Physical activity is good for your body, mind, and self-confidence. What’s more, it’s fun and can be done on your own, with your friends, or with anyone you like. Making physical activity a part of everyday life helps to makes it a lasting habit with many positive impacts.
When you are physically literate, you are more likely to be physically active and gain competence with a wide variety of movement skills. Physical literacy is the motivation, competence and confidence to be active for your lifetime. It starts out by learning and practicing as many fundamental movement skills as you can. Hopping, skipping, galloping, rolling, crawling, running and jumping are just some of these movement skills.
You are not expected to become or be an expert on physical literacy to run any of these activities. Reach out to experts in your community who can help you plan activities! Consider contacting your local recreation centre, sport organization, or other resources for support.
You don’t have to come up with all of the ideas on your own (although we’re quite certain you have some amazing ones!). That’s what this guide is for—to spark interest, provide ideas, and offer activities that are ready to be used in your school, at home, or in your community.
The ideas in this guide are ones that can also be used for a variety of topics—we’ve modified them to be applicable to topics related to physical literacy.
The Ideas for Action guide is part of Healthy Schools Certification and introduces you to physical literacy. Want your school to get certified for all the healthy things you do? Check out Healthy Schools Certification.
The Physical Activity component of Healthy Schools is based on the Ministry of Education's Foundations for a Healthy School (2014). This topic includes strategies and activities related to:
- Active living
- Living skills (e.g., self-awareness, social skills)
- Movement competence (e.g., skills, concepts, and strategies)
- Physical literacy
- Recreation
- Safety
- The Teaching Games for Understanding approach