Body awareness is our ability to know where we are in space and how much space we take up.   When we play hide and seek, we have to judge whether we will fit under the sofa or under the bed.  We learn this by fitting our bodies into old boxes, crawling through tunnels or playing in tents.  These confined spaces, which children love and crave, allow them to learn the edges of their bodies by feeling the space around them.

Why is it important?  It helps keep children from running into walls or each other when they walk from their classroom to the bathroom at school.  It allows them to play on the playground without running into each other or the playground fence.  And when they do tumble over another child, or bump into the fence, their bodies have taken note of the experience, their brains have laid down a neural connection which they will then use to judge both space and distance the next time they are running in a pack of kids.

But there is another reason this is important, and it isn’t safety.  Children transfer the knowledge they experience by moving their bodies in big body play to the classroom.  When they begin to draw pictures on a piece of paper and eventually begin to write, they must judge where to start their work: on the right side, left side or center.  Once they start, do they have enough room to finish their drawing, the letter A or the word Apple?  These are skills they have learned as young children by moving their bodies through space in big body play.

So get out the sheets for forts, play hide and seek, crawl through that play tunnel, forwards and backwards.  Let them experience space and where they are in it!

Learn more: Body Awareness Short on YouTube

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