The Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth gives insight through a yearly assessment of how Canada is doing when it comes to physical activity for children and youth. There are various behaviours that contribute to overall physical activity levels such as active transportation, sedentary behaviours, active play, organized sport, and physical education/physical activity at school. The 2013 report card assigns letter grades to 17 different...
Active play experiences help young children develop physical literacy comes to us from Active For Life. This article is the fourth in a series written by Dawne Clark. The articles discuss the relationship between a child’s early brain development and how this relates to the development of physical literacy. Within this article, Clark touches on ideas around structured play, complex skills, and fundamental movement skills.
Jim Grove is a senior contributing editor at Active for Life. Grove’s article entitled, The one crucial thing missing from your kid’s education: physical literacy, brings light to the importance of unstructured play for children and youth. Focusing on fundamental movement skills at an early age while engaging children and youth in many movement opportunities are certainly beneficial in developing physical literacy levels. Read Article
Parents, how did you get to school when you were a kid? The short video, Are we driving our kids to unhealthy habits?, may open your eyes and get you thinking. What are some things we as parents can do to encourage our kids to be active? Like many parents, the Bansley family was apprehensive when it came to having the kids walk to school. How did they overcome this apprehension and how did they increase the number of steps for their kids?
Watch Stepping It Up, and other related videos...
It is really simply indeed. Teaching the fundamental movement skills opens up many doors for kids. Sport, physical activity, free play will become even more enjoyable if kids are proficient with movement. This will not only lead to increased physical well-being, but also the social and emotional well-being of our youth. Sometimes kids say it best. This video touches on the importance of learning the fundamental movement skills.
Two more resources:
· Created by the Canadian Sport...
Clap, Slap, Cheer is a fantastic movement activity that can be done in any space. This powerpoint has letters that represent a different movement:
C Clap (clap hands three times)
S Slap (high five someone next to you)
H Hooray (arms up high and cheer “Hooray”)
Simply put up a slide and have the group read the letters from left to right and perform the movements.
In some cases you will see letters capitalized. Stand up to perform the movement for...
“Play is a powerful way to impart social skills”
Margaret Wente references Peter Gray, in her article from The Globe And Mail. Is it possible we are doing more harm than good when it comes to getting our kids ‘involved’? Wente brings us back to a slower time and helps one to consider the idea of ‘play’ and what it can do for us socially.
Today's kids are the first generation with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. What would you do with five more years? Every educator, parent, community leader, and coach should see this!
The following article is from Active For Life's publisher and editor-in-chief, Richard Monette.
In late August I picked up a local paper in a coffee shop. Looking at all the “back to school” inserts, my heart sank. “Summer is coming to an end,” I whispered as I scanned the advertising for binders, calculators, and sharpies.
On the last page a little card intended for parents caught my attention: “How to raise a reader”. After reading it I realized that I could easily replace the word...
Q: I think sports are great for teaching kids values like perseverance, commitment, and teamwork. I want to get my son started as soon as possible. He’s in kindergarten and some people have told me he might be too young. How do you I know if he’s ready?
For preschool and primary school ages, it’s important to make a clear distinction between “sports” in the competitive sense and what we might call physical “activities” and precursors to sports. Read...
