Physical Literacy in Early Childhood: Exploring Possibilities and Increasing Opportunities

Full text

Physical
Literacy
in
Early
Childhood:
Exploring
Possibilities
and
Increasing
Opportunities
by Carla Vidoni, University
of
Louisville
Amaury
Samalot-Rivera, The State University
of
New York -Brockport
Takahiro Sato, Kent State University
Initiatives
to
prevent child obesity and increase healthy
lifestyles are a key aspect
of
public health policy. Early
childhood
is
an
ideal
time
to
set
the stage for young
children
to
become "physically literate" (Maude, 2010).
Physical literacy encompasses engagement
in
successful
movement experiences that potentially
promote
a
future active and healthy lifestyle (Whitehead, 2010). The
National Association for the Education
of
Young Children
and the Society
of
Health and Physical Educators
(SHAPE
America) have recognized
that
movement experiences
impact the development
of
the whole child, and have
established standards and guidelines related
to
physical
activities in early childhood settings.
SHAPE
America suggests
that
acquisition and
advancement
of
movement
skills
during
the early
years
are
crucial
to
individuals' engagement in healthy
lifestyles. With more than one in five
U.s.
children
overweight
(i.e.,
with
body
fat percentage 25-30%)
and the rate
of
obesity in children
(i.e.,
with
body
fat
percentage above 30%) increasing, more
time
for
physical activity in preschools and child care centers
is
clearly needed. However, some challenges
limit
the
implementation
of
programs
that
offer appropriate
movement
and physical activity. Inadequacies in
funding
for
equipment.
indoor
and
outdoor
facilities, space, and
trained staff are some
of
the current barriers
to
achieving
appropriate physical activity.
These challenges
can
be met
with
small steps. The
purpose
of
this article
is
to
enlighten early childhood
center administrators, teachers, and caregivers on
how
they
can
nurture children's physical literacy by
incorporating appropriate practices
of
movement and
physical activity
into
preschools' daily schedules.
Structured and Unstructured Physical Activity
Time
The former National Association for Sport and
Physical
Education, currently called
SHAPE
America, suggests
that children
who
attend full-time preschool need at
least
60
minutes
of
both structured and unstructured
physical activity. Structured
time
refers
to
age-appropriate
movement activities led by the teacher with the purpose
of
contributing
to
the children's
1)
learning and refinement
of
a variety
of
motor skills,
2)
participation
in
simple and non-
competitive games that promote
motor
skill development.
3)
maximized engagement
in
movement activities without
being eliminated or waiting
in
lines,
4)
involvement
in
balance stunts and simple tumbling activities, and
5)
practice
of
rhythm and dance activities.
Unstruc.tured physical activity time refers
to
movement
activities initiated by
the
children themselves.
Unstructured
time
is
recommended
as
an
alternative to
sedentary activities. Children
can
explore large
outdoor
equipment
by balancing, swinging, and climbing; they
also
can
play
with
balls, trampolines, balance boards,
scooters, tricycles, or other wheeled vehicles (wearing
appropriate safety gear). Taking children for walks around
the
school during unstructured time, changing distance
and speed,
can
promote
fitness
as
well
as
spatial, motor,
and cognitive development.
The structured and unstructured physical activity times
can
be divided into different small sessions
(e.g.,
two
sessions
of
10
minutes, and
two
sessions
of
20
minutes),
with
breaks or contrasting tasks
to
allow children
to
recover strength and maintain good energy levels.
In
order
to
provide children
with
healthy habits, sedentary
continued on page
14
13

continued from page
13
time
should last for no longer than 60 minutes. Teachers
can
break up long periods
of
sedentary activity
time
with
quick and simple movement activities, such
as
"spin on
your
bottom
;'
jump
or march in place,
or
even dance
to
a
three-minute movement song.
Both structured and unstructured times
are
opportunities for children
to
become physically literate,
which encompasses motivation, confidence, physical
competence, knowledge, and understanding. These
opportunities occur when early childhood providers
perceive that appropriate movement and physical
activity are part
of
the holistic development and thus
intentionally embed
them
into
the daily schedule. Tables
1 and 2 show fundamental movement skills and
body
movements and related concepts.
