13.2: Guiding Principles of Supporting Children’s Physical Development

Teachers play a critical role in supporting children’s physical development because physical skills need to be explicitly and deliberately taught. Physical play, both indoors and outdoors, is not merely “free time”; it requires thoughtful planning and intentional interactions. The following guidelines will help teachers support children’s physical development.

Developmentally appropriate movement programs accommodate a variety of individual differences among children.

Children often learn best through maximum active participation. There should be a daily quest to minimize sitting, waiting, and watching so children enjoy meaningful participation in physical activities. Maximum purposeful participation at some level is a challenging but attainable goal.

The physical safety of children’s play environments should be of paramount importance at all times (children should be able to take reasonable risks).

Family members working as partners with teachers are key to enriching the physical development of children.

Inclusion of children with special needs is beneficial to all and promotes greater understanding of and respect for diversity.

Children are multisensory learners with unique learning styles.

To maximize teaching effectiveness, movement skill learning should first focus on improving body coordination and increasing awareness of body movements. The product, or quantitative aspect of movements (e.g., how far they jumped, or how fast they ran), should not be the initial focus of learning.

Children generally learn new movement skills more easily when they can focus on one specific aspect of the skill at a time.

Children benefit from ample opportunities to practice new physical skills.

Children benefit from integrated learning activities across the curriculum.

Frequency, intensity, type, and duration are the four key parameters to designing active physical play to enhance children’s fitness and health. The four parameters may be thought of as the FITT principles (Frequency, Intensity, Type, Time [duration]).

• “Frequency” refers to the regularity of engaging in physical activity; frequent short periods of physical activity each day are preferred (children should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time except when sleeping).
• “Intensity” refers to whether activities are sedentary, mild, moderate, or vigorous; moderate to vigorous activities are preferred.
• “Type” deals with the specific kind of physical activity engaged in; for young children, the types of activities usually take the form of active games, child-initiated play, as well as rhythms and dance.
• “Time” (duration) refers to the amount of time in which the child is engaged in physical activity; accumulating at least 60 minutes, and up to several hours, of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day is recommended.

Physical skills are more easily learned when clear instructions and appropriate feedback are provided in children’s home language using familiar communication methods.

Allow children to take risks. Risk taking allows children to challenge themselves, and to assess their own skills and abilities.^[1]