The Body-Smart Kid

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.)