What Are Appropriate
Movement
Practices?
Appropriate practices in movement skills for early
childhood involve age-related foundational skills, which
consist
of
fundamental
motor
skills, movement concepts,
non
locomotor
movements, and
body
management skills.
These skills are related
to
what movements
our
body
can
do, where and
how
the
body
can
move, and the
relationships between the
body
and
our
surroundings,
such
as
people, space, and objects. Fundamental
motor
skills
are
related
to
locomotor
and manipulative
(i.e
.,
object control) skills:
• Locomotor skills allow movement from one place
to
another, including walking, running, skipping, sliding,
galloping, leaping, hopping, and
jumping
.
• Manipulative skills involve the manipulation and pro-
jection
of
objects, including catching, dribbling, strik-
ing, throwing, and kicking.
These fundamental skills
are
complemented by:
• Nonlocomotor movements, such
as
bending, twisting,
balancing, turning, stretching, pushing, and pulling
• Movement concepts related
to
body
and space
awareness, qualities
of
movement, and relationships
such
as
above/below, over/under, around, fast/slow,
clockwise/counterclockwise, and forward/backward/
sideways
• Body management skills requiring integration
of
sev-
eral qualities
of
movement, such
as
strength, agility,
balance, flexibility, and coordination.
Table 1 . .Fundamental
Movement
Skill: Prompts &
Cues
Skills Prompts for Correct Performance/
Cues for Assessment
locomotor
Run
• Pump your arms
• Heels close
to
buttocks
Skip • Step & hop
• Arms back and forth (opposition to legs)
Slide • Side to side
•
No
crossing feet
Gallop • Step-together (no cro
ss
ing feet)
• Look forward
Hop • One foot behind
• Lift
up
Jump • Two-feet together forward (horizontal)
• Arms upwards
Leap • Stretch one leg
• Giant step
Manipulative
Catch • Watch the ball
•
Reach
for the ball (catch
with
hands)
Roll
(bowling) • Tick
Tock
(Swing arm)
• Bend knee
Throw underhand • Tick
Tock
(Swing arm)
• Point to the target
Throw overhand • Side to target (point to it like
aT)
• Step &
throw
(make
an
'L'
with
throwing
arm)
Dribble (Bounce) •
Push
the ball
down
•
Use
fingerpads (
not
a slap)
Strike (with hands) •
Palms
up
• Swing hand toward target (up or forward)
Kick (inside
of
foot) • Swing leg
• Sweep the ball
Children's appropriate practice
of
foundational skills
and their understanding
of
movement vocabulary
can
help them control their bodies and build a
motor
skills
repertoire that will increase the likelihood
of
their future
participation in physical activities.
Teachers
can
encourage children
to
perform these
movements during structured and unstructured time, but
also
can
use
them in the classroom for physical activity or
language arts purposes.
For
example, index cards
can
be
continued on page
15
14

Table
2.
Body
Movements
& Related
Concepts
MOVEMENTS
THE
BODY
CAN
DO:
Locomotor
&
Non-Locomotor
Balance Bend Climb Crawl Jump/Land March
Roll
Stretch Transfer Weight Turn Twist Walk
DIFFERENT
WAYS
THE
BODY
CAN
MOVE:
Time, Speed,
Rhythm,
Force
Accelerate/
Beats
Cadence Fast! Strong/ Patterns
Decelerate Slow Light
WHERE
THE
BODY
MOVES:
Space
Awareness
Directions Counterwise/ Forward/ Right! Up/
Counterclock Backward Left Down
Location/ Ahead/ Around/
Lead
/ Near/
Relation to Behind Alongside Follow
Far
On/ Over/ Self-Space/ Together/
Off Under General Apart
Levels Low Medium High
Pathways Straight Curved Zigzag
continued from page
14
illustrated
with
pictures
of
how
the
body
can
move. These
cards could be used
to
set a
theme
of
the day. With a card
indicating "balance"
as
the theme
of
the day, children
can
walk
with
one
foot
directly in front
of
the other or on a
straight line while
going
to
drink water,
to
the cafeteria,
or
even
around the classroom. The teacher
can
ask
a
child
to
pick a
book
from the shelf
during
reading time,
and balance it on her head, on the palm
of
one hand, or
on the
top
of
her hands (palms down).
