Active play builds strong and brains and bodies!
Imagine your favourite childhood game. What was it? Chasey? Hide and seek? Children love active play as it feels great and helps grow their confidence and skills.
Research from the Play Active team based at The Kids Research Institute Australia has shown that young children need more bursts of energetic play throughout their day.
The team’s work has informed the 24-hour Australian Movement Guidelines for the Early Years which help parents and carers to create healthy and safe routines for young ones by providing a snapshot of what a day should look like, including active play, time spent sitting and lying down, and asleep.
Babies need to be active several times a day in a variety of ways, like tummy time.
Young children aged 1-5 need three hours of physical activity each day, including bursts of energetic play. For children aged 3–5, one of those three hours should be made up of energetic, or active play, spread over the day. More is better!
Active play is the kind of play that gets children huffing and puffing, laughing and running.
You can add lots of active play to your day by playing active games, like chasey, keepy uppy, the floor is lava, or soccer. Read and act out active books or nursery rhymes. If you are tired or can’t participate, create games where children are moving around you. For example, throwing a ball through a hoop you are holding up or rolled up socks into the laundry basket, or put on your favourite music for them to dance.
Remember to have fun! Active play is just as good for you as it is for children.
More information about physical activity, sleep, and sedentary behaviour can be found here: 24-hour movement guidelines – birth to 5 years – brochure | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
For weekly active play ideas, visit the Play Active program on Instagram or Facebook.
To grow active play at your early learning service, please visit https://playactive.org.au/