Primary School Warm-ups
for Reception and Key Stages
1 & 2
Additional Information
Warming-up
All Val Sabin teaching manuals include a warm-up section at the beginning of every
lesson which involves moderately energetic activity, less vigorous rehearsals of
the subject or sport being addressed and reminders of some work in the previous
lesson. These warm-ups are fun to engage in and are specifically related to the
lesson.
How often however do we feel the need to have different activities to draw from
and use in addition to our existing ones?
This compendium fulfils the need!
What does the term “warming-up” actually mean?
Warming-up is quite literally the process of “warming-up” (i.e. raising the core
body temperature). A proper warm-up should raise the body temperature by one
or two degrees Celsius and is divided into three distinct phases.
a. General warm-up – (Aerobic activity)
b. Stretching
c. More focused activity at a higher rate – (usually sport related/specific)
With Infant and Junior children we should recognise that it may not be appropriate
to rigidly rehearse each phase of this adult structured warm-up. However we
need to understand and convey the value of them to children and use activities
that replicate their benefits.
The activities should be stimulating, motivating, engaging and fun and should
prepare both body and mind, leaving children ready and eager for the rest of the
lesson.
Warming up gradually increases the heart rate and blood flow and raises the
temperature of muscles, ligaments and tendons. This general warm-up could
include simple jogging, but we all know how boring jogging can be, so this aerobic
activity also needs to be fun!
Section 1 - Jogging Tasks and Challenges
The jogging activities in Section 1 fulfil this need and can be utilised around the
perimeter of a playground, field or athletics track or wading across a swimming
pool at waist height. The engaging tasks and challenges are for pairs or small
groups. Answering the tasks are stimulating and take the emphasis away from the“boring” aspect of jogging. These activities also help to develop communication
and social skills.
Section 2 - Games promoting aerobic activity
The aerobic warm-ups in Section 2 normally involve moving about on feet, walking,
running, weaving, dodging, stopping, starting and changing pace, in engaging,
challenging and enjoyable situations. Encouraging children to concentrate on
specific tasks and games and perform simple skills will also help develop and
improve their fine judgement.
Particularly with infants and lower juniors, the use and exploration of small
equipment in games warm-ups can also prove very beneficial and there are
plenty of examples of activities with equipment. It may be helpful to give children
free play with a piece of equipment and ask them to practise their weaker skills,
or even revise simple skills from the last week.
Section 3 – Alphabetashapes
Once children have gone through a general warm-up they could engage in some
gentle stretching exercises. However there is plenty of research evidence to show
that warm-up without stretching actually exercises muscles instead of stretching
them, and also helps boost flexibility and performance. Therefore, is it necessary
or indeed beneficial to formally stretch? Particularly with primary school children? Whilst the mantra of exercise gurus everywhere is “stretch before you exercise
and stretch after you exercise, and you’ll avoid injury” there is a growing body of
research which suggests this is not necessarily so. But these views are far from
widely accepted. And all are agreed that careful stretching when used correctly
can improve flexibility.
Are we knowledgeable enough and qualified to take a group of children for
specific stretching exercises? If children are not guided to stretch properly, they
may not reap the rewards and indeed may even injure themselves.
This is why “Alphabetashapes” has been created.
Young children, as part of a combined warm-up could make the shapes of letters
with their bodies and in the process gently stretch different muscle groups without
over-strain whilst enjoying the activity. This in turn will motivate them to engage
fully in the warm-up session and understand the necessity for it.
Section 4 - Moving and stretching to music
Actions may begin on the spot and then develop into travelling. Once locomotion
takes place, an awareness of space is needed; control in speed and changes in
direction will be required in order to avoid others also moving in the same area.
Children are guided to certain types of movement and then encouraged to develop
their own ideas and create a set of movements to music as an individual, in pairs
or in small groups. They are encouraged to practise their warm-ups and in the
process they not only increase heart rate and blood flow, raise the temperature
of muscles, ligaments and tendons but also help develop body awareness and
co-ordination. If part of the final stages of the warm-up is associated with the
main emphasis of the lesson, children will develop a greater understanding and
improve their movement skills.
Section 5 - More focused activity
This section concentrates on “more focused activity at a higher pace”. It contains
a large number of activities which are game or activity-specific (e.g. hockey,
football, rugby etc) and some can be used to take a principle or idea into the
games lesson (e.g. sprint dodge in “Rats and Rabbits”) whilst other are variations
of “tag games” which can be game-related or activity-related and encourage the
development of moving in different directions, at different speeds, various ways
of dodging, stationary and mobile balance and peripheral vision.
These activities are linked with all forms of games and athletics.
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