As part of providing care to the children, educators must help children to learn about how their bodies work and the importance of physical activity for people's health. By talking to the children about why physical activity is important, you can teach children to start taking responsibility for their own health and safety. They start learning how to make good choices.
Physical activity is any activity that involves moving your body. It includes everyday activities, physically active play, and organised sports and exercise.
You could have a discussion with the children about the different parts of their body and what they are used for. You could talk about muscles and bones and how to keep these healthy and strong through healthy eating and exercise. A great way to learn about our muscles and bones is to use them. The best way to use them is through play. Pulling things, pushing things, climbing things, carrying things - all these actions are great for building up our bones and muscles.
You can also talk to the children about why they think physical activity is good for them. Here are some of the reasons:
Physical activity: why it’s good for children
Physical activity has lots of health benefits for children. It:
strengthens children’s bones, muscles, hearts and lungs
improves children’s coordination, balance, posture and flexibility
helps children stay at a healthy weight
reduces children’s risk of getting heart disease, cancer and type-2 diabetes later in life.
Physical activity also boosts children’s wellbeing. For example, active children are more likely to:
be confident and feel like they belong
be relaxed and sleep well
concentrate better at school
get along with others and make friends easily
share, take turns and cooperate.
TASK 1: What kind of physical activity do you do Kate? Why do you do those activities and how do they make you feel? Write your answers down.
TASK 2: Could you draw a poster showing all the different parts of the body - you might need to do some research for this task. Label the different parts and write a sentence on how that part is helped by physical activity.
TASK 3: Find a picture story book or a song on physical activity and health that you could read/sing to the children about the importance of being active.
TASK 4: Have a look at the photo above. Are the children being active here? What makes you say that?
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