A national program to boost energetic play for children aged birth to five years old in early childhood education and care (childcare)
Children enjoy energetic play and it’s essential for their happiness, the development of fundamental movement and social skills, and to help them become more confident and resilient.
We have developed Play Active to help early childhood education and care (ECEC) services find opportunities throughout the day to boost energetic play for the children in their care.
Co-created with educators in Western Australia, Play Active is the only program of its kind in Australia that provides clear guidelines for ECECs to ensure all children are getting enough energetic play throughout the day, every day.
The research behind Play Active
Children love to play and move, but our research team has found that most (2 in 3) children attending ECEC in Australia need to be doing more physical activity for their optimal health and development.
We developed the initial version of Play Active in 2019. Play Active was trialled in 2021 with amazing results, supporting 40 services to adopt and implement a physical activity policy, with results showing increases in good practices after implementation.
To have population-level health impacts, public health programs (such as Play Active) need to be delivered on a large scale. In 2022-23, Play Active is being scaled-up using implementation science methods for delivery nationally across Australia.
What is Play Active?
Play Active is a nationally scalable, low-cost program focused on boosting bursts of energetic play throughout the day:
- Support ECEC services to meet and exceed National Quality Standards
- Aligned to updated Early Years Learning Framework, including the focus on wellbeing
- Fully online program to support directors (centre managers), with membership benefits
- 5-step process for directors to self-assess their services current practices and develop and implement a tailored physical activity, sedentary behaviour and screen time policy,
- Free professional development for educators
- Backed by more than 10 years of research
To register your interest to learn more about Play Active when we launch in early 2024, head to www.playactive.org.au
Our Partner Advisory Group
Early Childhood Education and Care Sector
- Early Childhood Australia
- Australian Childcare Alliance WA, QLD and SA
- Goodstart Early Learning
- YMCA (The Y)
- Sonas Early Learning & Care WA
- Sagewood Early Learning WA
- Minderoo Foundation-CoLab
- Collaborate for Kids
Government Sector
- WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries
- WA Department of Health
- Health and Wellbeing Queensland
Play Sector
- Nature Play Australia
- Play Australia
- Plat Matters
Academic Sector
- The Kids Research Institute Australia
- The University of Western Australia
- University of Queensland
- University of Southern Denmark
- University of South Australia
Our research team and grant investigators
Investigators
- Associate Professor Hayley Christian
- Professor Stewart Trost
- Professor Carol Maher
- Dr Matthew ‘Tepi’ Mclaughlin
- Dr Andrea Nathan
- Emeritus Professor Patti-Jean Naylor
- Professor Jasper Schipperijn
- Dr Kevin Murray
- Professor Ian Li
- Emertus Professor Adiran Bauman
- Dr Karen Lombardi
Associate Investigators
- Emeritus Professor Adrian Bauman
- Adjunct Professor Trevor Shilton
- Ms Robyn Landais
- Professor Simon Smith
Grant funding
Play Active research is supported by four grants.
- Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Preventative Public Health Research Initiative —Maternal Health and Healthy Lifestyles (2021; APP2022912). The MRFF has not contributed to the design of the study, nor will it have a role in data collection, management, analysis, and interpretation, nor in the dissemination of findings.
- Healthway
- This research was supported partially by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025).
- The Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) partnership project grant (APP1152086) (funded the pilot randomised controlled trial in 2021).
Publications:
- Development of physical activity policy andi mplementation strategies for early childhood education and care settings using the Delphi process
- Nature Play and Fundamental Movement Skills Training Programs Improve Childcare Educator Supportive Physical Activity Behavior
- Child's Play: Findings from the Western Australian ‘PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity’ Study (PLAYCE)
- The influence of the early childhood education and care environment on young children’s physical activity
- Shade coverage, ultraviolet radiation and children’s physical activity in early childhood education and care
- Nature play and fundamental movement skills training programs improve childcare educator supportive physical activity behavior
Download the ECEC Physical Environment Checklist resource for ECEC centres