Kinesthetic Learning in Primary School

Why?

Children are spending more and more time sitting. On average, primary school-aged children sit for over 7 hours a day. For them, sitting at school, averaging more than 3 hours a day, is the main sitting activity. This means there’s room for improvement in incorporating more movement during school hours.

Sitting still for long periods not only leads to reduced concentration but can also have negative effects on overall health, motivation, and learning performance. Research shows that physical activity contributes to better concentration, greater enjoyment of learning, and has a positive impact on both physical and mental health. In a time when children sit a lot, movement-based learning offers an opportunity to make the school day more dynamic, healthy, and effective.

Children don’t just learn with their heads, but with their whole bodies. It helps them remember learning material better, process it actively, and develop social skills.

Kinesthetic Learning, How Do You Do That?

Kinesthetic Learning can be applied in various ways. Within primary education, two approaches are important:

1. Physical Active Learning

This means that children use movement to process lesson content. Movement is not the goal itself, but a means to make practicing math, language, or spelling more enjoyable and effective. These movement activities are always linked to a specific learning goal.

Concrete examples:

In math, cards with problems are hung around the classroom. Students walk or run to a card, solve the problem, and bring back the answer. In this way, they practice multiplication tables or addition and subtraction while moving.

In language lessons, the teacher can do a dictation where students move back and forth: one student reads a sentence posted on the wall, memorizes it, and runs back to write it down together with a partner (“moving dictation”).

Research shows that children perform better in math and language when they move during learning. The combination of motor activity and cognitive processing helps them retain material better and increases motivation (Mullender-Wijnsma et al., 2016).

2. Embodied Learning

In Embodied Learning, movement strengthens or supports the learning process. For example, bouncing a ball while memorizing multiplication tables, searching for small creatures during a nature lesson, or placing a number, fraction, or percentage on a number line from 1 to 100. Short energizers or physical activities activate brain functions that support learning, such as memory, concentration, collaboration, and creative thinking.

Examples:

• Energizers lasting 3–5 minutes that improve blood circulation in the brain.

• Cooperative games that encourage social interaction.

Movement Breaks

Another simple way to bring more movement into the school day is by introducing movement breaks. These are short, easy-to-do physical activities that interrupt sitting time and give students a boost of new energy. These activities are not linked to specific learning goals.

After a movement break, children show better focus, improved concentration, and more motivation to engage with the lesson again. They are just a few-minute moments that require little preparation but make a big difference in classroom atmosphere and the learning climate.

Examples:

• Energizers: short games such as ‘Simon Says’, coordination games, or stretching exercises.

• Five-minute activities: dancing to music, jumping in place, or completing a balancing challenge.

• Free movement or outdoor play: stepping outside briefly to run or move in the fresh air.

Research shows that even 2 to 5 minutes of physical activity can improve concentration and on-task behavior among students (Watson et al., 2017).

Active Learning: Movement that Makes Lessons Stick

Bringing movement into everyday lessons is easy with ready-to-use materials designed to turn abstract concepts into "learning by doing." These resources help you seamlessly embed games and active participation across all subjects, boosting student focus and making the curriculum more engaging. Because physical and cognitive growth go hand-in-hand, our materials are tailored to support students at every stage of their development. By bridging the gap between desks and discovery, you can support diverse learning styles without adding hours to your prep time. These materials show exactly how movement can become a meaningful, permanent part of your classroom.

Professional Development for Kinesthetic Learning

Teaching through movement doesn’t mean changing everything you already do. Professional development supports teachers in using kinesthetic learning with purpose, linking movement to learning goals, and applying it confidently in everyday lessons.

These professional learning opportunities focus on practical classroom strategies, age-appropriate activities, and meaningful ways to integrate movement across subjects.