Physical activity — primarily in the form of active play — promotes young children’s physical, mental, emotional and social health. It can also influence how active people will be later in life.

It’s recommended that pre-school children, aged three to four years, engage in at least three hours of physical activity per day, and that should include one hour of high-intensity, heart-pumping movement. Sedentary screen time should also be limited to less than one hour per day.

Despite this, many children in Canada and around the world do not meet recommended levels of physical activity and engage in far more sedentary screen time than recommended.

Early childhood educators (ECEs) play many important roles in helping young children grow and learn, and one of these roles is encouraging engagement in physical activity. Our research in the Child Health and Physical Activity Lab at Western University focuses on promoting physical activity of young children.

A large part of our research involves working with ECEs to create active child-care settings, where children are supported and encouraged to engage in the physical activity they need for their development. We believe providing physical activity training opportunities for ECEs is an essential first step towards reaching that goal.

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