Athletic games can be fun, especially for children who are naturally athletic. But for some children, games are frustrating and they often feel rejected, especially when they're not chosen on a team. You can help children develop confidence with some of the activities you offer in child-care.

Activities Help Children Develop Motor Skills

Through movement activities, children come to better understand their bodies and develop coordination. As children participate in activities that help them develop both large-motor and fine-motor skills, they gain self-confidence, and have opportunities to realize how much their bodies can do, as well as gain an appreciation for what others can do. In addition, when children engage in group physical activities, they learn to work as a team toward a common goal.

Learning to control their bodies is fundamental to children's physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. As children learn about their bodies and how bodies move, they gain in self-esteem and coordination, and they develop the ability to move their bodies safely through space.

Body Awareness

Body awareness is especially important in the development of self-control. In order not to intrude into someone else's "personal space," with hitting, kicking, or even bumping into others, children need to sense where their bodies begin and end. In addition, young children with body awareness understand and appreciate that all bodies are alike in some ways and different in other ways, that their own body is unique and helps them do lots of important things every day.

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