Monday, January 24, 2011

Motor Planning

Crawling down an inclined plane looks easy, but when you've only been around for 50 months or so, it is a skill that needs to be practiced and learned. Motor planning is the term used to describe a child's ability to interact successfully with his physical environment. Planning, organizing, and carrying out motor actions, particularly those that are unfamiliar, are components of motor planning.

With the inclined plane, Josh and Sam have to figure out how balance and shift so that the weight of their bodies doesn't push or topple them down the incline. They must think about how to move their hands and arms to stabilize their torsos and enable them to inch to the bottom.

Watch carefully and you can seek their brains at work. Sometimes they need a bit of coaching from a teacher to help figure out which hand to move first. Then they are on a roll, at first tentatively moving to the mat at the bottom, and then negotiating the challenge with ever increasing confidence and skill.

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