Four ways to use technology to help kids be active
About this resource
This blog post explores how parents and carers can use digital technologies to encourage young children’s participation in physical activities.
Age range for this resource
For parents, carers, and educators of children aged 18 months to 5 years.
Goal of this resource
To encourage young children to be physically active by inspiring excitement about moving their bodies.
To provide opportunities for young children to engage in enjoyable physical activities based on their media interests
To support young children’s physical development relating to bone and muscle strength, heart and lung health, and coordination skills.
How might educators use this resource?
Draw on the practices described in this blog post to increase physical activity opportunities for children in your services. Australian guidelines recommend that young children are physically active for at least three hours a day.
How might families use this resource?
Read this blog post for practical, fun ways to use digital technology to engage your child in physical activity. For example, try video recording your child in action on their bike, then play the recorded footage back to them to reinforce support and help their skill development. Maybe use a device to play audio/video of the Wiggles to encourage your child to move and dance in response. Together with your child, watch a favourite educational television show. When the episode is finished, use your child’s viewing interests to launch them into a related play activity. For example, play ‘Keepy Uppy’ after watching Bluey Season 1, Episode 3. Use the internet to research and plan for fun active play with your child.
How might organisations use this resource?
Provide a link to this blog post in your regular communication to families. Highlight how Playgroup WA parents and families involved in the research study, Young Children in Digital Society, valued finding practical ways to use digital technology to help their children be physically active.
What learning might we see?
Young children and families using digital technologies to support opportunities for physical activity at home and in their communities.
Practices
Reinforcing
Children and trusted adults record children participating in physical activity and re-play footage to support and build skill development and receive encouragement from others for physical activity.
Engaging
Children and adults use devices to engage children in physical activity, including audio/video for dancing, yoga, outdoor activities, and/or use device functions such as maps or timers to enhance opportunities for movement.
Launching
Adults capitalise on children’s media interests to launch children into physically active play to transition from screen viewing or to foster non-digital play.
Planning
Adults use internet-connected devices to research ideas to plan opportunities for children’s physical activity.
Area
Health and Wellbeing
The way that young children interact, engage with, and experience digital technologies can have implications for health and wellbeing. This includes their physical activity, posture, vision, sleep, and emotions.
Connection to relevant standards
Belonging, Being, and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia V2.0 (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022)
Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity
Children feel safe, secure, and supported (e.g., Children confidently explore and engage with social and physical environments through relationships and play).
Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience, and agency (e.g., Educators provide children with strategies to make informed choices about their actions, interactions, and behaviours).
Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy, and respect (e.g., Children co-use and collaborate with others when using digital technologies).
Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
Children develop a sense of connectedness to groups and communities and an understanding of their reciprocal rights and responsibilities as active and informed citizens (e.g., Educators support and build children’s skills to participate and contribute to group play and projects; Educators use digital technologies to find answers to questions and document discoveries).
Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Children become strong in their social, emotional, and mental wellbeing (e.g., Educators collaborate with children to document their achievements and share their successes with their families).
Children become strong in their physical learning and mental wellbeing (e.g., Children participate in physical play, dance, drama; Educators plan for and participate in energetic physical activity with children, including dance, drama, fundamental movement skills, and games; Educators discuss and model appropriate use of digital technologies and discuss how to keep children safe online with children and families).
Children are aware of and develop strategies to support their own mental and physical health and personal safety (e.g., Educators discuss aspects of posture, and other health related age-appropriate digital practices with children; Educators provide a range of active and restful experiences throughout the day and support children to make appropriate decisions regarding participation).
Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
Children develop a growth mindset and learning dispositions such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination, and reflexivity (e.g., Educators model inquiry processes, including wonder, curiosity, and imagination, try new ideas and take on challenges; Educators create responsive learning environments that promote shared sustained thinking).
Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another (e.g., Educators scaffold children’s understanding of how skills and ideas can be transferred to other activities through conversation and questions).
Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies, and natural and processed materials (e.g., Children explore the purpose and function of a range of tools, media, sounds, and graphics; Educators select and introduce appropriate tools, technologies, and media and provide the skills, knowledge, and techniques to enhance children’s learning).
Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts (e.g., Children view and listen to printed, visual, and multimedia texts and respond with relevant gestures, actions, comments, and/or questions).
Children use digital technologies and media to access information, investigate ideas, and represent their thinking (e.g., Children engage with technologies and media for fun and social connection; Educators teach skills and techniques and encourage children to use technologies to explore new information and represent their ideas; Educators encourage collaborative learning about and through technologies between children, and children and educators).
National Quality Standard (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, 2019)
Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice (e.g., Educators are deliberate, purposeful, and thoughtful in their decisions and actions; Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and extend children’s learning through open-ended questions, interactions, and feedback; Each child’s agency is promoted, enabling them to make choices and decisions that influence events and their world).
Quality Area 2: Children’s health and safety (e.g., Each child’s wellbeing and comfort is provided for, including appropriate opportunities to meet each child’s need for sleep, rest, and relaxation; Healthy eating and physical activity are promoted and appropriate for each child).
Quality Area 3: Physical Environment (e.g., Resources, materials, and equipment allow for multiple uses, are sufficient in number, and enable every child to engage in play-based learning).
Quality Area 5: Relationships with children (e.g., Responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident, and included).
National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018)
Principle 3: Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Principle 5: People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Principle 8: Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Explore More
If these ideas are new to you, explore these related resources:
This Raising Children Network article and video (2.44 minutes duration) discuss how play is central to children’s learning and development, describe structured and unstructured play, and provide play ideas for children at different ages.
Physical activity for babies and children: Why and how much?
This Raising Children Network article discusses why physical activity is good for children, what physical activity is, and how much children need each day.
For more ideas, explore these related resources:
Building active bodies and brains – Fundamental movement resources
This Playgroup WA article offers a range of fun resources to develop young children’s fundamental movement skills.
Treasure hunt: Activity for children 3–6 years
This Raising Children Network article describes why a treasure hunt can be good for children, what you need, how to have one, and how to adapt it for different children.
If you would like to read some research, explore these related resources:
Baranowski, T., & Lyons, E. J. (2020). Scoping review of Pokemon Go: Comprehensive assessment of augmented reality for physical activity change. Games for Health, 9(2), 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1089/g4h.2019.0034
Moller, A. C., Sousa, C. V., Lee, K. J., Alon, D., & Lu, A. S. (2023). Active video game interventions targeting physical activity behaviors: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25(1), Article e45243. https://doi.org/10.2196/45243