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Kindergarten Readiness: Physical Health & Development

What Is Physical Health & Development?

A child's development of fine & visual motor skills, gross motor skills and healthy behaviors.

How Can I Teach This At Home?

Playing

1. Encourage children to exercise! Keeping them active will help them to develop gross motor skills and healthy behaviors. Children should play about 30-45 minutes per day!

2. Play games with your child that will teach them about body parts and spatial terms (e.g., "Simon Says"). 

3. Play catch while you say the alphabet or discuss your day.

Reading

1. Read books about human development and body parts. 

2. Read books about taking care of your body through exercise and eating right.

3. Encourage children to read books that feature a wide variety of body shapes, sizes, and colors.

Singing

1. Sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" with your child!

2. Sing songs like "Shake Your Sillies Out" to encourage children to dance and play along with the song!
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Talking

1. Talk with your children about healthy habits. Make sure they know that eating right, getting lots of sleep, and taking care of themselves is important!

2. Talk to your children about people are all different. Understanding that people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities will help them become more tolerant and accepting as they age.

Writing
1. Have children practice matching words to body parts. These worksheets are a great tool to use! Children will practice drawing lines from objects and will be developing background knowledge as they go.

2. One of the most important parts of physical development is a child's ability to develop fine motor skills. Being able to hold a writing tool is one of these skills! Giving children the time to practice holding and using these tools will help develop these skills.

Skills Checklist

Where Do I Start?

Need More?

The catalog for the Waco-McLennan County Library is available here!

If you want to search for more resources in our catalog in this subject, we suggest you search for the following subject headings:

For more assistance with searching and locating items held by the Waco-McLennan County Library, use our Ask a Librarian feature available on our catalog website or stop in to one of our branches!

The Waco-McLennan County Library provides patrons with access to resources through our Electronic Resources page, which can be found here. Suggested databases are listed below:

Did You Know?

While a child's physical development follows a predictable path, each child grows and learns at their own pace. For example, some children start to walk independently as early as 9 months, but others do not develop the skills until they are 16 months or older!