EARLY YEARS PHYSICAL LITERACY
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Physical Literacy Builds Better Brains
Dawne Clark, PhD
Educators and parents understand the importance of the early years. Early brain development tells us
that the 90% of a child’s brain has been built by the age of five and the metaphors of the Core Story
tell us how that process happens. An understanding of early brain development has shown that increased amounts of active play are important for the healthy development of young children.
The Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines tell us that young children need at least 180 minutes of active play every day and that physical literacy, the fundamental movement skills, provide the tools for children to develop healthy active lifestyles. (link to stroller potato article) What is the connection between early brain development, active play, and physical literacy?
Since the summer of 2018, The Early Years Physical Literacy Research Team, with funding from Active for Life, B2ten, and Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Children and Families Component, has been conducting a proof of concept study to determine the potential benefits for young children when they experience enhanced physical literacy in their child care settings. Working with 30 centres in Alberta and BC including over 600 children and 100 educators, we are learning about multiple benefits. Many of these benefits relate directly to helping young children build better brains
The CORE Story of Early Brain Development
The Core Story consists of a series of metaphors which help to explain how the growing brain develops and how the adults in children’s lives support that healthy growth. When we looked at the data from our study, we found connections to four of the metaphors: Serve and Return, Building a Brain is Like
Building a House, Air Traffic Control, and the Resilience Scale.
Metaphors of Core Story
Serve & Return
Relationships, relationships, relationships – the core of healthy brain development. Serve and return refers to the back and forth interactions between children and adults. Play is one of the best ways to support serve and return between adults and children.
The educators in our study talked about how their relationships became stronger with the children as they implemented physical literacy activities both in the playroom and outside. Encouraging active play meant that they became more engaged with the children and played with them more. As a result, educators found themselves spending less time managing challenging behaviours and saying “no”, and more time enjoying activities together. Both educators and children felt calmer and more productive, and experienced days filled with joy and laughter.
Our PL Proof of Concept study has shown that when children are provided opportunities for active play every day, they become more motivated, confident, and competent to move for a lifetime. But more than that, active play and physical literacy every day helps to build better brains.
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