If
the theme card
indicates "walk;' children
can
walk sideways (cue: step-
together-step-together) during various transitions during
the day. If children
are
walking in line, all
of
them
can
walk in sideways
with
right foot in front, and later return
with
the left foot in front. They
can
also walk on their
tiptoes, on their heels, backwards, taking small steps, or
taking large strides.
Engaging Children With Disabilities
Some children
with
developmental delays may be able
to
participate
in
the same types
of
activities
with
their typi-
cally developing peers. However, some
might
need
to
be
involved
in activities
that
help develop other abilities.
For
example,
if
the
disability involves lack
of
muscle tone
(i.e.,
hypotonicity), or excessive muscle
tone
(i.e.,
hypertonici-
ty), or dysfunctional sensory integration
(i.e.,
when one or
more
senses
are
either over- or under-reactive
to
sensory
stimulation), it
is
important
to
engage
them
in
move-
ments that increase strength
(i
.
e.,
increase muscle tone),
relax and stretch muscles
(i.e
., decrease hypertonicity),
and improve space and
body
awareness, coordination,
balance, object control, and
locomotor
skills
(i.e
.,
improve
sensory integration).
Exploring
Movement
During Unstructured Physical
Activity Time
Mindfully
observe
and
prompt
children
to
perform
different skills and concepts while playing or moving,
such
as:
• Bend, twist, or stretch when placing light objects on a
shelf or
in
boxes
continued on page
16
15

continued from page 15
• Perform certain tasks
their
non-dominant
hand or
with
their fingertips
• Balance on one
foot
and then switch
to
the
other
foot
(ask
them
to
count
how
many seconds they can they
balance on one foot)
Bend
their
knees while pushing or pulling heavier ob-
jects, or piling
up
tires, boxes, bricks, toys, etc.
Balance objects on
two
hands
with
palms
up
and/
or
with
palms down,
with
one hand (palms
up
and/
or palms down), and then
with
the
other
hand; some
objects
(e.g.,
a beanbag) can be balanced on
the
shoulder, fingertip(s), arm, thigh, or foot
• Move differently: walking slowly, quickly, backwards,
sideways (facing right or left), on tiptoes, and on
heels;
jumping
at high, average, or lower heights, and
at short or long distances; marching
with
high knees,
pumping
arms in
opposition
(elbows bent back and
forth, like running) or
touching
the
left
thigh
with
the
right hand and
the
right
thigh
with
the
left hand.
Movement
and physical
activity
is
more appealing
when
the
environment
is
purposefully set
up
for it.
Examples
of
equipment
and materials
that
can be part
of
unstructured
movement
time
(under
the
teacher's
supervision) are:
1)
different types
of
balls (e.g., yarn,
playground, beach, paper, tennis, whiffle, fluffy)
to
kick, bounce, strike, catch, and
throw
overhand and
underhand;
2)
hula hoops
to
roll on
the
ground
(like
rolling a tire), spin
around
waist and arms, and
jump
over
like a
jump
rope;
3)
balance boards;
4)
tricycles;
5)
old
tires
to
roll, pile up, line up, and
jump
over;
6)
scooters
(apply safety rules);
7)
CD
player
with
music
to
inspire
dancing; and
8)
an
outdoor
playground.
Suggestions
for Structured Physical Activity Time
Structured
time
can be
divided
into
several small
sessions
of
activities, and
longer
ones
outdoors
or in
a
multipurpose
room.
In
the
classroom, for example,
a teacher can
playa
movement
song every
morning
before breakfast
while
all
the
children perform
the
same kind
of
movements
together
(e.g., hokey pokey
or functional skill activities).
Another
example
is
a five-
minute
stretch routine
that
can be led by
the
teacher
before and after a sitting activity. Since preschool
teachers are typically creative and imaginative, they will
have no
trouble
designing a sequence
of
stretches using
pretend play.
