25 Children’s day-care facilities
Modern childhood is very much insitutionalised with children's
day-care facilities therefore playing a very important role.
These should provide the children with wide-ranging possibilities
for physical activity. Full use should be made of exercise
and activity areas and the staff should have qualifications in
the field of physical education. All facilities should aim to incorporate
physical activity into the daily routine and bear in
mind the correlation between physical activity and cognitive
skills.
Teachers in primary schools have a role model function for children.
The great influence teachers have on children should be taken into
account: health-oriented approaches of promoting physical activity
should be introduced in further education courses for teachers
and implemented in the everyday routine of the school (see Guideline
12). Physical education in kindergarten is becoming more and
more important, since children often have problems with motor
skills and are overweight at an early age. The municipality should
raise the awareness for exercise and ensure that there is an
exchange of concepts among the facilities. Targeted programmes
should also be jointly developed with day-care facilities. The
municipalities must be aware of the necessity of high-quality
programmes for physical activity in the everyday routine of the
day-care facilities.
Exercise and cognitive functions
Exercise plays an important part in early childhood education. Recent
studies, which show a significant positive correlation between
physical activity and cognitive functions, are attaching increasing
importance to physical activity in the pre-school sector.
Municipalities should take up on these latest findings and realise
measures with the help of the day-care facility agencies.
Children have an intrinsic urge to move. When care is institutionalised
spatial capacities are often so restricted, that this urge to
move cannot be fulfilled. Child day-care facilities should therefore
offer the children more possibilities to be physically active.
It is an accepted fact that physical education in many ways forms
key skills in children. The children can acquire these skills by playing,
especially when this is active free playing determined by the children
themselves. When implementing this in an educational setting it is
important not to offer complex programmes but to enable the
children to find and develop their own ways of playing.
Best Practice Athens (GR)
Physical Activity Programme
The Physical Activity programme of Athens to promote daily
physical activity in day-care centres consists of seven“
physical education” modules: these include gymnastics, various
kinds of sports, body posture, Mediterranean diet,
traditional and Greek folk dances, psychokinesis (using
sports games) and the Olympic Spirit. Two gymnastics
instructors appointed by the Municipal Crèche visit participating
children’s day-care centres, where they offer the
children two and a half hours of “physical education” twice
a week. The children generally do “sport and exercise”
activities in the morning and learn playfully about subjects
such as “diet” and “other cultures” in the afternoon. In
addition to the physical activities, Mediterranean-style meals
are served in every participating children’s day-care centre.
The menus have been specially designed for children
by nutritionists at the University of Athens. Educators
participate in the programme and should teach physical
activity themselves after six month.
More information:
www.citiesforsports.eu/best-practice
