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HOW GOOD IS THAT?

JANUARY 2008

Have you every wondered what physical skills a child should be able to do by the time they complete grade 6?

Children, if there well taught should have good grasp of the basic skills of running, jumping, throwing, catching, kicking, skipping, rolling, hanging, climbing, swimming ...

Below is a list of some of the key motor skills that I reckon form a basic foundation of motor skill development and physical fitness. They’re the sorts of activities that children and teachers alike can do, if they’re reasonably well trained.

• Do a good 30 seconds worth of double under skips.

• Sitting down, reach forward and get your wrists past your toes

• Sit down on the floor and stand up 10 times in 30 seconds

• Keep a yo yo going up and down for 30 seconds

• Throw a ball 20m

• Hop 20m on one leg, and then the other

• Catch a tennis ball from 10m

• Throw a tennis ball up in the air and clap 10 times before it comes down

   – and catch it.

• Put a bean bag between your heels and kick it over your head

• Swim 25 metres in less than a minute

• Duck dive and swim 5 metres under water

• Dive into the water from a height of a metre- or more

• Swing on a horizontal bar

• Swing across a monkey bar.

• Put one leg over the horizontal bar and swing up into a sitting position

• Hang by your legs from a horizontal bar

• Pat a tennis ball with your hand

• Pat a ball with a wooden bat or tennis racquet, flat on and also on the side.

• Crab walk for 10 metres

• Lie on your back and put your feet up over your head and onto the

   floor behind you

• Do a forward roll

• Do a backward roll

• Do a frog balance

• Do a cartwheel

• Do a 5 second handstand

• Hit a ball against a wall for 30 seconds using a bat – forehand and backhand

   from 5 metres

• Climb up a rope

• Ride a bike

And there must be dozens more things that kids ought to be able to do that suggest fitness and motor skill proficiency. If you can think of some, send me an email.

If you reckon you can do all of them, report back.

In the meantime stay tuned; highly tuned and remember the older you are the longer you've had time to train.

Regards
 

John Miller

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