Integrating Fundamental Movement Skills into Your PE Lessons

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) are the foundation of physical literacy, but they can often feel like an added challenge for teachers to integrate into an already busy PE curriculum. With the FMC PE Programme, we’ve done all the work for you by seamlessly integrating FMS into each lesson, so there’s no need for extra planning. Our whole-school approach ensures every student, at every level, develops these crucial skills over time.

What are the Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS)? 

FMS include basic movements like running, jumping, catching, throwing, and balancing. These skills are vital for children to progress to more complex physical activities, from playing sports to participating in everyday tasks. Without strong FMS, students may struggle with physical confidence, coordination, and overall movement ability.

The FMC Programme with a Difference:

While many PE programs treat FMS as a separate component that teachers have to squeeze into their schedule, we’ve made FMS an central part of every lesson. Whether your class is focusing on a cooperative game or a fitness activity, FMS are always being developed naturally and purposefully. This means no extra planning or juggling between different skill sets. You can focus on teaching while knowing your students are building essential movement skills.

FMC’s whole-school approach ensures that students focus on each FMS for a 4-6 week block, and they revisit these skills throughout their primary school years. By the time your students leave primary school, they will have mastered key movement skills, having practiced each one at least three times during their school journey.

• Time Saving for Teachers:

We understand that teachers have a lot on their plates, which is why we’ve designed the FMC PE Programme to take the load off. Our lessons are ready to go, with FMS built right in—saving you time on planning and preparation. This allows you to focus on what’s most important: teaching and engaging your students in meaningful physical activity.

Directly Teaching the FMS in the Classroom

Before playing a FMS game we focus on directly teaching one part of the Fundamental Movement Skill that we have focused on. Let's take the skill of Landing as an example: 

1) Using our FMC skill poster we could directly teach that when landing students should land on their two feet bending their knees, hips & ankles. We recommend giving about 5 minutes to allow students to practice the skill in isolation concentrating on their skill focus. 

2) The teacher could move around the room working with individual students. 

3) Next, we would move into our FMS Landing game, focusing on implementing our skill focus along with any other landing skill focuses we have learnt up to this point

Featured Activity: FMS Integrated Games

Want to get started right away? Try these FMS games with your students. They are a mixture of running, hopping, and catching to engage your class while developing their movement skills. They are simple to set up and works in any space!

The FMC PE Programme sets itself apart by seamlessly integrating Fundamental Movement Skills into every lesson, making it easy for teachers to ensure their students are developing these essential abilities. With our whole-school approach, students get focused, repeated practice on each skill over their primary school years, ensuring they leave confident and physically literate.

Save time, reduce planning stress, and focus on what matters most—teaching. Visit our blog to explore how our program can transform your PE lessons and help your students master FMS with ease. Read more here!

Want to see how FMC makes integrating FMS effortless? Check out our website for more detailed tips and activities and grab your Free Trial to make your PE program even more impactful.