The ability to move the body is built upon a foundation of basic actions known as fundamental motor skills (FMS). These skills are the essential building blocks for physical literacy, which is the competence and confidence to engage in a wide range of physical activities. Developing FMS is a precursor to participating in sports, dance, and daily activities requiring coordination and balance. These movements are categorized into three main groups, and this discussion focuses on locomotor skills.
Defining Locomotor Skills
Locomotor skills are movements that propel the body through space, resulting in a change of location. This category of movement requires the transfer of weight and the coordination of large muscle groups to move the body from one point to another.
Non-locomotor skills are movements performed while the body remains stationary, such as bending, stretching, twisting, and swaying. These are sometimes called axial movements. Manipulative skills involve using the hands or feet to control or apply force to an external object, like throwing, catching, kicking, or dribbling. Locomotor movements are foundational to physical independence, allowing a person to cover ground and navigate their environment.
Essential Types and Examples
The primary locomotor skills include actions that range from simple weight transference to complex rhythmic combinations. Walking is the most basic, involving a continuous alternating step where one foot remains in contact with the ground at all times. Running is a progression of walking that introduces a brief flight phase where both feet are momentarily off the ground.
Hopping involves propelling the body off the ground using one foot and landing back on the same foot. Jumping is the action of taking off from the ground and landing with both feet simultaneously. Leaping is similar to running but involves an elongated stride with a significant moment of flight, taking off on one foot and landing on the opposite foot.
More complex locomotor skills involve uneven or combined rhythmic patterns. Galloping is an uneven movement that features a step forward with a lead foot, followed by the trailing foot quickly catching up. Sliding is essentially a sideways gallop, using a step-together motion perpendicular to the direction of travel. Skipping is often the last fundamental skill mastered, requiring a combined step-hop action executed in an alternating fashion.
Developmental Milestones for Acquisition
The acquisition of locomotor skills follows a predictable, sequential pattern that begins in infancy and progresses through early childhood. The first major milestone is independent walking, which typically emerges around 12 months of age, following earlier non-traveling movements like crawling and cruising. Once walking is stable, typically by two years, children begin to develop running with better coordination and can perform a two-foot jump.
More complex skills begin to emerge between the ages of three and five years. Galloping is usually acquired around three to four years, shortly before the ability to hop on one foot. Skipping, which requires the highest level of rhythm and coordination, is the final fundamental locomotor skill to be mastered, often appearing between four and six years of age. While these age ranges offer a guideline, the development and refinement of these movements depend heavily on opportunities for practice and a supportive physical environment.