How can I use Pilates in PE for my primary school children?

Let's look at how you can use Pilates as part of your Physical Education curriculum to support physical literacy.

The International Physical Literacy Association describes physical literacy as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activity for life.

The most significant window of opportunity for children to develop their physical literacy is between the ages of zero and seven years old. This is why it is so important for children to work on these skills as early as possible, so they are embedded and secure by the age of seven.

So let's now take a look at the components of physical literacy:

• Understanding - understand how your body moves
• Motivation - understanding that your body can do more if you practise
• Physical competence - being able to control your body and your movements
• Knowledge - know how to do specific actions and movements
• Confidence - know what you can do and how to improve.

All of these components can be measured and assessed.

So if you are a teacher who has children who need help with their fundamental skills, then Pilates will really, really help with all of these components.  It's so important that children work on their physical literacy from a very early age and from as early as possible, we need to embed and secure this into their psyche, if you like.

These moves also have the added benefits that other activities don't have, for example improving core strength, helping with motor skills.

And it can really help to ensure that physical literacy is embedded and secure at an early age.

So let's have a look at how some of our Pilates activities actually work in the classroom.

Here's an example, moving along the ground like Caterpillar and seeing the sound as you move. So saying Ca, Ca, Ca, Ca  Caterpillar, you can do individual cuts. All you can combined them to make a following party sequence and spell out word. As we can see here, we're doing OK. Ca, Ca, Ca Caterpillar, A, A, A Apple, ta ta ta toes, which all go together to make the word cat. If you have an area in your classroom where you can have the children performing all these lovely Pilates positions, you don't need that much room because they're very stationary. 

They're not moving around too much. They all have their own little space. But it's a really nice way to embed their learning through movement and really kind of and strengthen those pathways of learning and just building up their strength and fitness as well. It's very, very, very useful. Very powerful.

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