For
example,
they
could direct children
to
"follow
the
bug
with
our
fingers"while
the
children sit
with
legs wide and extended,
bending
the
trunk
forward,
and reaching
with
their
extended arms forward
as
far
as
possible-pretending
they
are
following
a bug. Several
yoga poses are associated
with
pretend movements
(e.g.,
baby pose,
downward
facing dog, cat, and cow). Adding
soothing music in
the
background can
be
relaxing.
Longer sessions
of
movement
activities can occur
both
indoors and outdoors,
depending
on
the
available
space. Activities
with
parachutes, for example, provide
opportunities
to
practice numerous
movement
skills and
build health-related fitness, such
as
flexibility, muscle
tone, cardio-respiratory endurance, and functional
fitness
(e.g.,
posture control). Since parachutes can be
costly, pieces
of
stretchy fabric cut
into
squares can be
more economic alternatives. Activities can be done
with
palms
up
or palms
down
grips,
lifting
the
fabric edges
to
high, medium, and
low
levels (muscular endurance and
flexibility); shaking
light
objects (e.g., yarn balls, paper
balls) on
top
of
the
fabric pretending
they
are popcorn
kernels (muscular endurance);
holding
the
fabric while
performing different
locomotor
skills, such
as
skipping,
sliding, galloping, and marching, at high, medium, and
low levels (cardiorespiratory endurance).
Hopscotch
Multiple, varied hopscotch patterns (grids) can be
designed for small groups
of
children
to
play-
remember
that
waiting
time
is
detrimental
to
the
healthy
benefits
of
movement
time. Children can
jump
forward
with
two
feet together, feet apart, sideways
with
two
feet
together
(moving
to
the
right and then
to
the
left), at
different distances, over small obstacles
(e.g.,
beanbags),
and on one
foot
(hop). Different sequences
of
jumps
can
be created
to
challenge
the
children. Figure 1 shows
an
example
of
hopscotch.
Obstacle Courses
When designing obstacle courses
with
different tasks,
avoid using speed
(i.e.,
decreasing
time
in performance)
to challenge
the
children when accuracy
of
the
continued on page 17
16

Figure
1.
Example
of
Hopscotch •
FEET
APART
J
UMP
OVER
BEA
N
BAG
FOOT
FEET
TO
nlE
LEFT
I! o
-•
FE
ET
FORWARD
FEET
TO
THE
RI
GHT
continued from page
16
movements
is
the ultimate goal. Obstacle courses
may include 1)
jumping
over small, varied items
(i.e.,
beanbags);
2)
balancing on lines (drawn with chalk) or
ropes on the ground;
3)
going under and over objects
(e.g.,
benches, chairs);
4)
throwing
a beanbag (underhand)
into baskets, buckets, or boxes;
5)
using a ball
to
strike (or
roll between) bowling pins, cones, or
empty
bottles;
6)
balancing
an
object
(e.g.,
beanbag) on their hands (palms
up
or palms down), on their head, or other parts
of
the
body while walking along various pathways.
Pretend Play
It
is
important
to
note
that
imagination, self-esteem,
and interactions
with
others and
with
the
environment
are also attributes
of
physical literacy.
listening
to
a
great story
during
reading
time
is
exciting. Being
part
of
the
story
can
be even more exciting and help develop
physical, cognitive, and social skills. During structured
physical activity time, children
can
act
out
stories.
Pretend play may incorporate
movement
vocabulary
and performance
of
foundational skills
into
the
story.
For
example, in a made-up activity called
"Wake
Up
Bear,"
the teacher narrates a story
about
children
who
live in
a forest. The pretend house (point A
of
the activity)
is
an
assigned space behind a line drawn on
the
ground.
On
the
opposite side (point
B)
is
the bear house. The
assistant teacher
or
a child
can
be the sleeping bear,
lying
down
on the
ground
over a mat or rug. The
activity begins
with
the
clarification
that
the
bear
is
a pretend bear, not a real one, and
with
information
about
safety procedures (i.e.,
how
to
avoid accidents
while playing). Then,
the
teacher starts narrating
the
story: "The alarm
is
ringing
...
it's 7 o'clock.
let's
wake
up, have breakfast (pretend
to
eat and
drink
according
to
children's context).
let's
put
our
boots on, pick
up
our
backpacks, and go
into
the
forest
to
wake
up
the
bear:'
As
the children move from
point
A
to
point
B,
the
teacher prompts
them
to
perform particular
motor
skills
(gallop, skip, walk backwards). They
can
stop on the
way
to
imitate animals they
see.
