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Why are flexible exercise spaces so important for children's development?

Did you know that, according to WHO, 80% of children and adolescents move too little? Movement is the basis for healthy development. But childhood has never been as unexpected as it is today. Movement is learning and learning is movement. For many parents, it is challenging to bring children to physical movement. The solution to this can be the flexible design of movement rooms so that children can develop freely. We'll tell you how you can create exercise rooms in daycare centers, schools and many other places.

Warum sind flexible Bewegungsräume für die Entwicklung von Kindern so wichtig?Warum sind flexible Bewegungsräume für die Entwicklung von Kindern so wichtig?

Movement rooms contribute to the development of children

For children, exercise is the form of expression of joie de vivre - jumping, dancing, jumping, racing. It is also the engine of a holistic development. The motor skills and skills as well as emotional and social skills are important parameters for this. Children learn with every movement and collect impressive impressions with all their senses. For example, every gripping becomes grasp and every grasp to grasp. Through such experiences, children learn which shapes can be stacked or how a rotating lock of a bottle works. In child development, it is important that movement is not only limited to motor skills. It serves to fold in personality and is a transfer fund to lock synapses. Movement cannot only be limited to physical activity, because thinking and acting lives from movement. That is why the psychosocial shares, i.e. language, culture and social aspects, also play an important role. Physical and cognitive learning processes do not take place separately, but in interaction. Movement rooms create the basis for learning processes.

The movement behavior and the natural urge to move of children

Whether in your own four walls, in kindergarten, in the forest or in the park - the area affects the movement behavior of a child. Children carry an inner, natural urge to move, which can be observed well when a children runs, dances or hops for no apparent reason. The basic requirement for its development is enough freedom. The problem: children spend a large part of their day in closed rooms. In addition, this urge to move is suppressed by our seating habits. After all, even children sit about 7.5-10 hours a day. Heavy tables and rigid chairs contribute significantly to physical passivity. That is why stimulating, moving rooms - even in a small space - are so important for children. Movement rooms should not only be created in the daycare or school, but also in your own four walls.

Integrative movement - what is that?

The need for movement and the aforementioned inner urge to move of children cannot be broken down to individual sports lessons a day. Both must be able to be lived out by regular activities in everyday life. Unconscious physical activities such as the change between seats and standing, is called integrative movement. The diverse postures when playing and learning near the ground are also included. Movement rooms that encourage spontaneous and intuitive movement are the basis for this. These unconscious movements stimulate the muscles continuously and promote oxygen supply, metabolism and well -being.

 The concept of movement space

Movement rooms should meet a wide variety of needs and prerequisites for children. We recommend flexibly changeable and versatile elements and furniture. The educational scientist and founder of reggio pedagogy in Loris Malaguzzi, described the room as a “third educator”, right after parents or educators: inside and the other children. Physical, mental, emotional and social development processes are significantly influenced by the room situation. The effect of the space creates a connection to the child and therefore an interaction. The flexible elements and furniture enable the steady change in the room but also the resulting connection to the child remains formable. The room serves as a "impulse provider" and the child always has the opportunity to freely design it. This natural urge to change and design creates a continuous cycle of moving action and reaction. The prerequisite for this is the basic security of the room and objects. The objects should offer the greatest possible scope for potential for action. The room and its elements should be able to be researched and played completely independently and self -determined by the children. Bans, attacks and unnecessary interventions of the adult are out of place here.

Checklist for movement rooms that enable holistic and free development:

  • Flexibly changeable and versatile elements that meet different needs
  • The design of the room should be so that it serves as a "impulse provider"
  • Possibility to change and design permanent so that a circulation can be created from reaction and action.
  • All elements and the space itself should be safe and not a risk of injury.
  • As few interventions, rules and forbidden as possible to enable free development.

Flexible room elements for movement rooms in the daycare center

So that children can use the space independently according to their individual needs and preferred actions, it requires easy and changeable furniture - clear and simple forms that do not specify function, but can be intuitively discovered and used by the children. In individual work or in a team, concentrated or relaxed, sitting or standing, lying on the floor or on high levels; A variety of teaching and learning methods are actively supported by movable elements. With the help of mobile furnishing elements, you can switch quickly and easily between different organizational forms and places. Available open space, such as the hallway or the entrance area, is effectively used and converted into movement rooms. Preparation for a movement -inviting space and game situations should be discussed and carried out in the group together with the children. Thus, the child learns as an active co -designer. The establishment of a room situation brings valuable social interactions between the child-child and the child teacher: with it. The children learn to respect each other, plan together and to cope with the obstacles that appear. It is important that the objects can be moved and organized independently by the children. A great and valuable side effect is the strengthening of the "we feeling". The joint activity combines children with different physical requirements and socio -cultural backgrounds. Our tips for exercise rooms in daycare centers or kindergartens
  • Use easy and changeable furniture that can be intuitively discovered by children.
  • Mobile furnishing elements enable the quick change between different organizational forms in the movement space
  • Preparations for game situations should be carried out together with the group in order to strengthen social interaction.
  • Objects in movement rooms should be able to move and organize independently by the children.

Off to the fresh air - the world is the largest movement space

The most beautiful and healthiest play and learning environment is nature. Where the sun and wind can be felt and there is a lot of space for movement, children can develop freely, see, feel, hear, smell and discover new things. Here you will find a variety of structured and multifunctional materials that the child spurs on physical and cognitive top performance. Stories are played out, the content heard is deepened and supplemented in free play. Mobile elements can enrich nature as a design space in a variety of ways and expand the movement, game and learning offer in the outdoor area. Experience and shaping the time in nature together with children is an enormously valuable educational resource for everyone involved. Of course, this also applies to family time. Discover nature together with your children, boost your imagination again and unfold a variety of (almost forgotten) potentials that do your health, your body and your mind good. Good to know: Stapelstein® Originals are multi -talents and can be used as well as an outdoor.

The floor - an almost forgotten treasure for exercise rooms

The most valuable potential in a movement space is the often forgotten soil. The floor is open. This means that a new meaning or function can be attributed to him depending on the situation - seating area, play area, dance floor, work surface or lying landscape. The floor offers a lot of creative freedom. Accordingly, the free floor area can be structured with the help of mobile elements. In addition, the soil offers adult the opportunity to participate in the child's play and learning at eye level. Sitting close to the ground supports communication and the social bond between the teacher: in/in/parent and the child. Sitting on the floor or near the ground stimulates the constant change of attitude, which brings positive physical aspects. For example, the ergonomic sitting on one Stapelstein® Board, that also stimulates blood circulation. Movement rooms enable far more than just movement.

Space design of movement rooms

Space objects such as furniture and toys should be stowed away easily, quickly and space -saving so that as much freedom as possible for spontaneous movement offers can be created. Day care centers and schools are exercise rooms that are used by children with different age and level of development. In order not to keep (movement) space are therefore not the variety but the diversity and multifunctionality of the objects of crucial importance. Game objects should be able to be adapted to individual needs in their level of difficulty. In its ergonomics, the furniture should also do justice to the various development stands. These include, for example, height -adjustable tables and stools. Did you know that you from the combination of Stapelstein® Originals and Stapelstein® Board can build a dynamic stool? The height can be easily regulated by the number of elements. The room situation can regularly be critically questioned and the objects in the room are checked for their friendliness of their movement. Individual objects and play elements can be removed from the room and replaced by other objects.

Design with Stapelstein® a flexible movement space

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