Professional development resources for Teachers
Here are some resources that can be helpful for teachers to learn more about promoting movement of children.
Reseach sharing: Trend of PA study
Through the systematic review of 8,974 articles in the most common database (e.g. PubMed, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, SPORT Discus, ERIC, Web of Science), this review aimed to identify strategies that are implemented by teachers to promote physical activity in early childhood education and care settings.
Ten types of strategies, performed by ECE teachers with the intention to improve physical activity-related primary outcomes, were identified as below:
fundamental movement skills practice
coordination and perception training
behavioural skills training
integration with other curriculum areas
teacher participation (e.g., role modelling)
mastery motivational climate
provision of equipment
Of these strategies, fundamental movement skills practice and game elements were the most commonly implemented and tested to be effective. Have a look at the figure below.
You can see that bigger circles represent strategies that are more commonly used. There are overlaps, because combination of strategies is common. For example, fundamental movement skills practice and physical games are often combined.
If you wished to check the full text of the published review on this topic, you can download the paper.
A summary is also available through this video.
If you think you need help with how you can implement these strategies in your kindergarten, feel free to get in touch with us, and we are happy to collaborate with you. Contact us and let us see how we can work together.
Fundamental movement skills components
You are probably aware of fundamental movement skills and what their components are. The EDB also has some information about fundamental movement skills, and you will find them here. While the EDB information is designed for primary school teachers, you may still find it useful to understand the components of fundamental movement skills.
What are the components of fundamental movement skills? Here below, you will see the different skills that make up the fundamental movement skills. These skills are expected to emerge during the kindergarten age (3 – 6 years old), and develop to mature patterns during primary school age (6-10 years old).
Note: There are other skills that children can develop as they grow older.
You can also see how those fundamental movement skills are performed using mature patterns through the link here. The fundamental movement skills are modelled here by university students, hence are demonstrating mature patterns. Children will certainly perform these skills with less smoothness and control.
Definitions of light, moderate, vigorous physical activity
There are three levels of physical activities: Light, Moderate, and Vigorous. In a day, children are encouraged to engage in a mix of activities at different levels. How can we distinguish the three levels?
Some examples of activities at each level are here. It is recommended that children engage in moderate and vigorous activities for a total of 180 minutes every day. But every move counts! So even the light activities are also helpful.
Because the children are with you in the kindergarten for only a few hours each day, it is important that their parents are also aware of the kinds of physical activity that their children can do. And perhaps, the best people to share this information to parents are teachers like you.
If you feel that you need some support with sharing the information with the parents in your kindergarten, our team can help! Feel free to contact us, and we can plan how to best reach out to the parents of your pupils about physical activities.
Rationale for the WHO and CHP movement guidelines
Experts from the World Health Organisation determined that for the best health outcomes, young children should have a balanced distribution of physical activity, use of gadgets, and sleep over the 24-hour cycle. Parents, teachers, grandparents, and carers all can help children meet these guidelines.
Healthy physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep habits are established early in life, providing an opportunity to shape habits through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.
If you want to understand better these guidelines and why they are important, you can see them here.