Summary:

Physical activities are essential for children's development, fostering motor skills, literacy, numeracy, and emotional stability. Kindergarten activities, such as drawing, running, and playing, focus on fine motor skills. Elementary school activities emphasize refining gross and fine motor skills, incorporating more structured physical education and outdoor learning. Both stages aim to improve physical health and overall well-being.

What physical activities are necessary in schools | How do kindergarten and elementary school activities are different from each other?

Activities in Schools:

Physical activities play an important role in the development of basic motor skills in children. To work, sitting in a place for a long time, is very difficult for children, so it very important to give special attention to the need of physical activities of children before schooling or at the stage of early school years.

The difference between kindergarten and elementary school activities.

1- Preschool and Kindergarten:

Preschool or kindergarten children are generally between the ages of three and five. At this age, children gain enough control over their fine motor skills which helps them to write, draw and do all activities that need to use their hands, fingers and feet. Traditional physical activities for children of this age include running, jumping, leaping, drawing, coloring, cutting, joining and playing with wet mud, etc. Some non-traditional physical activities can also be introduced with the help of teachers and parents such as playing outside as rewards, drama etc. In addition, many activities such as Lego, magnet experiments, music, moving quickly from one place to another, doing things while standing still can provide better opportunities for healthy physical development.

Purposeful and fun-filled physical activities can play an effective role in the learning process. These activities lay the foundation for literacy, numeracy and creativity skills and emotional stability in the years to come.

The Characteristics of Kindergarten School Children:

i- Are very indulging and friendly.

ii- Are more self-reliant.

iii- Persist in achieving goals, can plan and execute.

iv- Often play with two or three friends even if the time is short and change playgroups.

v- Begin to get along with others.

vi- At the age of six, they are assertive, often dominating the situation.

vii- Desire to be first and are not ready to tolerate failure.

viii- Want to control things and brags.

ix- Wish for love, often have a relation with parents a mixture of hate and love.

x- Gender roles become more prominent.

xi- Are concerned about clothes.

2- Elementary school:

School-age children begin to improve their gross and fine motor skills. With this improvement, they master activities that require correct controlling of hands and body movements, such as writing. Daily physical activity should be included in the routine of school-going children, and health and physical education classes can be helpful in this regard. Apart from this, children can be taken outside the four walls of the school and taught about living and non living things.

All of these activities aim to get children moving their bodies at a moderate or higher intensity. Some educators believe that engaging children in vigorous physical activities at the elementary school level has positive effects on their overall health during puberty.

The Characteristics of Elementary School 

Children:

i- Want to expand, out side social relations.

ii- Peers become very important.

iii- Want to live with friends, making groups.

iv- Want to be as their friends are and wish to be accepted by group.

v- Develop a sense of cooperation instead to compete.

vi- Are impressed by older children, family members and teachers and praise them.