Why move?
Moving is one of the BEST things you can do for your body — and your brain too.
When you move, your heart pumps faster. Your muscles get stronger. Your brain releases a chemical that makes you feel happy.
You probably move A LOT already — running around the playground, climbing in the park, playing chase. PE at school helps you get even better at it.
Three kinds of movement skill
All sports and games are built from THREE kinds of movement skill:
🧍 Stability — staying steady or balanced. Standing on one foot, balancing on a line, tree pose.
🎾 Manipulative — controlling things with hands or feet. Throwing, catching, kicking, hitting, dribbling.
Warm up first!
Before any sport, you should warm up — gentle moves to wake your muscles up.
Why? Because cold muscles are like cold elastic — they snap. Warm muscles bend and stretch. A 3-minute warm-up means fewer injuries.
A simple 3-minute warm-up:
1 min: march on the spot, lifting knees
1 min: arm circles forwards and backwards
1 min: gentle jumping jacks or hopping
Team games: attack & defend
In team games, your job is one of two things:
🛡️ DEFEND — stop the other team scoring. Stay between them and the goal.
You SWAP between attacking and defending all the time. That's called tactics — choosing the right thing to do RIGHT NOW.
And remember: in a real game, the other team are PLAYERS like you. Be a good sport whether you win or lose.
Dance counts as PE
Surprise! Dance is real PE. The National Curriculum says so.
Dance uses ALL three movement skill groups: locomotor (you move around), stability (you balance), and even manipulative (when you point or hold an arm out steady).
And dance has something sports don't — you tell a story with your body. A robot. A leaf in the wind. A scary monster. A happy bird.
Try this: right now, dance like the WIND. Then a ROBOT. Then a FLOATING LEAF. Different feelings, different moves.
Move every day
You don't need to be sporty to be active. You just need to MOVE.
🏃 Run around at lunchtime
🌳 Climb something safe at the park
💃 Dance in your bedroom to your favourite song
The official advice from the UK's Chief Medical Officers is that children of your age should get at least 60 minutes of activity every day. That sounds like a lot — but if you're playing, you probably already do.
Well done!
You finished this lesson. You worked hard and learned something new today. 🎉
Next module →