There is a misconception that Physical Education (P.E.) only takes place within our education settings during the school day. As soon as the school bell ends so does a child’s Physical Education for that day. When in reality that’s only a fraction of physical activity that a child needs. There’s more we can all do.
Physical Education – During the School day
Let’s start by looking at other physical education opportunities that a child might have within a school setting outside of a scheduled PE lesson. For most, the biggest opportunity will be during the various breaks that children have throughout the school day. These are fantastic unstructured opportunities for children to play and develop socially. These could also be structured through lunchtime clubs, that are supported by PE staff.
Physical Education – Outside of the School day
As perfectly summarised ‘The ultimate goal for physical educators is to have their students seek out opportunities to engage in activities practised (and learned) in physical education at times and in settings beyond the physical education lessons. For example, if students who learn to play badminton in physical education through Sport Education then go and seek out badminton before or during school (or at home), we can say that transfer has occurred.’ (Source: Daryl Siedentop, Peter Hastie & Hans Van Der Mars – Complete Guide to Sport Education 3rd Edition With Web Resource – View link)
This can be achieved beyond the school day. You can have a similar impact by introducing your child to a variety of physical activities and sports to help them discover one that they enjoy. It could be the traditional sports and activities such as Running and Yoga or it could be more obscure activities such as Quidditch or Underwater Hockey (You can view them in action here). Children need this opportunity to try new sports and activities, to develop greater physical literacy. They might just discover their passion for life.
Additionally, there are a number of after school clubs that schools and other providers put on that allow children to experience different sports and physical activities. This is something that we are really proud to offer with our community sessions.
We’d love to see your child at one of our community sessions. You can ‘click here’ to view our community session schedule and find out more details about some sessions near you.
Rain wont stop us!
The weather can sometimes play a massive factor in whether children participate in sport, especially during winter periods. However, do not worry we have a great weather-free fix that will keep your children active, developing their fundamental movements, all from the comfort of your own home (Space permitting). This is all achievable thanks to our vast library of physical on-demand sessions for Early Learning and Primary school children (5–7-year-olds).
Best of all, our sessions aren’t just bulk standard fitness or workout sessions, instead, we have lots of football, rugby, gymnastics & dance, multi-skills and fitness sessions for your children to enjoy. All of this for a fantastic one-time price. For more information click this link to view our page dedicated to our exciting ‘SportyMinis On Demand’ service.
If you would like to get a free preview of this library, please click here
If you would like to purchase our 50+ videos for key stage one and 100+ for Early Years, then please click here
Summer – The window of opportunity
You may have read our most recent blog post, ‘Why a summer of sport is the answer’. In that post, we outlined our reasons why physical activity is a must for our children this summer.
If not acted upon, summer can be a catalyst for obesity. ‘A study in the U.S. which worked with 18,170 children saw obesity rates increase from 8.9% to 11.5% between kindergarten and second grade age groups. It is believed that this increase occurred during the summer, whilst the children were not in school.’ (Source: Colin A. Webster – The Conversation – View article)
Whether it’s the lack of daily routine or the elusive draw of those gadget screens, it can seem difficult to involve physical activity into the summer break. There are, however, techniques that could help with engagement for young children.
You could set goals and challenges for your children or for you all to complete as a family. These could be things as simple as going for two 30-minute walks a day, which could be easily tracked and monitored with a smartphone. You could then reinforce your progress by having a sticker chart on your wall and integrate some kind of fun reward for everyone should you achieve that goal.
The choice is yours
This article has outlined some incredibly important times for children to experience their much-needed daily physical activity. You should consider what is best suited for your child. For some with endless energy, multiple sports opportunities will give them the opportunity to channel that energy built up inside them towards something positive. For others one of these opportunities along with PE is plenty.
Whatever you decide to do, it’s important to remember that physical literacy and physical activity cannot be developed by a child reading a book. It certainly cannot be improved by a child sitting and watching YouTube or playing Fortnite all day.
Physical activity involves a participant, participating in the physical activity.
Sources:
Kids need physical education – even when they can’t get it at school – Colin A. Webster (The Conversation) – https://theconversation.com/amp/kids-need-physical-education-even-when-they-cant-get-it-at-school-139166
Physical Activity Beyond Physical Education – Human Kinetics –https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/physical-activity-beyond-physical-education
14 amazing sports you never knew existed – CBBC – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/unusual-sports-to-try