Motor Skills

What makes us move is what also makes us think. 

The brain uses motor skills to lay the framework for learning. The brain’s cerebellum controls motor skills, agility, and coordination. When the cerebellum is working well, cognitive function, which is our ability to think, increases.

Activities that involve moving the legs to move the body activate and store BDNF. BDNF acts as fertilizer for the brain. Our brains work better when we move! Locomotor movements activate BDNF.

This foundation concentrates on developing locomotor and non-locomotor skills. Locomotor movements (walk, run, hop, jump, gallop, slide, skip, and leap) are ways we move from one place to another. Non-locomotor skills (swing, twist, turn, shake, bend, stretch, wiggle, and sway) are ways we move in place.

These concepts aid the brain in following the flow of words, sequencing simple to complex patterns in math and reading, solving problems, and sorting information. They also aid the brain in inputting numbers or letters in sequence, discriminating between different sounds, placing letters and words on a page, and writing letters in proper proportion.