Good for Kids.

Good for Life

Physical Activity Strategy
Learning Resource
Promoting Physical Activity in
Childrens Services
Sept 2009

About this Learning Resource

Thankyou for supporting your services participation in
the Good for Kids Physical Activity Strategy
This innovative strategy is based on the most recent
research and aims to provide fresh ideas and inspiration
to extend your current physical activity program
More information, activities and ideas on promoting
physical activity can be found in your centres copy of the
I Move We Move Physical Activity Resource Kit
Lets get started

What you will learn about

What are the most up to date physical activity

recommendations for children 0-5 years?
Ideas on how you can support these
recommendations in your day to day practice
What are fundamental movement skills and
what do they look like?
Ways to support the development of
fundamental movement skills in young children
Linking physical activity with the home
How to access further support from the Good for
Kids team
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Section 1 Whats the latest

information?
Physical activity for young children
& ideas on what you can do

Benefits of physical activity in

young children
Why is physical activity so important ?
Promotes healthy growth and development
e.g. strong bones and muscles, flexibility, balance,
posture, cardiovascular fitness and achieving and
maintaining a healthy weight
Helps make important connections between different
parts of the brain that develop memory and language
Provides opportunities to develop social skills and to
make friends
Helps with relaxation and sleep
Develops self esteem

How you play an important role

in promoting childrens physical
activity
Childrens services staff are ideally placed
to support physical activity as they:
- Are experts in early childhood
- Have meaningful contact with children
- Have the ability to foster development
and contribute to forming healthy habits
- Have the skills to prepare kids for
school and life
- Have the ability to provide
information and advice to parents

Physical activity
recommendations - babies
The Draft National Physical Activity
Recommendations for Children 0-5 years* include:

1. For healthy development in infants (birth to 1

year), physical activity - particularly floor-based play
in safe environments - should be encouraged from
birth
* the recommendations are draft and subject to endorsement by the
Australian Health Ministers Conference.
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Ideas for you:

Physical activity begins with
babies
Babies should be encouraged to be as active as
possible from birth as it promotes brain development,
strengthens what their body can do, builds their
senses and helps them to learn about their body and
how it moves.
Babies will benefit from you offering opportunistic and
planned physical activity experiences as part of their
daily routine
See the
I Move We Move Physical Activity Handbook - Babies
for more ideas on how to incorporate physical activity
into babies day
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Work with babies or toddlers and

want to know more?
Organise a time to watch the DVDs Active
Movement for babies and Active Movement for
Toddlers (in your I Move We Move Physical
Activity Resource Kit) for video footage of gross
motor development and fundamental movement
skills for these developmental periods.

Draft Recommendations for

physical activity toddlers and
preschoolers
2. Toddlers (1 to 3 years of age) and pre-schoolers (3 to
5 years of age) should be physically active for at least
three hours, spread throughout the day.

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Ideas for you: Encourage physical

activity through active play
For children in this age group,
physical activity should occur
mainly through physically active
play
Both adult guided skill
development activities and child
initiated, free active play are
required to support appropriate
physical activity in children
Active play can occur both
indoors and outdoors

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Ideas for you: Encourage physical

activity through active play
You can create active play opportunities to help children
to accumulate the 3 hours of activity they need everyday
This can be done using programmed activities,
equipment and provocations that promote active play and
skill development
If children are in care for most of their day- try to
encourage children to meet the recommended 3 hours of
physical activity while they are in care
Music and movement, dramatic play, water play and
active transitions are all examples of ways you can
promote children to be more active through active play
experiences

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Tips to support active play in young

children

Be an active role model this

includes joining into the activities
children are doing, and jumping,
skipping, kicking, running etc. with
them
Use verbal prompts this includes
giving encouragement for childrens
efforts and prompts to challenge and
extend the activity
Include skill development sessions
Be aware of the inactive childencourage them to active play
See the
I Move We Move Physical Activity Handbooks
for more ideas on encouraging active play

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Draft Recommendations for

physical activity
3. Infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers should not be
sedentary, restrained or kept inactive, for more than one
hour at a time, with the exception of sleeping

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Ideas for you: Consider how long

kids may be seated while in care
Ensure there is a balance of active and inactive time
Good for Kids recommends limiting time children
spend sitting still to no more than 30 minutes at a
time
Ensure babies are not kept inactive for extended
periods of time e.g. restrained in strollers, highchairs
or play-stations
Program games that provide opportunities for
physical activity or learning movement skills
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Ideas for you: Consider how long

kids may be seated in care

During periods of bad weather, ensure there are plenty of

opportunities to be active indoors or ask parents to pack wet
weather gear so children can still have fun and play outdoors

