Did you know that developing a life-long love of physical activity begins before we can even walk?
“Physical Literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.”
-The international Physical Literacy Association, May 2014
Helping the children develop their physical literacy forms an important part of our daily planning and routine for all children here at RLH.
Physical Literacy is not just about improving outcomes related to levels of activity but has been shown to improve children’s social skills, create a greater sense of happiness and result in better academic outcomes.
Studies have shown that Australian children are less skilled and less active than previous generations and the impacts of a more sedentary lifestyle are far reaching and long lasting.
Minimum requirements for physical activity are described below.
Sourced – https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/physical-activity-and-exercise/physical-activity-and-exercise-guidelines-for-all-australians/for-infants-toddlers-and-preschoolers-birth-to-5-years
To guide us in our journey to instil Physical Literacy, we have adopted a program called KIDDO. Developed by academics from Exercise and Sports Science in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Western Australia, KIDDO was launched in 2014 to provide information, practical resources and skills for parents, teachers and early learning educators of children 0-8.
All our educators complete online training through an educator portal on KIDDO which empowers them to create opportunities for further development of every child’s fundamental movement skills. From Lesson plans, skill descriptor sheets and activity samples, to suggestions for engaging with the children when they are free playing, there are endless resources to support the team in our centres KIDDO journey.
The program is designed to develop the basic building blocks of movement, including running, throwing, kicking, catching, jumping and balancing but also to encourage a love and appreciation of physical activity that will see children adopt healthier and more active lifestyles into the future.
Skills, motivation, confidence and knowledge are the cornerstones of the program and staff receive training and professional development to guide them on why these 4 elements are important and how to grow them through lesson and session plans specific to each age range and skill type.
With a firm focus on fun, we aim to make movement a regular part of the day and find ways to ensure that it is not limited to our outdoor spaces but is something that can happen indoors as well. From tummy time to obstacle courses, yoga to dance parties, bubble catching to ball games, we are bringing back the active to our physical activities and improving the health of the children.
There are over 500 Early Learning Centres in the state that have adopted the KIDDO program and we are delighted to be part of this community of people committed to improving levels of physical literacy among our youngest members.
