Module 01
Foundations & Safety
This week you decide who you are in the room. Not a drill sergeant. Not a clinician unless you are licensed. A specialist in the making: someone who uses play, movement, and relationship so children from 18 months to 10 years become more competent, more confident, and more themselves.
You will be able to
- State your scope of practice in one sentence.
- Define physical literacy in plain language a parent can use.
- Name the three domains of the whole child and why fear blocks skill.
- Build a physical, emotional, and relational safety checklist.
- Write a one-page teaching philosophy.
Who a specialist actually is
A child physical development specialist uses play, movement, and relationship to build motor skill, confidence, and physical literacy. You may be a parent, coach, early childhood educator, PE teacher, therapy assistant, or community leader. The job is not to mint mini-athletes.
Your aim: children who move with competence and confidence, who own a vocabulary of fundamental skills, who like being in their body, and who feel safe, seen, and successful in your space.
- Move with competence and confidence
- Develop locomotor, stability, and manipulative skills
- Build a positive relationship with physical activity
- Learn through play — not through humiliation
- Feel safe enough to try
You are not expected to diagnose. You are expected to recognize, document, and refer.
Scope of practice
Scope protects children and it protects you. Stay inside it with pride. The table in Field tools / Reference is the one-page version. The live version is this: if a pattern worries you, write what you saw, tell the family, and recommend a pediatrician. Then keep being a wonderful movement person.
If you are
Parent / caregiver
You can
Build a movement-rich life
You cannot
Diagnose or treat
If you are
Coach / trainer
You can
Teach, program, motivate
You cannot
Provide therapy
If you are
Educator
You can
Integrate, observe, refer
You cannot
Clinical treatment
If you are
Licensed therapist
You can
Assess and treat in license
You cannot
Work outside license
If you are
Student
You can
Practice under supervision
You cannot
Claim independent expertise
Physical literacy
Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for physical activity for life. Four domains travel together: physical (can they do it), affective (will they try), cognitive (do they understand), behavioral (do they keep showing up).
A child who can skip but hates being watched is not literate yet. A child who loves tag but cannot stop is not finished. Teach the whole thing.
The physically literate individual has the motivation and confidence to enjoy a variety of physical activities.
— Developmental Physical Education for All Children
The whole child
Psychomotor: moving, coordinating, sensing. Cognitive: thinking, planning, understanding. Affective: feeling, relating, expressing. A child who is afraid (affective) will not acquire a new landing pattern (psychomotor) no matter how elegant your explanation (cognitive).
Plan every session as if all three domains will show up — because they will.
Say this
A child freezes at the beam
“You do not have to go up. You can walk the tape on the floor, or you can hold my fingers. You pick.”
A parent asks if their child is behind
“I look for progress over time, not a single date on a chart. Here is what I am seeing, and here is what we will try.”
Three kinds of safety
Physical: equipment, environment, supervision, medical cards, first aid. Emotional: no shaming, no public ranking, no forced movement into fear. Relational: you learn names, you keep promises, you apologize, you come back the same person tomorrow.
Consent is not a luxury for older kids. Ask before you touch. Offer a job that is not the scary one. Let sitting out be a real option that still belongs.
- Check the room before anyone enters
- Know allergies, asthma, and sensory landmines
- Predictable opening ritual
- Choices baked into the plan, not added after a meltdown
- Language that names the skill, not the child's character
Pediatric First Aid / CPR is strongly recommended before you run group practicum work. This course does not replace that certification.
Reading notes
First notes of 24+ characters: +10 each.
Developmental Physical Education for All Children
Ch. 1–2
- PE is whole-child work, not a farm system for sport.
- Developmentally appropriate practice considers the learner, the environment, and the movement content.
- Physical literacy is the long game.
“Teach the child, not the skill.”
Play
Ch. 1
- Play is a biological drive, not a reward for finishing the real work.
- The opposite of play is depression, not work.
- Play is absorbing, apparently purposeless, and it suspends self-consciousness.
“Play is the vital essence of life. It is what makes life lively.”
Lab & assignment
Safety checklist for your space
- Walk your home, gym, classroom, or park as if you were three feet tall.
- List hazards, supervision gaps, and sensory load (noise, light, clutter).
- Write an opening ritual that takes less than two minutes.
- Complete the Safety checklist tool in this app and screenshot or copy it into your notes.
Assignment: One-page teaching philosophy
In one page: what you believe about children and movement, your role, and how you will protect both safety and joy. No jargon. A grandparent should understand it.
Draft 40+ characters to bank +25.
Your notes
What does physical literacy mean in your own words?
Where is your scope of practice thin — and who will you refer to?
What is one emotional-safety habit you will keep this week?
Tomorrow
What will you do differently with a child tomorrow to make the room feel safer — physically or emotionally?
One honest sentence · +15
Play this week
Small games and puzzles that only use what this module taught. First complete +50; perfect +25.
Scope referee
Can you — or must you refer? Stay inside the line.
+50
Whole-child bins
Psychomotor, cognitive, or affective — where does this moment live?
+50
Three safeties
Physical, emotional, or relational. Sort the move.
+50
Literacy four
Physical, affective, cognitive, behavioral — the four rooms of literacy.
+50
Floor call
A random objection this week actually raises. Multiple choice. First correct answer banks +20. Shuffle for a new voice.
Week 1 objection
Drawing a live one…
Knowledge check
0/4 correct · 0 answered · +25 each