Physical Activity 

We love to promote healthy choices and the importance of a healthy lifestyle within our setting and this extends right from our nutrition in the kitchen through to physical activities. 

We support the children in learning new sports, exploring their physical movements and development in a number of ways. Our lovely large outdoor garden provides us with plenty of space for sporting activities and we make sure the children get at least 1 hour a day outside. 

Our goal is to encourage children to be interested and active in sports at an early age by providing them with a range of options for them to explore. Being involved in sports will help to develop problem-solving, communication and teamwork as well as building confidence and resilience.

Through exercise, children are able to boost their brainpower by increasing the amount of key proteins that help build the brain’s infrastructure for learning and memory, helping to encourage a stronger neurological development for our children. 

Our Sports

We love to think outside the box for ways to include physical activities for our children both indoors and outdoors, making sure they are active in some way for at least 3 hours per day. 

Taking part and trying different sports from an early age offers children an opportunity to develop a range of physical and social skills as well as finding out which sports they enjoy best.

At Village End we provide the children with a wide range of sporting activities for them to enjoy, as well as providing a range of outdoor toys such as cars, bikes and scooters for them to explore physically. 

Football

Football is available for the children every week in our spacious garden with foam balls.

Learning football skills will help improve speed, agility, strength and hand-eye coordination through kicking, tackling, dribbling, shooting, heading and scoring. Teamwork helps the children to develop their social and emotional skills, giving the children a sense of belonging and encourages them to think of others.

Soft Tennis

Soft tennis is played in our garden with soft rackets and foam balls.

Tennis helps to develop skills such as hand-eye coordination, gross motor control, fine motor control, balance and body coordination, all the while building acceleration, speed, leg strength, agility and flexibility.

Golf

We use our toddler clubs to help children learn how to play golf and through driving, chipping and putting, children fine tune their hand eye coordination skills.

Volleyball

Children are taught how to play volleyball with a sponge ball and net in the garden. Children learn how to play as part of a team to get the ball over the net and score points, encouraging their social development.

They are able to develop their physical skills through passing, dumping, tipping and digging the ball whilst working with their teammates. 

Obstacle Courses

Our staff love creating obstacle courses for the children to complete with their friends. The children love them so much they often re-create their own, encouraging their friends to take part. 

By climbing, crawling, throwing, running and crouching, the children are able to discover new ways of using their bodies to move through their environment. 

Gymnastics

We encourage the children to practice gymnastics, practicing stretches, balances and roly-polies on our colourful gym mats both inside and outside. 

Gymnastics is a fun and relaxing way to keep fit and flexible as well as increasing coordination and aiding strength development and healthy bones. 

Cheerleading

Children learn new moves in time to music using our bright and bold mini pompoms.

Cheerleading is an energetic, fun and exciting alternative to traditional dance and allows us to explore movement to music and this helps the children to create movement in response to music.

Rounders

Rounders is played in the garden with a static rounders set, and like tennis, rounders helps children with their hand-eye coordination.

By using the static rounders set, it gives them more successful hits and therefore builds their confidence before learning to hit a moving ball.

Mini Olympics

There is no feeling like that of victory, but taking part is what it’s really about!

When children start big school, part of the curriculum is Physical Education as well as having a range of sports clubs available.

With this in mind, we like to help prepare them for competition by organising a variety of sports activities and PE Days, teaching them the importance of supporting their friends and celebrating the achievements of others. 

Yoga

We love mindfulness here at Village End and yoga takes us into a relaxed state of mind and helps us to concentrate.

By practicing yoga we are able to teach the children how to manage their emotions and self-soothe, with gentle stretching, deep breathing, and calming background music.

Music & Dance

Our Music and Dance sessions are an activity that all the children enjoy. Whether it’s an impromptu mini disco with our colourful disco lights or nursery rhymes with movement, the children are able to express themselves by learning new songs and practicing new moves.

Music and language are partners in the brain, and by encouraging the children to explore music and movement, we are able to promote their language development too. 

Getting Changed

An important part of PE at school is getting changed and ready. We work with our children to help them get changed into their sporty clothes to take part in our sporting activities, helping them to develop their health and self-care. 

By working with our children to teach them how to dress themselves, we are able to help the children feel ready for all the excitement that school sports hold.