Physical
Activity Developmental Chapters
MIDDLE
CHILDHOOD 
Overview
Middle childhood, ages
5 to 10, is characterized by a slow, steady rate of physical growth.
However, cognitive, emotional, and social development occur at
a tremendous rate. To achieve optimal growth and development, children
need to eat a variety of healthy foods and participate in physical
activity. Physical activity can
- Give children
a feeling of accomplishment.
- Reduce the risk
of certain diseases (e.g., coronary heart disease, hypertension,
colon cancer, diabetes mellitus), if children continue to
be active during adulthood.
- Promote mental
health.
As children grow
and develop, their motor skills increase, giving them an opportunity
to participate in a variety of physical activities. Children
may try different physical activities and establish an interest
that serves as the foundation for lifelong participation in
physical activity.
Children are motivated
to participate in physical activity by fun, previous success,
variety, family support, peer participation, and enthusiastic
coaching. Feelings of failure, embarrassment, competition,
boredom, and rigid structure discourage participation. Children
usually discontinue physical activity because of a lack of
time, feelings of failure, overemphasis on competition, or
the existence of overuse injuries (e.g., stress fracture, inflammation
of the joints).
Children in middle
childhood are at various stages of cognitive, emotional, social,
and motor skill development. They may not understand the meaning
of competition and teamwork. They may lack the cognitive skills
to grasp strategies, make rapid decisions, and visualize spatial
relationships.
Like the developmental
milestones of infancy, such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling,
and walking, most of the fundamental motor skills (e.g., running,
galloping, jumping, hopping, skipping, throwing, catching,
striking, kicking) required for physical activity are acquired
in the same sequence. Motor skill acquisition appears to be
an innate process, independent of the child's sex, age, size,
weight, strength, abilities, and level of physical maturity.
As with other developmental milestones, the rate at which children
master motor skills varies considerably.
Although children
can acquire and refine fundamental motor skills faster by early
instruction and practice, they are unlikely to do so until
they are developmentally ready. Children usually acquire fundamental
motor skills at a basic level through play; however, children
need instruction and practice to fully develop these skills.1
Each fundamental
motor skill is characterized by a series of developmental stages.
Failure to achieve progression through all of the stages can
limit proficiency in physical activities that require fully
developed fundamental motor skills. Transitional motor skills
are fundamental motor skills performed in various combinations
and with variations (e.g., throwing for distance; throwing
for accuracy). Transitional motor skills are required to participate
in entry-level organized sports. Early in this developmental
period, children's vision is almost mature, but it is still
difficult for them to tell the direction in which a moving
object is moving. Balance becomes more automatic and reaction
times become quicker. With improved transitional motor skills,
children are able to master complex motor skills (e.g., those
required for playing more complex sports such as football or
basketball). At the end of this developmental period, children's
vision is fully mature.1
Motor skill development
is difficult for some children. Health professionals need to
assess these children to determine whether their difficulties
are caused by a developmental delay or a health problem. In
some cases, poor motor skill development is the result of developmental
coordination disorder (DCD).2 (See
the Developmental Coordination Disorder chapter.)
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