Physical Activity for Children

Developing Movement Programs for Children

• Identify known potential participants and investigate physical activity needs based on their age, stage of development, and physical abilities.
• Determine key objectives for children's movement programs based on identified needs and characteristics.

Structuring Programs

• Select movement activities that target key elements of physical literacy suited to participant characteristics.
• Structure programs to achieve objectives by incorporating activities that promote cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and agility.
• Gradually increase intensity, complexity, and duration of activities over time to support progressive skill development and adaptation.

Incorporating Safety Precautions

• Incorporate injury prevention strategies that respond to exercise risks for children, such as:
  • Education on proper technique
  • Gradual progression and skill development
  • Appropriate equipment and safety gear
• Conduct pre-exercise screening and assessment to identify health risks associated with commencing exercise and optimize exercise programming.

Facilitating Effective Group Interaction

• Establish clear expectations for behavior, participation, and safety at the beginning of each session.
• Use positive reinforcement, praise, and rewards to recognize effort, improvement, and achievements during fitness activities.
• Encourage peer support and collaboration by pairing children with different abilities or strengths together.

Evaluating Program Effectiveness

• Seek and acknowledge feedback from children and their parents or carers to ensure the program meets their needs and expectations.
• Evaluate own performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Modify and update the program and future sessions according to feedback and evaluation.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

• Adhere to regulations, including WH&S legislation, civil liability law, privacy law, consumer law, and anti-discrimination law.
• Obtain informed consent from parents or guardians before allowing children to participate in fitness programs.
• Implement safety protocols to minimize the risk of injury during physical activities.

Exercise Design Principles

• Recognize individual differences in children's development rates, abilities, and preferences.

• Prioritize safety by selecting age-appropriate exercises and ensuring equipment is suitable for children's size and skill level.

• Make exercise enjoyable and engaging by incorporating games, activities, and challenges that capture children's interest and motivation.### Safety Considerations

• Activities with potential risks or hazards, such as gymnastics or outdoor adventure programs, require closer supervision and smaller instructor-to-child ratios.

• Water-based activities, like swimming or aquatics programs, have stricter safety requirements and may need even smaller ratios, especially for non-swimmers.

Instructor Experience and Qualifications

• Experienced instructors can manage larger groups of children, while less experienced instructors may require smaller ratios for effective supervision and guidance.

Program Goals and Objectives

• Programs focused on skill development, technique refinement, or competitive training benefit from smaller ratios to provide individualized instruction and feedback.

FITT Guide for Young Children

• Infants (birth to 12 months): supervised interactive floor-based play, tummy time, crawling, pulling up to a standing position, and walking.
• Toddlers (1 to 2 years): running, twirling, jumping, dancing, and skipping.
• Pre-schoolers (3-5 years): running, kicking, throwing, jumping, dancing, and skipping.

FITT Guide for Children

• Children (6-11 years old): 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, with examples including football, basketball, netball, bike riding, scooter riding, swimming, and dancing.

Delivery Performance

• Instructor performance skills can make a difference between a great training session and an average one.
• Children's movement programs contribute to cognitive development, social skills, emotional regulation, and overall well-being.

Stages of Development

• Understanding key stages of development and milestones for children up to 12 years old is crucial for designing effective exercise programming and instruction.

Physical Literacy

• Physical literacy involves holistic lifelong learning through movement and physical activity, contributing to physical, psychological, social, and cognitive health and wellbeing.
• The Australian Physical Literacy framework categorizes 30 elements across four domains: physical, psychological, social, and cognitive.

Guiding Principles of the Framework

• Everyone has the potential to learn through movement and physical activity.
• Everyone progresses at different rates through the stages of the framework.

Injury Prevention Strategies

• Education on proper technique: teach children importance of using proper technique and form during movement activities.
• Gradual progression and skill development: progress activities gradually to prevent overexertion and reduce the risk of injury.
• Appropriate equipment and safety gear: ensure children have access to age-appropriate and properly fitting equipment for activities.

Healthy 24 Hours

• Accumulate 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day.
• Incorporate vigorous activities and those that strengthen muscle and bone at least three days per week.
• Limit sedentary recreational screen time to no more than two hours per day.
• Break up long periods of sitting as often as possible.
• Get uninterrupted sleep each night (9-11 hours for 5-13 years old, 8-10 hours for 14-17 years old).