ANYONE with a preschooler knows they can be very active, but how active exactly?
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Upper Hunter Shire Council’s Early Learning Centre (ELC) took part in the Good for Kids, Good for Life Long Day Care Physical Activity Study this month.
The NSW Health, Hunter New England Local Health District in conjunction with the University of Newcastle are conducting this study to provide support to childcare centres and to promote physical activity and healthy eating in children.
The Good for Kids, Good for Life team has been providing support services to Early Childhood Services for the past 10 years, and its latest research project is investigating a simple way for childcare services to encourage children to be more physically active.
Children at the ELC were fitted with an accelerometer which measures physical activity while at the Centre.
In some families, parents are also measuring their child’s activity at home and taking part in a survey.
The Early Learning Centre’s coordinator, Jodie Royston, said the results of the study would help guide the ELC’s best practice and support the healthy growth, learning and development of children.
“The program has routines which include scheduling frequent opportunities for outdoor play – a simple approach to increasing physical activity in childcare,” she said.
“It features dancing, music and movement, motor development lessons, physically active games, and tumbling.
“The Upper Hunter Shire Council’s ELC is working towards promoting more physical activity among children and when this opportunity arose to partake in a study which related directly towards our centre’s goals we were excited to participate.
“This study will provide valuable information and insight into ways in which we can support the children in an active lifestyle, and the results of this study will help provide strategies to best support this throughout their day in the care setting.”