Developing Gross Motor Skills for Kids with Montessori Arch

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The Montessori arch is a core feature of Montessori classroom environments. With its open design, low shelving, and inviting materials, the arch promotes exploration, independence, and active learning. One key developmental area that the Montessori arch supports is developing gross motor skills.

Montessori Arch - Developing Gross Motor Skills

What are Gross Motor Skills?

Gross motor skills refer to large movements of the arms, legs, feet, or entire body that use the body's large muscles. Developing gross motor skills enables coordination and control of body movements and balance. This allows children to walk, run, jump, throw, and later ride a bike.

Movements like crawling, walking, jumping and running
Full body coordination
Balance and agility
Building strength and stamina

As Maria Montessori emphasized, “Movement develops the brain.” Providing opportunities for movement aids cognitive, social-emotional, and physical mastery.

Recent studies, like one in Frontiers in Psychology, found connections between motor competence and cognitive abilities like executive functioning.

Stages of Gross Motor Development

Gross motor skills develop sequentially in children, going from simple reflexes to more controlled and complex movement patterns:

0-6 months – Activities in supine position, head control, rolling over
6-12 months – Sitting, crawling, pulling to stand
1-3 years – Walking, climbing, squatting
3-5 years – Hopping, skipping rope, throwing and catching balls

The Montessori Arch Aligns Materials to Developmental Level

A key aspect of the Montessori arch is that materials align closely with children’s developmental abilities at each level:

Infant Area

Reaching for and grasping mobiles (eye-hand coordination)
Rolling across activity mats (core strength)
Crawling through tunnels (spatial awareness)

Toddler Area

Walking while carrying objects (balance)
Climbing in and out of a toddler-sized playhouse (agility)
Kicking balls across the floor (leg strength)

Primary Area

Sweeping with child-sized brooms (bilateral coordination)
Walking heel-to-toe along a line (balance)
Scooping and pouring water or beans back and forth (wrist articulation)

Promoting Movement Through Choice

The Montessori arch allows freedom of movement and choice. Children are drawn to the beautifully arranged shelves which inspire them to walk over, pick out new activities, and transport materials to workspaces. This promotes:

Spatial awareness – navigating around the classroom
Coordination – carrying works without dropping them
Concentration – not getting distracted en route

The arch also continuously exposes children to increasingly challenging gross motor experiences. As they repeatedly build towers and return heavy watering cans, strength, balance, and control improve.

Direct Learning of Gross Motor Skills

In addition to indirect advancement through activity choice, some works within the arch deliberately teach gross motor skills like:

Pouring, Scooping, Sorting

Eye-hand and bilateral coordination
Wrist articulation and dexterity

Opening/Closing Containers, Locks

Hand, arm, and finger manipulation
Grip and grasp strength

Carrying Activity Mats, Unrolling Rugs

Spatial awareness, body control
Coordination, stamina, balance

The Practical Life area also directly targets abilities like walking on a line, transferring liquids, polishing, and carrying fragile objects without dropping them. These prepare children for daily challenges and build confidence.

Supporting Exploration with Limits

Freedom of movement has limits within a Montessori arch. Children may select any material they wish but must handle everything with care and return it promptly for others to use. This builds both autonomy and responsibility.

Teachers also pace the introduction of movement elements appropriately – infants have more floor time before walking is encouraged. Limits ensure safety and match capabilities to the developmental level.

The Critical Control of Movement Period

A key Montessori principle is that between ages 2.5-6 years, children have a “control of movement” period. As large muscles and parts of the brain governing movement prune and refine, providing gross motor experiences capitalizes on this golden window of opportunity.

The Montessori arch is ideally equipped with child-sized, open spaces full of intriguing heavy objects begging to be touched. This saturates children with just the sort of movement children crave during this critical period.

Enhancing Gross Motor Development Leads to School Readiness

Increased research shows robust links between physical health and brain, social, emotional, and cognitive functioning. The Montessori arch provides an environment intentionally honed to target children’s innate urge to perfect gross motor control and skill during the control of movement period. Meeting this developmental need prepares children for success in later schooling and lays a foundation of health for their lifetime. Allowing children to develop gross motor skills fully is not a luxury but an essential need. The Montessori arch provides the right environment at the right time for this to unfold naturally.

Key Reasons The Montessori Arch Facilitates Gross Motor Development

The Montessori Arch contains key environmental qualities that enable it to optimize early childhood gross motor development:

Child-sized, open spaces and materials tailored to each developmental level
Intrinsically interesting works that compel movement and activity
Freedom to choose activities that meet innate gross motor needs
Dynamic opportunities for practice alongside peer models
Scaffolded exposure to increasingly challenging movement tasks

Because movement forms a critical foundation for later functioning, the Montessori arch environment keenly cultivates gross motor skill growth as a central aim. Robust motor abilities contribute significantly to children’s learning, health and success trajectories over a lifetime.

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Developing Gross Motor Skills for Kids with Montessori Arch

What are Gross Motor Skills?

Stages of Gross Motor Development