CHILDCARE / PRE-SCHOOL FOOD AND ACTIVITY ENVIRONMENT
ENACT STRATEGY: Physical Activity
Provide regular opportunities for physical activity and play
The preschool and daycare settings offer an ideal opportunity to instill healthy physical activity habits in very young children, who are naturally active, curious and willing to try out new experiences. Although many children live in increasingly structured environments, physical activity remains a natural part of young children's play and development. Childcare settings should encourage young children's tendencies to be physically active through activities that are safe and fun. Whenever possible, preschools should schedule outdoor playtime rather than indoor playtime.
- Provide time for supervised, unstructured outdoor play whenever possible
- Implement a daily movement program
- Use music, dance and song to encourage children to move and be active
- Modeling healthy activities by providers
- Modify activities based on age group
- Enlist older preschoolers to lead activity sessions for younger children
Three childcare centers in North Carolina are working with the Natural Learning Initiative to improve the outdoor environmental diversity of their childcare centers. The aim of the program is to increase the time spent outdoors by children and teachers, and to increase the children’s level of physical activity.
Playday
The America Association for the Child's Right to Play has information on how to plan, organize and implement a playday, “designed to draw attention to a range and diversity of play activities.”
Appropriate Practices in Movement Programs for Young Children Ages 3-5 (PDF)
This position statement by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education lists appropriate practices for designing and implementing movement programs for children 3-5. Guidance is given on how to make developmentally appropriate decisions about curriculum, and how to fully integrate movement activities into existing curricula.
Play in the Early Years: Key to School Success
This policy brief, from the Early Childhood Funders, aims to educate policy makers on the importance of play for early learning. Also check out Play, it’s the Way Young Children Learn, a companion resource available in six languages which helps teachers understand the importance of play and integrate play into daily practice.
New York City Child Care Policy
The New York City Board of Health amended the health code to include stricter guidelines for nutrition standards, and quality physical activity at all public and private group day care services operating within New York. The updated code requires child care facilities to provide appropriate time for physical activity and sets limits on time spent viewing television.
This memorandum of understanding between the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokees supports collaboration on promoting only healthy food and physical activity before, during, and after school hours in local school and child care sites.
San Diego Childhood Obesity Action Plan
Page 10 of San Diego’s master plan to address childhood obesity identifies strategies that support increased physical activity for childcare participants.
in the ENACT Local Policy Database
PE Central
“PE Central provides the latest information about developmentally appropriate physical education programs for children and youth."
Family TLC
“Family TLC provides tools to enhance the parent/child relationship. Select a child's age on the interactive website to access family activities -- games, sports, crafts, music, cooking, nature and more. Find parenting tips, articles on child development and hundreds of new age-appropriate child activities each month.”
Preschools Influence Children’s Physical Activity (PDF)
Researchers compared physical activity levels of children at 9 preschools and found that the characteristics of the preschools have a much greater influence on a child’s physical activity while in school, than the child’s demographic characteristics. Their findings suggest that preschool policies and practices have the ability to influence the overall physical activity levels of young children.
Pate, R., Pfeiffer, K., Trost, S., Ziegler, P., and Dowda, M. Physical Activity Among Children Attending Preschools. PEDIATRICS Vol. 114 No. 5 November 2004, pp. 1258-1263.
Preschool Physical Activity Level and Change in Body Fatness in Young Children
This study examined the effect of preschool physical activity on the change in body fatness from preschool to first grade, and found that preschool-aged children with low levels of physical activity gained substantially more subcutaneous fat than children that were more active.
Moore, L., Nguyen, U., Rothman, K., Cupples, A. and Ellison, R. Preschool Physical Activity Level and Change in Body Fatness in Young Children: The Framingham Children's Study. ** American Journal of Epidemiology. Nov 1995; Vol. 142, No. 9: 982-988.
Evidence-based design for healthy development of young children (PDF)
This chapter summarizes research on childcare outdoor play environments, focusing on the how the built environment can facilitate children’s active living.
Nilda G. Cosco. Developing evidence-based design: Environmental interventions for healthy development of young children in the outdoors. An excerpt from Open Space People Space.
** We can only provide links to the article abstracts and not the full text.
