Get moving with Humpty’s Big Adventure
About this resource
This article invites parents, carers, and educators to provide a range of skill-building opportunities for children through obstacle course play.
Age range for this resource
For parents, carers, and educators of children aged 2 to 5 years.
Goal of this resource
To encourage young children’s participation in play-based physical activity.
To promote young children’s sense of agency and confidence.
To develop young children’s creativity and early literacy skills (e.g., drawing, writing about, and/or verbally communicating their ideas).
How might educators use this resource?
Read this article for inspiration to plan and design obstacle course play at your service. The article also provides a video link to Humpty’s Big Adventure: Obstacle Course. Co-view this video with children and then invite them to map out their own obstacle course. Designing and setting up the course together can support children to develop a sense of agency, creativity, and early literacy skills as they draw, write, and/or communicate ideas verbally.
How might families use this resource?
Read this article then view Humpty’s Big Adventure: Obstacle Course with your child via the link provided in the article. Assist your child with designing and setting up their own obstacle course. You may like to video record your child completing the obstacle course then viewing the footage together to reflect on their progress over time. This is a great activity to engage siblings together.
How might organisations use this resource?
Provide a link to this article in your organisation’s regular communication to families. Highlight how obstacle course play offers many physical and cognitive benefits to young children. Display the video Humpty’s Big Adventure: Obstacle Course on a smartboard or device in your service entry or foyer so that parents and carers can view obstacle course play and get ideas to take home.
What learning might we see?
Parents, carers, and educators understanding that technologies (e.g., television programs about obstacle courses) can be used to support learning, development, and physical activity in the early years.
Young children planning and engaging in obstacle course play.
Practices
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 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; Educators support children’s efforts, assisting and encouraging as appropriate; Educators maintain high expectations of each child’s capabilities).
Children develop knowledgeable, confident self-identities, and a positive sense of self-worth (e.g., Educators ensure all children experience pride and confidence in their achievements).
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; Educators facilitate sharing of equipment and turn-taking, being mindful of children’s differing capacities to wait).
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 challenge children to explore the natural and constructed environments).
Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Children become strong in their social, emotional, and mental wellbeing (e.g., Educators investigate how physical movement, exercise, and healthy lifestyles assist children with mental wellbeing).
Children become strong in their physical learning and mental wellbeing (e.g., Educators plan for and participate in energetic physical activity with children, including dance, drama, fundamental movement skills, and games; Educators provide ample opportunities and resources for gross motor and movement experiences in both indoor and outdoor learning environments).
Children are aware of and develop strategies to support their own mental and physical health and personal safety (e.g., Educators engage children in experiences, conversations, and routines that promote healthy lifestyles and good nutrition).
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 provide feedback to children focused on effort and process over outcome or product).
Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another (e.g., Educators scaffold children’s understandings 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., Educators provide sensory and exploratory experiences with a wide variety of open-ended natural and processed materials; 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 integrate technologies across the curriculum and into children’s multimodal play experiences and projects).
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:
Screen time and digital technology use for children 2–5 years: Tips for balance
This Raising Children Network article offers tips to encourage your child to use digital technology in balanced and healthy ways.
Digital technology and physical activity: Tips for families
This Raising Children Network video describes how technology can be used to encourage children to dance, move, and play sports, develop new skills, and go for a walk.
For more ideas, explore these related resources:
This ABC Kids collection of videos features the old and new Wiggles dancing and singing and encouraging children to join in.
This Playgroup WA article describes the importance of outdoor winter play for toddlers.
If you would like to read some research, explore these related resources:
Howie, E. K., McVeigh, J. A., Smith, A. J., Zabatiero, J., Bucks, R. S., Mori, T. A., Beilin, L. J., & Straker, L. M. (2020). Physical activity trajectories from childhood to late adolescence and their implications for health in young adulthood. Preventive Medicine, 139, Article 106224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106224
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, Article e45243. https://doi.org/10.2196/45243