Posted: September 7, 2022
Childcare programs play a critical role in helping young children get sufficient physical activity, and childcare providers are instrumental in supporting active play for children.
The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that preschoolers are physically active throughout the day with a target of being engaged in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity for three hours per day (HHS, 2018). The guidelines emphasize the importance of structured activity, including games to help children reach this target. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of adult caregivers in encouraging a variety of types of active play. Although all young children benefit from adults supporting their physical activity, the role of adults is even more important for children with developmental disabilities because oftentimes they are more inactive than their peers without disabilities.
In 2022, Penn State Better Kid Care launched a new online training course, "Active Play for Preschoolers with Autism-WE PLAY," to help support child care providers to increase their understanding about physical activity in preschoolers—including those with autism—to develop confidence and skills leading physically active play, and to establish an action plan for implementing physically active play for preschoolers with autism.
The self-paced course can be accessed through Better Kid Care and is completed online in about two hours. The course is CDA accepted and CEU eligible. Course participants can access additional resources outside the course on the WE PLAY website. Resources include:
- a video library of a preschool teacher leading structured active games
- Username: weplay
- Password: letsplay-WePlay*789
- game sheets with information about how to play the games and links to preacademic skills
- a teacher self-assessment form for leading structured and unstructured active play
- a supervisor/peer observation form for structured and unstructured active play
- a social story about active play
- a sample visual schedule
- a sample of visual rules for active play
- recommendations for strategies and adaptations to support children with autism in active play
"Active Play for Preschoolers with Autism-WE PLAY" was developed through a collaboration with psychologists at Northeastern University and Penn State Better Kid Care. Research supports increased levels of physical activity among preschoolers whose teachers have completed the WE PLAY training. Funding for the development of WE PLAY came from the Healthy Weight Research Network and the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation. We hope you find the course helpful in your efforts to support young children's active play.
Jessica Hoffman, Ph.D., NCSP, is a professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She specializes in developing, implementing, and evaluating school interventions that promote children's health. She is a licensed psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist.
References
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (2018). Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
