Physical Fitness

Physical fitness is something everyone can benefit from. It keeps your body fit and adds more time to your life. This is why making physical fitness a priority in the development of young children is important. Physical development is just as important as the other domains because they all work together to develop the whole child. Preschool children learn various skills during physical activities. Skills like locomotor, moving their bodies from one point to another, catching and throwing (Goodway & Robinson, 2008). Children who do not partake in physical activity are at risk of becoming obese. With the extra weight also come extra health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease or hypertension. Children with any type of health or physical issues may feel ashamed or self- conscious about themselves. Adults can help develop good fitness habits bt including it in their daily routine. Playing games like Simon Says and throwing a football are just some ways to make fitness fun. Childhood obesity poses significant risk to children in the early education environment. Teachers can help children to make more healthy selections of food and read their own food cues, and at mealtimes they can provide foods that encourage children to follow the MyPlate Food System (Robertson, 2013, pg.271).

Here are a few facts to help you understand the importance of good nutrition and physical health habits for young children.

Fact Sheet

•           National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) suggest that preschool children should accumulate at least 60 minutes a day of structured physical activity (naeyc.org)

•           Preschoolers should develop competence in movement skills that are building blocks for more complex movement.(naeyc.org)

•           Fundamental movement skills are the building blocks of movement and need to be taught in order to improve.(naeyc.org)

•           The CDC states “… physical activity can have an impact on cognitive skills and attributes and academic behavior, all of which are important components of improved academic performance. These include enhanced concentration and attention as well as improved classroom behavior.

•           Charles Basch of Columbia University summarized exercise may affect executive functioning:

-Increased oxygen flow to the brain

-Increased brain neurotransmitters

-Increased brain –deprived neurotrophins. “Neurotrophins assure the survival of neutron in area responsible for learning, memory and higher thinking (sparkes.org)

References

Goodway, J. D., & Robinson, L. E. (2006, March). SKIPing toward an active start: Promoting physical activity in preschoolers. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200605/GoodwayBTJ.pdf

Robertson, C. (2013). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

www.sparkpe.org/blog/how-physical-activity-affects-academic-performance/