Walking and stopping

• I can walk into a space
• I can stop like a statue when I hear the signal
• I can look out for my friends

• Physical Development: revise and refine fundamental movement skills (walking, running)
• Physical Development: progress towards a more fluent style of moving, with developing control and grace
• Gross Motor Skills ELG: negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others

1. Children stand on their spot and wake up each body part: wiggle fingers, shrug shoulders, march knees, rock heels and toes.
2. Walk on the spot, then walk slowly around your spot and back.

Tell the class they are explorers walking through a quiet forest. Explorers walk carefully, look for spaces and freeze when they hear the drum so the animals are not scared.

Organisation: 6 mins. Whole class spread across the 15m x 10m rectangle, with one starting spot per child and 12 boundary cones. Teacher holds the single signal instrument at one long edge, where everyone can see them. Any additional adult stands at the opposite edge and models finding gaps; no queues.

1. Gather children on their spots. Say, 'We are forest explorers. Walk into an empty clearing,' and demonstrate looking ahead and walking around another person.
2. Say, 'Explore!' Children leave their spots and walk anywhere inside the cones, finding gaps rather than following a crowd.
3. Play one gentle drum or tambourine beat. Children stop their feet and freeze like forest statues; demonstrate a balanced stop without jumping.
4. Notice a useful action: 'You stopped with space around you!' Say, 'Explore!' and children start walking again.
5. Repeat 6–8 times, varying the walking time. Between rounds, ask children to point towards an empty clearing before walking towards it.

Organisation: 7 mins. Whole class moves independently within the coned rectangle. Teacher stands outside a long edge with the red, amber and green hoops, holding up only one at a time; blue remains available for progression. Unused hoops lie flat outside the movement area. Any additional adult observes from the opposite edge. Spots stay flat in place and are not targets.

1. Show green and red hoops from the edge. Say, 'Green: walk. Red: stop.' Children practise walking a few steps and stopping in their own space.
2. Hold up green. Children walk through gaps inside the cones, saying 'Green' as they begin.
3. Change to red. Children say 'Red' and stop where they are, without travelling towards the hoop.
4. Introduce amber: 'Tiny, slow tiptoe steps.' Demonstrate, then let everyone try before showing red again.
5. Alternate green, amber and red in an unpredictable order. Children name each colour and change their movement, with enough time to complete each change safely.

Organisation: 8 mins. Use the 30 coloured spots across the rectangle, leaving clear routes between them. Teacher checks the number of each colour and invites only as many children as can fit, initially one and later two per spot; other children continue walking in the surrounding gaps. Teacher stands where all islands are visible. Any additional adult watches shared islands and helps redirect children before they crowd. Removed spots are stacked outside the boundary.

1. Children stand on their starting spots and name or point to the colour. Say, 'Remember your island. Now walk into the sea!' Children walk away through gaps.
2. Call a colour. Children walk, rather than race, to a spot of that colour. Where there are too few spots for everyone, call a small group at a time while the others keep exploring.
3. Once children have arrived, say, 'Sail again!' Everyone walks away before the next colour call. Rotate invitations so all children practise finding an island.
4. While children are stationary and clear of the spots, remove a few spots. Explain, 'Some islands now have two explorers.' Demonstrate sharing with two children, each placing one foot on an opposite edge if there is room; otherwise stand beside the spot.
5. Repeat colour calls with no more than two children allocated to each available spot. Children choose another matching island if one already has two explorers, then all walk away on 'Sail again!'

1. Children walk slower and slower like tired explorers.
2. Lie down on their spot, close eyes and breathe in for 3, out for 3.

• Check the floor is dry and clear of bags, chairs and pegs
• Keep the area well inside walls so children do not run into them
• Children in suitable footwear or bare feet on a clean hall floor, never socks
• For Traffic lights, keep unused hoops outside the boundary and never place them where children may step into them; check the space behind before any blue backwards steps.
• For Find your spot, check that spots lie flat and do not slide. Limit sharing to two children, with no requirement to squeeze both bodies onto a small spot.
• Remove spots only while children are stationary and away from them, so the adult does not bend down into moving children's paths.