Your schoolage child's physical abilities

What can I expect from my child or tween?
The time in your child's life when she is best able to develop her gross motor skills is the prepubescent period. As her body size and muscle strength gradually increase, her reaction time improves. Fundamental patterns of movement such as throwing and catching, kicking, hopping and jumping, skipping, running and galloping are the easiest to learn by ages seven and eight. Give her lots of opportunities to learn and practise these basic skills. It's much easier for her to increase her speed and coordination in the period from age six to twelve than it will be in her teens or later. If she leads an active life at this stage, your child will develop the skills to play many different sports and games throughout her whole life. But more than that, the same hand-eye coordination required to catch a ball contributes to developing skills in keyboarding, in sewing, in playing the piano or other musical instruments, and in any number of life activities.

Kids learn best when they're having fun and when they feel competent. They need to find a balance between the physical challenges of games and their developing skills. Because there's about a one-year lag between bone growth and muscle development, prepubescent kids go through periods of awkwardness during growth spurts. Find ways to help your young child succeed if she has difficulty with a physical skill. If she can't yet throw a ball well, have her throw a scarf instead to slow the motion down. Then try a beach ball or beanbag. Let your kids strap on some kneepads and play kneeling basketball with a big bouncy ball and kitchen pots for nets. They'll enjoy the silliness of the game while they get practice in throwing, bouncing, and catching the ball.

What kids can do
Your child's balance and agility are increasing, although his flexibility has been decreasing since infancy. He can jump hurdles, tumble, and balance while walking along a narrow board. Many children's games, like skipping rope and hopscotch, help them improve their gross motor skills.

Kids between six and twelve need at least 60 minutes of physical exercise every day, according to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI). This hour could consist of 30 minutes of vigorous play and 30 minutes of lighter activity, or it could be broken into 10-minute spurts of action and still provide health benefits.

Lots of kids don't get enough exercise. In the 1998 report of a joint study by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the CFLRI, researchers reported that the health of more than 60 per cent of Canadian children is threatened because they are inactive. It's vitally important for your children to be regularly involved in physical activities. Not only does activity help develop their gross motor skills, it helps forestall the development of disease as your children grow older.

All kids are different. How a child's gross motor skills develop depends on many factors, including his own interest, your encouragement, and his inherited form and ability. Some kids have initial growth spurts earlier than others, so they will kick a ball farther at age ten simply because they have more strength. The following descriptions give a general idea of what the average kid might be capable of.