When doing sedentary activities, use active transitions to get

from one part of the room to another

Be prepared to join in active play

and encourage less active
children to be more active
during play time
See the

I Move We Move The Guide Section 4

for more ideas on being active everyday
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Draft Recommendations for

physical activity
4. Children younger than 2 years of age should not
spend any time watching television or using other
electronic media (i.e. DVDs, computers and other
electronic games)

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Why Limit Screen time for under

2s?
Screen time is not recommended for babies and
children under 2 years of age, especially in the
childcare setting as:
- It may reduce the amount of time they have for
active play, social interaction and chances for
language development
- Affect the development of a full range of eye
movement
- Reduce the length of time they can stay
focused
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Ideas for you: Think about the

centres use of screen time
Do not use TV or DVDs
for children up to 2 years
in your service
Share information with
parents on this latest
recommendation

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Draft Recommendations for

Physical Activity
5. For children two to five years of
age, sitting and watching television
and the use of other electronic
media should be limited less than
one hour per day

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Why limit screen time for

toddlers and preschoolers?
In toddlers and preschoolers, extended periods of
screen time have been associated with:
- Less outdoor, active and creative play time
- An increased risk of being overweight
- Sub optimal muscle and bone growth
- Unhealthy eating habits
- Poorer social skills
- Fewer opportunities to develop thinking skills
- Slower development of language skills and
short term memory
- TV viewing habits that continue into adulthood
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Ideas for you: Think about use of

screen time

Most children will be exposed to screen time at home, so

limiting screen time in the childcare setting can assist with
keeping to the recommendation
You might decide that screen time will not be included in your
program or just to limit it to special occasions
If including screen time, choose shows that encourage
children to move about and be active
Share information with parents on this latest
recommendation
See the
I Move We Move The Guide Section 4
for more information on small screen recreation
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Section 2 Fundamental
movement skills

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Why fundamental movement

skills?
Fundamental movement skills are specific gross
motor movements that involve different body parts
such as feet, legs, trunk, hands, arms and head
Children need to be taught fundamental movement
skills - they dont acquire them naturally
Children that learn fundamental movement skills
are more likely to participate in and play different
games, sports and recreational activities offered in the
school years and in the community

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Ideas for you: Promoting

fundamental movement skills
Just like learning the alphabet is required to be able to
read, fundamental movement skills are needed
for more complex skills required to play sports and
games in later life. They are the building blocks for
activitymovement skills - like
physical
Fundamental
the alphabet, need to be taught and
children should have the
opportunity to explore and discover
these concepts through play
Children need to start to experience
and explore these skills before
school

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Ideas for you: Promoting

fundamental movement skills
Childrens Services have the potential to provide many
opportunities to explore these skills
These include programming games that support the
development of a range of fundamental movement skills
and creating opportunities to support these during active
play (e.g. using teaching cues, giving access to equipment
etc)
Preparing for the development of fundamental movement
skills starts with babies and the process occurs throughout
childhood.

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Ideas for you: Babies

Appropriate developmental movement can be
supported in babies in preparation for learning FMS
Babies will benefit from you providing opportunistic
and planned physical activity experiences as part of
their daily routine
This includes tummy time and other activities eg encouraging
babies to reach for objects

Development of locomotor skills occurs at around six

months of age
These skills include crawling, pulling themselves up, using an
object to support moving in an upright position and finally
walking.

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Fundamental movement skills

in toddlers and preschoolers
There are 3 types of
fundamental movement
skills
1. Stability skills
Moving or standing still with
one body part making
contact with the ground or
equipment, and moving
around own vertical or
horizontal axis i.e.
balancing, stretching,
twisting, bending etc.
These may also be called
non-locomotor skills
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Fundamental movement skills in

toddlers and preschoolers
2. Locomotor Skills
- Moving the body from
one location to another
i.e. walking, running,
jumping, leaping,
galloping, hopping,
side- sliding

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Fundamental movement skills in

toddlers and preschoolers
3. Manipulation skills
- Imparting or receiving
force from or to an
object i.e. throwing,
catching, striking,
bouncing, kicking,
rolling

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Fun Moves DVD

The following DVD demonstrates
fundamental movement skills for
preschoolers
It takes approximately 10 minutes
Click HERE to begin

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Ideas for you: adult guided

fundamental movement skills
development experiences

Childrens services can promote the development of

fundamental movement skills through implementing adult
guided skill development experiences
These should be part of everyday practice and happen in
addition to free active play time
It is best for experiences for preschoolers to include a skillspecific warm up activity, a game or two targeting one or more
fundamental movement skills and a cool down
See the
I Move We Move Physical Activity Handbook for preschoolers
For examples of warm ups, games and cool downs
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Whats best to do

