Fundamental Movements Skills

The Fundamental Movement Skills develop in children between the ages of 6 and 11 years. The current approved Ministry Curriculum in Ontario emphasises the need to design activities which promote the development of these skills.

Maintaining your Fundamental Movement skills is very important. As a child, motor development skills were happening at the same time as cognitive development skills and neurons that fire together are wired together. So if you test your fundamental movement skills periodically and they are fine then you are pretty well sure that your cognitive skills are in good shape as well. Strong performances of the FM skills require good balance and some agility, so testing them is also of benefit.

The tests to check your FM skills are not complicated but because they are not a part of our regular routine we often fail to know that we are losing them.

To test your balance all you need to do is stand on a line with one foot in front of the other with the heel of the front foot in line with the toes of the back foot. Hold steady for a minimum of 20 seconds, then reverse your feet and try it a second time for 20 seconds. Now try it with your eyes closed.

If your balance is off you could be at risk for falling, practice maintaining your balance on a regular basis. Practice for about 21 days, then retest as above.