Know

In your family child care home, you provide a safe, nurturing setting for children to learn and explore. In prior lessons, you learned about the typical stages of physical development that most children follow as they move from infancy to school age. Children attain physical skills in a predictable pattern, but may not always follow the exact timelines described in developmental milestones. Culture and family experiences always impact children in all areas of development. Your home is where you support each individual child’s physical development.

Infants and Toddlers

A safe, clean area for infants and toddlers to explore is important for their physical development. They need space to have tummy time, to crawl, pull up, walk, climb, jump, and run. To develop fine-motor and sensory abilities, they need interesting items they can shake, hold, drop, grasp, and mouth. They need areas that are free of dangerous items that they could chew or swallow (for details, see the Safe Environments and Learning Environments courses). It may be that an area of your family child care home is designated for infant and toddler exploration. Laying down a soft mat or blanket may section off a part of the play space and serve as a signal to preschool and school-age children that this area and the toys in it are just for the babies. Infants need supervised tummy time every day when they are awake. Toddlers should be allowed 60 to 90 minutes per eight-hour day for moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Preschoolers

Most preschool age children love active play. They can use many fine-motor tools (e.g., pencils, crayons, paints, etc.) and complete puzzles. Preschoolers enjoy music and movement both indoors and outdoors. Dancing, jumping, climbing, swinging, skipping, and throwing balls are all fun activities that preschoolers enjoy. Including music, movement, and outdoor play in the daily schedule is critical for preschoolers’ motor development. Preschoolers should be allowed 90 to 120 minutes per eight-hour day for moderate physical activities.

School-Age

School-age children enjoy many of the same activities as preschoolers, but at an advanced level. They also enjoy games with rules (basketball, tag, charades, etc.). Their motor skills continue to become more fluid and effortless (skipping, running, climbing, drawing, writing, etc.). They love using different types of balls (e.g., kickball, basketball, soccer ball, etc.), tennis rackets, jump ropes, swings, slides, climbing toys, and other active equipment.

As a family child care provider, you are responsible for making sure all children have opportunities for active physical play. If you have favorite physical activities that you enjoy, then it can be fun to help the children participate with you (e.g., kicking a soccer ball, imitating simple yoga poses, digging in the yard to plant a vegetable garden, etc.). When planning your indoor and outdoor environments and your daily schedule, it is important to include adequate time for physical play for each child.

Creating an Environment and Schedule that Promotes Active Learning

The authors of the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale-Revised describe ways to create a responsive setting for children’s active play in the family child care home. You will want to be familiar with the list of indicators for active physical play. Family child care providers should limit time infants and toddlers spend in restrictive devices, such as swings, bouncers, stationary play centers, infant seats, and high chairs, to 15 minutes or less. Infants and toddlers need to be free to learn by moving their bodies in safe spaces.

The Learn section attachment, Best Practices for Physical Activity in Early Care and Education Settings (developed by staff at Child Care Aware) describes best practices that facilitate children’s physical development. Supporting children’s physical development includes limiting the use of screen and media time (e.g., TV, DVDs, iPads, computers, etc.). Many young children spend a great deal of time watching media, and there is a concern that a lack of time devoted to daily active play has led to an increase in the national rate of childhood obesity. As a family child care provider, you serve as a role model when you actively engage with the children in your care during planned indoor and outdoor physical play.

As you examine your environment and daily schedule for opportunities to plan active physical play, review the materials you have on hand that promote physical play. The following are just a few examples of materials that facilitate physical play:

• Infants: small push toys, infant gyms, playmats, blankets, balls, ramps for crawling
• Toddlers: ride-on toys without pedals, large push-pull wheel toys, balls, age-appropriate climbing equipment, tunnels
• Preschool: climbing equipment, riding toys, wagons, balls, basketball hoops
• School-age: sports equipment (balls, rackets, badminton game, etc.), jump ropes, hopscotch supplies, dance music, yoga mats

See

The following video clips provide examples of how family child care environments can support children’s gross- and fine-motor development.

Children with Special Needs

When caring for children with special needs, discuss with the child’s family any plans for adaptations to physical equipment or materials. Most of the equipment and materials you provide will be fine for all the children to use; however, in some situations, you may need advice about adapting gross- or fine-motor activities to meet a child’s individual needs. The child’s parents may provide you with ideas for simple adaptations. If the child receives special services, a therapist also may have ideas, assuming the parent has given written permission for the child’s therapist to speak with you. In some cases, you may have inclusion documentation .

Do

The families of the children you care for will want to know about your plans for outdoor physical play. As a family child care provider, you can share your beliefs about the importance of physical activity for young children. Provide families with information about plans for how you ensure their children’s physical development. The exercise in the Apply Section of this lesson will help you write a paragraph to include in your parent handbook about the importance of children’s physical development.