I. It is important to help foster physical skill development as well as promote social and emotional growth while emphasizing fun and free- play. Recreation and physical education activities:
A. develop muscular strength
B. develop coordination - hand/eye, foot/eye, bilateral coordination, unilateral coordination
C. enhance gross motor skills/reinforce fine motor skills
D. strengthen ocular muscles through ocular pursuit (tracking skills)
E. help to develop spatial awareness
F. enhance motor planning/sequencing skills
G. encourage negotiation/problem solving with peers
H. provide opportunities to make new friends, to have and experience fun
II. These goals can best be accomplished by providing a large, open, safe play space with one or more of the following:
A. climbing apparatus
B. swings
C. tricycles/riding toys
D. sand area with toys to stimulate imaginative play
E. unobstructed open space for locomotor movement such as running, jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping
F. bean bags for tracking as well as fine motor control
G. balls of all types for catching, bouncing