The teacher
might
say,
"let's
fly at high level like
that
bird;"'let's
jump
forward
like
that
frog,""let's leap over
the
pond;' or
"let's
climb
a tree
to
pick
up
cherries:' After crossing the "forest" all
the children stop in a designated
area
and
the
teacher
whispers, "One, two, three," and then the children all
say,
"Wake
up
bear!"Then,
the
children run back
to
their
point
A
as
the
bear"wakes
up"to
chase them. There
is
no elimination or punishment
if
the bear reaches a child.
The idea
is
to
explore movements from
point
A
to
point
B,
and run from
point
B
to
point
A.
This activity illustrates
how
games or activities
can
be modified
to
incorporate
specific knowledge and skills.
Exploring Resources
Ideas for lesson plans and preschool physical education
curricula are available from several sources, including:
•
PE
Central, a free website
that
offers lessons plans
with
a variety
of
motor
skills (www.pecentral.org/les-
son ideas/elementa ry Ipreschool men u.asp)
• Spark (Spark.org), which offers free samples
of
lesson
plans; upon purchase, they offer teacher training
and a whole curriculum set (www.sparkpe.org/ear-
Iy-ch i
Id
hood/cu
rri
cu
I u m/lesson-pla n s/)
•
SHAPE
America provides a
movement
across curric-
ulum approach designed by
Rae
Pica,
which offers
several ideas
to
integrate language arts
with
outdoor
play (www.shapeamerica.org/prodev/webinars/
ea
rlych i
Id
hood/u
p 10ad/MovementAcrosstheCu rricu-
lum-leaplnt-literacy.pdf).
continued on page 18
17

continued
from
page
17
Conclusion
First Lady
Michelle
Obama
launched
the
"Let's
Move
Child
Care"
initiative,
a
call-to-action
to
encourage
child
care
and
early
childhood
providers
to
meet
five
healthy
goals:
1)
nurturing
healthy
eaters,
2)
increasing physical activity,
3)
providing
healthy
drinks
for
kids, 4)
reducing
screen
time,
and
5)
supporting
breastfeeding
. The physical
activity
goal
supports
SHAPE
America's
recommendation
for
120
minutes
of
daily
physical
activity
time
for
children
in
full-time
child
care. The "Let's
Move
Child Care"
website
(https:
ll
healthykidshealthyfuture.org/)
provides
a
quiz
to
assess
child
care
providers'
healthy
goals
and
provide
information
about
joining
the
initiative.
In
addition,
it
offers ideas
for
activities
and
shares successful stories
from
early
childhood
settings.
Although
the
amount
of
time
young
children
spend
on
structured
movement
practices
and
the
quality
of
those
activities
may
vary
from
one
early
childhood
setting
to
an-
other,
developmental
delays in
motor
skills
and
the
prev-
alence
of
overweight
and
obese
children
clearly have
not
been
sufficiently
addressed. Early
childhood
is
the
time
for
prevention
and
for
teaching
healthy
behaviors. Embracing
physical
literacy
as
part
of
holistic
development
and
inten-
tionally
implementing
appropriate
practice
of
movement
skills
will
positively
impact
the
likelihood
of
children
hav-
ing
active
and
healthy
lifestyles.
Resources
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ation
and
Da
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-policy
series: Policy action recommendations for physical activity
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settings. Retrieved
from
www.shapeamerica.org/standards/guidelines/upload/
PolicyActionRecommendations_EarlyChildhoodSettings.
pdf
American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recre-
ation
and
Dance. (2012b). Head
start
body
start
-policy
series:
What
do the expert say? Retrieved
from
www.sha-
peamerica.org/standards/guidelines/upload/WhatDoEx-
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Centers
for
Disease
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P.
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