“It’s our polite nudge in the ribs to help you and your team stay organised and on task.”
This week’s subject is: Physical activity
Element 2.1.3: Healthy eating and physical activity are promoted and appropriate for each child.
How does your Service incorporate physical activity into everyday routines, across the program and promote leading a healthy, physically active lifestyle with families ?
Physical activity enhances brain development, coordination, social skills, motor skills and helps children to build confidence in their own abilities, develop their independence, and enjoy being active. The educational leader and educators foster physical and psychological development in children by encouraging physical activity that is challenging, extends thinking and offers opportunities to collaborate and take considered, calculated and appropriate risks. Guide to the NQF p168
Services should set up and plan their environment, educational program and resources with a focus on encouraging children to be active in a variety of contexts, whether during indoor or outdoor play, structured and non-structured activities.
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- Use children’s interests (from information collected at enrolment) to guide the program planning and resources
- Survey children on their favourite sport, physically active games and creative movement
- Encourage children’s participation by making physical games/activities fun and acknowledge/award children’s participation through verbal encouragement
- Plan physically active experiences that are age appropriate, yet challenge children’s ability, allow them to experience success and extend their development
- Ensure educators are actively involved in physically active play, where appropriate
- Ensure that the environment is set up to facilitate safe physically active play that is free of hazards
- Plan fun and engaging experiences that allow and encourage children to be creative and expressive (creative movement, dance, drama, yoga)
- Educators take opportunities to discuss the importance of physical activity for overall health and wellbeing
Ensure you regularly share information with families to promote an active lifestyle and provide them with the latest information about healthy living:
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- Provide a regular (‘Healthy Living’) section in your newsletter with tips to get children active and examples of physically active games and activities to do around the house.
- Provide information about the importance of physical activity to children’s health and development in Family Handbook along with links to research explaining the benefits.
- Promote local sporting events, fun runs and activities in your newsletter, flyers at the service or posted via online platforms (social media, information sharing apps), including your local businesses providing lessons for swimming, gymnastics, dance, kinder sports/gym, Ready Steady Go etc.
- Share physically active play experiences/activities from the Service’s program with families, particularly those that are popular with the children
Resources:
Healthy Kids get active each day
We hear you- Seven Meters Squared
Resources for families:
Physical Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Using screen time and digital technology for physical activity: children and pre-teens
Physical activity for young children: 0-5
Physical activity for school-age children
Within System7 go to Quality Area 2/Module 15 to submit self-assessment notes and if required, open a QIP issue if you identify any areas of improvement.
The Childcare Centre Desktop has a range of resources to assist services with healthy lifestyle. These include Physical Activity Policy, Program Template, Observation Template and much more.
Resources, NQS Element, Regulation and System7 links:
Childcare Centre Desktop – Childcare Centre Desktop
National Quality Standard – QA 2/ 2.1.3- Healthy Lifestyle
National Regulations – 76, 77, 168
System7 Module – QA 2/ Module 15
If you have any questions send us a note via the Contact page here!
