentration, physical agility and organisational skills. Climbing is basically a problem-solving activity. We have found that mastery of all these skills leads to enhanced well-being and cognitive development.

'We hoped that climbing would also help to develop children's language skills, as a number of our children have language delay and there is evidence of the links between physical movement and language development.'

BRAINS AT WORK

The centre introduced the children to climbing through a traversing wall, which they bought with European small grant money, from High Noon Climbing Walls (see pictures).

To provide greater challenge, staff then chose six four-year-olds who had mastered the traversing wall and organised four sessions for them and their parents at the Depot Climbing Centre in Pudsey, Leeds.

At first the children tended to climb across the lower part of the wall, as they do on the traversing wall. But soon they mastered climbing up the 4m boulder wall - which has mats but no ropes for climbing at this height.

Climbing up to go through a tunnel and down a slide helped overcome any apprehension that the children had about climbing higher. From there, they progressed to trying to achieve certain tasks while climbing, such as passing through a hoop and under a bar.

As one staff member said, 'You could see their brains working, figuring out the best way to climb.'

The sessions, which were held over one month in the summer term, proved a success. 'We haven't done it long enough to measure the cognitive benefits, but from the limited experience we would say that the outcomes were very positive for both children and parents,' says Ms Floyd-Smith.

'The children made huge progress in the four weeks. They grew in confidence and ability. They looked forward to the sessions, counting down "sleeps", and they showed amazing confidence and ability to tackle difficult climbing problems.'

She adds, 'While some boys were excellent, the girls were generally better than the boys and had more spatial awareness.'

PARENTS INVOLVED

When the children were asked about their experiences, one said, 'It makes me feel like a super hero.'

Parents, too, were won over. 'Amazingly, parents were more worried about the one-hour journey on the service bus than the climbing,' says Ms Floyd-Smith. 'It was a very good vehicle for involving dads, and parents said they would be confident enough to go climbing themselves in the holidays.'

On the success of the initiative, the Depot Climbing Centre has now introduced sessions for parents and very young children during the summer holidays.

Ms Floyd-Smith says, 'We hope to repeat this over a longer period of time and to gather more information on the effects climbing has upon well-being and learning.'

Money, however, is an issue if the scheme is to continue and expand. The children's centre paid for the bus fares and negotiated a fee of just £5 each for the four sessions. There is no funding at present to pay for a minibus to reduce the long journey. Staff cover would also have to be taken into account.

'Despite the challenges,' says Ms Floyd-Smith, 'we would very much like to expand the pilot and give more families the opportunity to experience climbing and all the benefits it offers children and adults.'

MORE INFORMATION

• - www.highnoonclimbingwalls.com
• - www.theclimbingdepot.com
• - Physical development series by Anne O'Connor (Nursery World, 26 March, 16 April, 21 May, 18 June, 17 July 2009) explains the links between physical and language development.