Healthy Play Environment

Encourage play by providing equipment, space, and encouragement.

Having appropriate indoor and outdoor environments for play encourages more physical activity. Children will be able to play more safely, have fewer conflicts, move more, and try a wider variety of activities. Child care staff can promote physical activity by creating a culture of healthy physical activity throughout supportive environments. Staff can join in and model active play, offer equipment and opportunities for movement for all children, encourage children to be active, and display material that promotes physical activity. Below you will find resources that can help you build environments that support daily movement and active play.

Best Practices

The resources on this page can help child care programs reach all of the following best practices:

"Encourage children to be active and join children in active play."
"Make a large variety of portable play equipment (wheel toys, balls, hoops, ribbons) available for children to use at the same time."
"Make a wide variety of fixed play equipment (tunnels, balancing equipment, climbing equipment, overhead ladders) available that accommodate the needs of all children."
"Make indoor play space available for all activities, including running."
"Make outdoor portable play equipment freely available to all children at all times."
"Provide outdoor play space that includes open, grassy areas and a track/path for wheeled toys."
"Provide visible support for physical activity in all areas where children spend most of their time through use of posters, pictures, and displayed books."

Resources to develop environments that support physical activity

Action Guide: For Child Care Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies

Summary: A guide for creating policies including rationale, steps for creating policies, and policy recommendations.
Source: Connecticut State Department of Education
Access: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sde/nutrition/cacfp/ccpolicy/child_care_action_guide.pdf

Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC) Bilingual Self-Assessments

Summary: Contacting a consultant and completing the online version of the Go NAPSACC assessments opens up a suite of planning, learning, and implementation tools to understand further what the health best practices are and how to reach them at your child care.
Source: Go Nutritional and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC)
Access: https://gonapsacc.org/our-focus-areas

Healthy Kids, Healthy Future

Summary: Under the sections "Get Kids Moving" and "Reduce Screen Time," find children’s activities and adult resources such as curriculums for physical activity of children under 5, training for care givers, administrative resources, guides for adapting activities and spaces for children with disabilities, and more.
Source: The Nemours Foundation
Access: https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/5-healthy-goals/get-kids-moving/

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children

Summary: Collection of tip sheets for nutrition and physical activity. Each tip sheet focuses on a specific topic and includes a practical application section to help apply the tips to a child care program for children ages 2 through 5 years old. See pages 63-71.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service
Access: https://www.yoursforchildren.com/nutrition-resources/TeamNutrition/Nutrition%20&%20Wellness%20Tips%20for%20Young%20Children%20--%20English.pdf

Physical Activity Toolkit for Preschool-Aged Children

Summary: A guide for early care and education centers to integrate and increase children’s physical activity throughout the day. Resources include planning and scheduling tools, sample activities, skill cards, do-it-yourself equipment tips, policy templates, and no-cost education resources.
Source: California Department of Public Health
Access: https://fsnep.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk2286/files/inline-files/ECE_PA_Toolkit.pdf

Sample Child Care Physical Activity Policy

Summary: Example of a child care physical activity policy. It outlines the amount of expected daily play, roles of staff members, screen time, and appropriate clothing, and discipline.
Source: South Carolina Early Child Care and Education
Access: http://www.scchildcare.org/media/6938/GH_SAMPLE_Level_B_Physical_Activity_Policy.pdf