What are locomotor skills?
Locomotor skills involve moving your body from one location to another. Many locomotor skills are used on a daily basis (e.g. running after a bus, leaping over a puddle), as well as in many games and sports (e.g. jumping up to catch a ball). To move with control, your child will need good balance, as well as an awareness of the environment in terms of effort, space, and in relation to people or objects. This is because body movements often occur in relation to at least one of these factors.
Click here to read about balance and stability.
Locomotor skills include (in ascending levels of difficulty for most children):
- Walking
- Running
- Leaping
- Jumping (off a height),
- Jumping for height (vertical jump),
- Jumping for distance (horizontal jump),
- Sliding
- Galloping
- Hopping
- Skipping
When should these skills be developed?
While children learn the different locomotor skills at their own pace, many would learn to walk at about one year old, then progress to run and jump at about two years of age. From about three, they start to explore sliding, galloping, hopping and skipping. To master these skills, children need instructions at an early age and lots of opportunities to practise them in a fun way.
How to develop locomotor skills
Running is one of the most basic movement skills required in our everyday life. It is also a foundational skill required in many dynamic activities, games and sports (e.g. tag games, athletics, hockey, rugby). Mastering good running techniques for different situations will enable your child to move successfully and confidently.
Ask your child or the learners in your class to run:
- Heavily like an elephant
- Funny as a clown
- In a quick-slow-quick rhythm
- On the spot like a hamster on the wheel
- Along the outlines of a big lazy 8 figure on the floor and reach for the clouds
- Holding hands with your sisters and/or brothers
