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TOPIC 3 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS 
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3.2.2 Movement in Infants’ and Toddlers’ Environment
Besides touching, movement is also essential to infantsÊ and toddlersÊ development. Movements help infants and toddlers to enhance their learning experience by moving around and exploring. They need ample opportunities to see, hear, feel, and touch. Movement not only helps infants and toddlers to develop physically and cognitively, but also emotionally and socially. This is important as it will be carried through as the foundation for learning when they enter school. This is due to the fact that movement facilitates increased blood flow that carry learning essentials like oxygen and water to the brain. In a study of more than 500 Canadian children, those who spent an extra hour each day in the school gym performed better in exams than those who were not actively involved in gym.
(a) InfantÊs movement
Developing movement in infants lays the foundation for their future development. Movement in environment not only helps infants strengthen their muscles and develop their motor skills, but also helps them to enhance their cognitive development. In fact, many researchers have discovered the importance of movement to young children, especially in their cognitive development. Through movement, learning occurs when a young child is moving around to explore the surroundings or to complete a certain task. For example, when toddlers move to pursue their own interests or to get something in the environment, they learn how to solve problems. University of Virginia professor of psychology Dr Angeline Lillard believed that movement is important for childÊs mental development because it involves mental activity. Another prominent child psychologist, Dr Maria Montessori, saw the need to integrate movement in every child activity and lesson. In a Montessori classroom, children move to get something done. They move around in the environment prepared by adult in order to achieve their purpose.
Movement begins when infants are born. In the first few months of life, infants start to develop basic skills and the strength they need later for certain movements like rolling over, crawling and walking. Over the first three months, infants learn how to lift their head. As their neck and upper body become stronger, they begin grasping and learn how to kick their feet. Adults can provide moving mobiles over the infantÊs crib to encourage them to reach, grasp or kick objects using their feet. Games that encourage infants to crawl and reach out for anything within his or her reach provide a lot of motor movement experience. This includes activities such as kicking and catching, which integrate physical movements with visual information.
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