Physical Development

This article highlights the importance of physical literacy and discusses the three levels of physical literacy according to different age groups. 

This article discusses the many benefits of exercise, the three elements of fitness, and how we can address the increasingly impactful issue of sedentary issue and suggests ways of encouraging movement across all ages.

This article speaks about the role of optimal physical activity in children's thinking and also emphasizes the role of creativity in active play.

This report from 2018 notes various statistics and findings on Canadian children and their physical education. From topics ranging from Canadian children's sleeping, physical movement, sedentary behaviours, active play, and sport participation, this resource is rich in knowledge!

This article by Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development (CEECD) and the Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development (SKC-ECD) provides further insight of the benefits of physical activity and the roles of parents in physical activity. They also describe, provide activities and provide recommendations for structure and unstructured physical activities.  

This video is a 24 hour guideline of the early years for infants including physical movement, sleep schedule and nutrition. This outlines how incorporating this into practice leads to significant developmental benefits.  

This video is a 24 hour guideline for Early Years for Preschoolers including physical movement, sleep schedule and nutrition. This outlines how incorporating this into practice leads to significant developmental benefits.  

Summer offers many opportunities to have fun and engage with children in active movement. Gross motor play creates memories that can be reflected upon through group discussion and photo documentation. Active play strengthens and uses the large muscles in legs, arms and trunk which is important for healthy physical and brain development. Gross motor play is fun and gets your creative juices flowing. 

This resource provides activities to engage all age groups in play, to promote brain and physical development. 

Infants and toddlers take pleasure in art & craft activities. Creative activities promote cognitive development and improve motor skills.

Very young children focus more on exploring with different materials rather than on creating final products. Art experiences for toddlers and infants should be safe, simple, and sensory. All supplies should be non-toxic, in case of accidental ingestion. And most of all creative with infants and toddlers should be fun and include you as an interactive and reflective element to the experience! 

This resource provides creative activites for toddlers and infants. 

Getting ready for outdoor play gets more complicated as the weather becomes colder. This activity is meant to be a helpful way to assist children in putting on all the gear necessary for a Canadian winter.

It can be presented as a “challenge” to see how fast children can get ready with minimal staff support. At first children may require a lot of support in order to follow through however this should lessen over time. This resource provides means by which educators can reinforce positive praises for children who follow through.

The warmer weather is great for getting children outdoors to enjoy some fun in the sun! But what about those rainy days, or heat alerts, that keep us from enjoying our outside programming? How can you bring some of those activities inside? How do you create an indoor environment that will keep children busy and having fun? The following are some ideas that may be new to you or a twist on some old favourites that may be suitable for infants, toddlers and/or preschoolers.

This resource provides educators with activities that they can bring indoors on those hot days that doesn't make playing outdoors possible. 

This resource provide a list of books in support children's physical literacy in infants and toddlers. 

This resource lists interactive children's books that can help in supporting children's physical movement.