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Age appropriate skill

development experiences
Babies and toddlers
Will mostly involve one on one interaction (e.g. as a
focus child experience) or setting up the room to
encourage movement
For older toddlers these experiences could occur in
groups

Preschoolers
Adult guided fundamental movement skills learning
experiences could involve participation in large groups
of children, small groups or pairs
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Developmentally appropriate
skill development experiences

Activities should be matched to the childs developmental level

There should be opportunity for extending activities to provide
challenge
Children acquire fundamental movement skills
through a series of stages
Young children will generally only reach control level for each
fundamental movement skill by the age of 5 years
Children are not expected to actually master fundamental
movement skills until primary school (i.e. year 6)
Therefore, Childrens Services need only to provide opportunity
for exploration and guided discovery not mastery
See the
I Move We Move Physical Activity Handbook Section 2, page 37
for more information on stages of fundamental movement skills
development
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Tips when providing

fundamental movement skills
development experiences
Remember to:
Join in
Use appropriate teaching cues when explaining how to
perform the skill and when providing feedback on skill
performance to assist or extend individual children
Wear the lanyards included in your I Move We Move
Physical Activity Resource to help remember what each
fundamental movement skill should look like
See the
I Move We Move The Guide page 5.7
for examples of teaching cues to promote fundamental
movement skills development
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Tips when providing fundamenta

movement skills development
experiences

Focus on part of the skill at a

time
Provide brief instruction onlygive them plenty of time to
practice
Draw attention to correct
performance, not mistakes
Make learning experiences
fun and frequent!
See the

I Move We Move Physical Activity Handbooks

for examples of activities to promote fundamental movement skills development
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Section 3 Linking with the home

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Linking with the home

Sharing information and working together with
families is something that you already do, and can
easily include the promotion of physical activity
Attempts to ensure children develop healthy lifestyle
habits are more effective using the whole of family
approach
Strategies to communicate with families about
physical activity can occur in the same way you
communicate and engage with families about other
aspects of their childs experience at your service

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Ideas for you: linking with the

home
Look at adding a documentation space where physical
activity can be recorded i.e. in the daily journal, the
childrens individual books or the day book
Record and monitor childrens physical activity progress
as part of routine observation of childrens development,
including progress with fundamental movement skills
Use this as a prompt to talk to parents about physical
activity

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Ideas for you: Linking with the

home
Attach the I Move We Move for Parents handout to
your next newsletter, or pop a copy into their pigeon
hole and one up on the notice board
Promote the availability of your centres copy of the
Active Movement for under-fives DVD for parents to
borrow.
Add a newsletter insert from the Good for Kids I Move
We Move The Guide to every newsletter (Section 2,
page 2.15)

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Ideas for you: Linking with the

home
Offer children the opportunity to share their family
activities with their peers.
Invite families to attend and participate in physical
activity experiences with their children
Give parents the brochure Children and the Media:
Advocating for the Future (see Guide page 7.3)
Use insert What can I do to help my children have
less small screen time? (See the Guide page 2.22)
in your newsletter

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One last thought

Discuss with other staff how you may be
able to incorporate some of these
suggestions. At first this may appear a
little daunting but together you will all
reap the rewards. Children will be more
involved, and engaged. Their
concentration will improve and as they
master new skills their confidence
and self esteem will increase.
Jannelle Gallagher, Authorised Supervisor,
Kurri Kurri and District Pre-School Kindergarten
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Section 4 Further support from

the Good for Kids team
Phone advice (Good for Kids helpline)
Ph: 1300 657 197
Good for Kids Website www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au
Good for Kids I Move We Move Physical Activity
Resource Kit (if your centre doesnt have a copy
contact the Good for Kids helpline).

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References

Department of Health and Ageing. 2009. National Physical

Activity Recommendations for Children 0-5 years Canberra:
Australian Government DRAFT.
Department of Health and Ageing. 2009. Get Up and Grow.
Healthy eating and Physical Activity for Early Childhood:
Director Coordinator Book
Hunter New England Area Health Service 2009. I Move We
Move Physical Activity Resource Kit.

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To register your
completion of the
learning resource

Click on the link below to register your details and complete the learning
resource quiz

To commence the quiz you will need to enter the password footprint

On completion of the quiz, a certificate will be issued and you will be entered
into the prize draw*
http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/Take_the_quiz

*See the Good for Kids website for details of when prize draws close.

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