This is the 6th post in the series I am doing on the Multiple Intelligences or 8 Great Smarts. You can find the first five posts here: Nature-Smart Kid ,Word-Smart Kid, Logic-Smart Kid, Picture-Smart Kid, and Music-Smart Kid.
For an overview of ALL the multiple intelligences, make sure to check out this post: Multiple Intelligences: Discovering the Way Your Child is Smart.
This blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
This post is all about the body-smart kid. This is personally my weakest smart. And when I see people who are body-smart, I am in awe of the things they can do! An important distinction is that body-smart is not the same as a kinesthetic learner. Kinesthetic learners remember things by doing them (I’m actually this way!), but body-smart people think with movement.
What A Body-Smart Kid Looks Like:
- Thinks with movement and touch.
- They move when they’re excited.
- Have busy hands and feet- whether building, “talking” with hands, playing, tapping feet, walking (or running!)
- Have good control of their body, and usually don’t struggle with large and small motor movement.
- May thrive in activities like dancing, sports, acting, etc.
- Generally, have good hand-eye coordination.
- May have a diagnosis of ADHD
- Move to think (kinesthetic learners move to remember.)
Possible Careers for a Body-Smart Kid:
- Hairdresser
- Fitness trainer
- Mechanic
- Orchestra Conductor (especially if tied with music-smart)
- Surgeon
- Seamstress
- Physical Therapist
- Truck Driver
How You Can Nurture Body-Smart Kids:
- Invest in activities they gravitate towards (sports, drama, etc.) Helps them establish a healthy identity and a sense of belonging.
- Consider chores that involve the body (sweeping, moving big items, folding laundry)
- Give them lots of body breaks while learning. Sitting for a long time can be hard for body-smart kids!
- Let them move while learning. Examples: math facts on the trampoline, pacing during read-aloud, doing bookwork while laying on their bed, or the floor, have them narrate a writing assignment to you while they move around.
- Use lots of manipulatives with learning. These kids think with their hands!
- Affirm their energy and movement as a positive quality. They will grow frustrated if constantly told to “sit down” or “stop that.”
How to Strengthen Kids’ Body-Smarts
- Model physical activity.
- Put away the technology and get outside!
- Make time for gross-motor and fine-motor activities.
- Consider chores that involve the body (sweeping, moving big items, folding laundry) Yes, this action point is for both body-smart kids and kids who can grow in this smart!
- Consider sports they can grow in individually (Taekwondo was a great one to help my kids strengthen their body-smarts! Alternatively, running was a sport that helped awaken and strengthen my own body smarts when I was in middle school.)
