Playing sport is a very important part of the Shaws curriculum.
Here are 10 reasons why we play sport at Shaws Preschool.
- Building confidence – Playing sport helps children to trust their own abilities and push themselves to get better. As they do this, their confidence and self esteem grow.
- Problem solving – Playing sports forces children to think on the spot and make split-second decisions. This requires quick thinking and problem solving skills.
- Leadership – Children learn about responsibility and the role they play in a team. Leadership is not always who is leading, but it is about being accountable for one’s actions in a team.
- Teamwork – Playing sport teaches children about teamwork and cooperating with others. They learn to interact with children with different strengths, and working towards a common goal.
- Discipline – Children learn to maintain discipline, be it mental, physical or tactical. In sport, children are required to follow a set of rules, and accept decisions made by the coach.
- Resilience – Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity or failure. Sport gives children plenty of opportunity to build resilience as they try to get better at the different sport skills.
- Dealing with failure, as well as success – In most things in life, there is a winner and a loser. Through sport, children learn sportsmanship. They learn to accept and cope with loss, rather than feeling defeated. Through sport, children learn that it is ok to lose. The important part is to get back up and to try again.
- Brain development – There is plenty of research which links sport to children’s brain development. The constant movement stimulates the brain, which in turns stimulates the mind. There is a positive correlation between sport performance and academic ability.
- Working those growing muscles – Sports of course is great for exercising those growing muscles.
- Healthy habits – Exercise is important for everyone. Sport provides a fun way for children to keep healthy.
These are some of the many reasons we believe that sport is so important for children’s development.
