The Benefits of Big Body Play on Literary Success

Learning to read is foundational to success in school and beyond. When there are deficits at the start, they compound over time and keep kids from becoming readers.

So, where does reading instruction really start? Twenty years ago, when my own children were learning to read, I would have agreed that the literacy process started with A-B-C. But now, after working with young children during the intervening decades, I know that reading doesn’t start with the alphabet at all. Reading starts with movement.

Before children are ready to take on phonics and phonemic awareness, their bodies need to do the hard work of developing fundamental skills and strengths. For reading success, children need:

• Strong bodies that can sit up and address a task.
• Strong arms and hands to use reading materials.
• Strong eyes that work together and focus.

In addition, their brains need:

• The ability to filter information and manage data.
• An established connection between their logical left brain and their emotional right brain.

The problem is that today’s children are more sedentary than they have ever been. Research has shown that cardiovascular endurance in children has declined in recent decades, and that children’s core strength is also on the decline. With the shift away from pencil work to computer work, children have significantly less grip strength than previous generations.

These physical declines are troubling, but they also point to deficits in the physical foundation for academic success. Simply put, children’s brains have not received enough information from moving their bodies to build those pre-literacy skills. They have not moved enough to develop a well-honed focal point, an effective data management system, or a strong conversation between the two sides of the brain. So, they are coming to phonics and phonemic awareness without first building the underlying skills and strengths for success.

If we don’t give them lots of time dedicated to movement, they will find the time to get the input they need. Unfortunately, the time they find might be circle time, desk time, in the hallway, in the cafeteria, or on the bus. Their innate need to move for their own development starts looking more like poor behavior, making for a frustrated child and a challenging classroom experience for both teachers and students.

How do we facilitate the building of these pre-reading strengths and skills? With lots of big-body physical play. Through the trial and error of physical play, children learn what their bodies can do and expand their ability to control their movements. With play, children build strength, control, and skill, laying the foundation for reading success.

More specifically,

• When children crawl, run, and climb, they build core and upper body strength that helps them sit up in a chair, address tasks, and manipulate reading materials.


• When children spin, swing, slide, and hang upside down, they move their heads in multiple planes. Their brains practice integrating that information, helping the eyes focus and work together so letters stay still on the page.


• When children roll, somersault, or do a downward-facing dog, their brains have to interpret the world in new ways. Their brains then learn to manage data, filtering out what is unimportant so they can focus on what is important.


• When children skip, climb, or cross the monkey bars, the cooperation of the right and left sides of the body forces their right and left brains to communicate. When the groundwork is laid between the two sides of the brain, the creative right brain works with the logical left brain, and both sides are essential for literacy.

So, taken at a fundamental developmental level, big-body play feeds directly into literacy success.

Children show us every day how much they need to move if we just take the time to notice. This drive shows up every time we open the door to the classroom, open the door to the gym, or open the gate to the playground. Children take off running and shouting in delight. This instinctive need to move shows that their brains are seeking vital information from their bodies that will help them thrive and succeed.

There is a fundamental truth in child development - you don’t get to skip ahead. If children have not moved enough through big-body play in their preschool years, their brains and bodies will seek the movement they need at other times and in other ways. Their brains are going to make their bodies move to make up for lost time. Kids then spend more time wiggling and moving rather than attending and learning.

Like all skills, reading requires a strong and secure foundation. When we treat the body like its only job is to carry the brain around, we ignore the simple fact that the brain learns from big body movement so it can perform at its highest and most effective level. When we honor the way children develop and learn by giving them the space and time for big, physical play, we help them build essential pre-reading physical skills. By letting them move we are giving them a head start on becoming competent, confident, joyful readers.

Let’s get out of the way and let kids play!

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