Parents! Share these resources with your child’s childcare centre

We all know that physical activity is essential for developing healthy bodies and brains in early childhood. And if you have an infant, toddler, or preschooler in childcare, you may also know that physical activity is supported by physical literacy—the physical competence and confidence to be physically active.

Physical literacy is just one of the many learning domains that need to be explored in early childhood. However, it doesn’t always get addressed in early childhood centres, and it’s not the fault of your child’s teacher or caregiver.

As much as your childcare provider may want to promote physical literacy, it simply might not be something they’re trained in. As a consequence, they may be unsure how to set up physical activities and lead active games.

This is why we’ve developed a number of ready-to-use physical literacy lesson plans for early childhood educators. Each 30-minute lesson describes simple, fun, active games for developing fundamental movement skills in childcare settings, and they are all available for free download from the Active for Life website.

If you’d like to encourage physical literacy at your child’s centre, simply direct the teaching staff to these lesson plans and the activities page on our website, or share this article with them.

In the early years, most physical activity should be unstructured and child-driven. However, as children enter the preschool years between ages three and five, some structured daily physical activity becomes appropriate. This is where lesson plans are useful.

Each of the Active for Life lesson plans for this age group outlines 30 minutes of physical activity. This provides a good start for preschoolers achieving the 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recommended each day. (The rest of their physical activity should take the form of unstructured free play in settings that encourage free exploration of movement, such as playgrounds and natural outdoor spaces.)

Active for Life’s lesson plans are generally designed with a group of 10-25 children in mind. If your child attends a small home-based daycare centre, our activities may be more appropriate for the smaller number of children involved.

Your child’s confidence and enthusiasm for movement comes from developing physical literacy. By sharing these lesson plans and activities with your child’s daycare or early education centre, you can play a big role in helping more children to develop physical literacy.