For the past few months, we’ve been very busy behind the scenes at PE Planning. It takes time to create structured, detailed, national curriculum-mapped PE lesson plans, and we’ve spent the spring creating brand new gymnastics lessons plans that will soon be available to download in our lesson plans section.

Our brand new gymnastics lesson plans are almost complete, and in this blog we have provided a FREE preview of the plans for you to take a look. Scroll down to the bottom of this blog post to take a look.

In the meantime, we’ve plenty of gymnastics lesson plans already available on our website (such as the Year 1 Gymnastics lesson plans, here).

But why are gymnastics lessons so important in PE?

Gymnastics lessons are particularly important because they help to provide unique benefits and contributions to the holistic development of pupils. Read what British Gymnastics, the national governing body for Gymnastics in the UK, says about gymnastics in PE here.

Let’s take a look at the impact gymnastics lessons can have on pupils’ physical, mental and social growth.

Fundamental movement skills

Skills such as locomotor (running and jumping), manipulative (catching and throwing) and stability (balancing, twisting) form the foundation of various physical activities and sports. Gymnastics is ideal for developing and refining these movement skills. Coordination, balance, strength and agility are crucial for a child’s motor development and easily transferable to other sports.

Physical fitness

Gymnastics lessons contribute significantly to improving a pupil’s overall physical fitness. Activities such as tumbling, vaulting bars and balance beam movements require – and build – strength, endurance, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness. Regular exposure to these kinds of activities not only improves a child’s strengths and abilities in gymnastics, they also help them achieve more, and enhance their capabilities, in other sports and PE activities.

Confidence and self esteem

Primary school gymnastics is great for building confidence, as well as developing social skills and allowing children to recognise and celebrate their successes. Gymnastics lessons can allow children to master new skills and conquer physical challenges, building a sense of accomplishment and self-belief.

Body awareness and control

Gymnastics lessons are great for cultivating body awareness and control – crucial aspects of physical development. Through various movements, pupils can learn to control their bodies in a given space, improving spatial awareness, balance and coordination. Because gymnastics requires precise movements, such as maintaining balance on narrow beams, children will develop body awareness and gain confidence in their movements – which will in turn improve other PE activities, as well as everyday life.

Teamwork and cooperation

You may see gymnastics as an individual sport – generally, it can be! But it can also be a great way to develop teamwork amongst children. Try group activities, partner work and team-based challenges to develop communication skills, as well as an understanding of mutual support. For example, group routines like synchronised movements, are great to develop children’s social skills, and help to build positive relationships and good sportsmanship.

Free gymnastics lesson plans sample

As promised, here is the free preview of our new gymnastics lesson plans. You can download by right-clicking on the image and clicking ‘Save’. You’re then free to print and use as you wish. Good luck!

Make sure you check back at the PE Planning website for our new gymnastics lessons plans. Please do get in touch with our team if you need guidance or advice with gymnastics lessons – we’re here to help!

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