What are Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS)?

Fundamental movements refer to the basic movement patterns we learn when we first start participating in sport and physical activity, this includes locomotive movements such as running, jumping, hopping, skipping, etc. We develop these skills at an early age, and they provide us with the foundation to develop more complex and specialised skills we need when participating in sport and more specific physical activity. FMS refers to the combination of gross and fine motor skills that we use to be active. A gross motor skill is a movement that engages large muscle groups such as kicking. Whereas fine motor skills refer to movements that require the use of small muscle groups such as writing. Gross and fine motor skills combine to allow us to engage in locomotor skills, object control and body management skills.

Why are FMS important in sport?

In my experience children who have efficient movement mechanics at a young age usually develop high levels of confidence and self esteem when taking part in physical activity. These children grow up enjoying taking part in physical activity and sport which encourages them to be active for the rest of their lives. The early development of fundamental skills as mentioned before makes it easier to acquire sport specific skills as we grow up. For example, we cannot master kicking a football without having competent coordination and balance.

On the other hand, it is acknowledged that children who have developed poor fundamental movement skills suffer from low confidence and self esteem which discourages participation in sport. The feeling of not feeling valued or good enough is what leads lots of children to distance themselves from organised sport when they get older as they associate it with negative emotions.

When should we start learning FMS?

Children can begin developing a high level of competence in FMS from the age of 3 to 7. It is at this age that children should be exposed to a large range of movements, so they easily learn and improve their motor skills.

Primary schools should be giving more priority to the development of physically literate children. By focusing on improving key fundamental movement skills at an early age we create more capable children who are more likely to play and learn any sport with confidence.

In the UK there is no national requirement to deliver structured physical activity to children under 5 years old. Its great that nurseries encourage preschool children to explore and take ownership of their own activity but when left to their own devices pre-schoolers will participate in activities they are comfortable doing and will repeat them over and over. Introducing consistent adult lead physical activity in nurseries contributes massively to how well they learn in their PE lessons when transitioning into school. The children are already accustomed to engaging in adult lead activity and therefore will be less resistant and more willing to learn more complex movements.

How do we teach FMS?

At Ultimate Kids we believe in adopting a game-based approach to learning, often employing various themes relevant to the age group we are teaching. This may include a story from a nursery that the class is currently reading or something as simple as completing various movements while imitating cars for children in KS1. This technique engages the children’s imagination and increases involvement in the session. We try to offer many variations within our games by using different body parts and varying equipment such as different types of balls. Furthermore, we adapt the dimensions of the play area to simplify or increase the difficulty of a session. For example, reducing space encourages children to become more aware of their surroundings, this helps children improve their reaction time in response to dangers around them. 

Starting on Mondays after the next half term we will be opening our own Ultimate Kids club at Merchant Taylors Boy’s School. This club will focus on the development of fundamental movement skills while providing a space where children are encouraged to learn new things with confidence all while having lots of fun playing the creative games our coaches have in store. Our KS1 class will focus heavily on the development of FMS and our KS2 class will provide a pathway to integrating these skills into more sport specific activities.