Why is physical activity important for children aged 5-8 years?

Physical activity is vital for your child’s health, wellbeing and development, now and in the future.

Health benefits of physical activity at 5-8 years

• Strengthens your child’s bones, muscles, hearts and lungs
• Improves your child’s fitness, coordination, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, balance, posture and flexibility
• Helps your child maintain a healthy weight
• Boosts your child’s immune system
• Reduces your child’s risk of developing high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, anxiety and depression

Wellbeing benefits of physical activity at 5-8 years

• Boosts your child’s happiness and confidence
• Builds your child’s self-esteem and a sense of belonging
• Helps your child relax, manage emotions and self-regulate
• Helps your child concentrate and do their best at school
• Helps your child learn to get along with others and make friends
• Gives your child opportunities to share, take turns and cooperate
• Improves your child’s sleep

Other benefits

Physical activity is an important part of play and learning.

When your child does physical activity with you or other people, it helps to develop their language, social and communication skills. It can also build their relationship with you, other family members and your community.

Physical activity is also just good fun for your child!

How much physical activity do children aged 5-8 years need each day?

Australian guidelines say that each day children aged 5 years up to 18 years should do:

• at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity
• several hours of light physical activity.

At least 3 days a week, this should include vigorous activities and activities that strengthen muscles and bones.

Physical activity can be done in blocks of time throughout the day – every bit of movement adds up! The key thing is that your child does enough physical activity overall. And the more physical activity your child does and the less time your child spends sitting, the better it is for your child.

What are physical activities for children at 5-8 years?

Physical activity is any activity that involves your child moving their body. It can include everyday activities, physically active play, and organised sports, activities and exercise.

Light physical activities

These don’t noticeably change your child’s breathing or heart rate. They include activities like going for a walk, playing a musical instrument or standing up to paint at an easel, draw or do crafts.

Moderate physical activities

These make your child huff and puff a bit. They include:

• dancing, hopping, skipping or jumping in puddles
• playing at a park or playground
• throwing and catching balls and playing with other sports equipment
• walking quickly
• riding bikes or scooters
• flying kites
• swimming.

Vigorous physical activities

These increase your child’s heart rate and make them huff and puff a lot. They include:

• playing running games like ‘keepings off’ or ‘chasey’
• jumping on a trampoline
• playing organised sports like soccer, basketball, touch or tag football or netball.

Activities that strengthen muscles and bones

These make muscles work more than usual and put extra force on bones – for example, jumping, running, climbing and lifting. Many moderate and vigorous physical activities help to build muscles and bones.

At 5-8 years, your child can be active by doing everyday activities like walking or riding to school or around the neighbourhood. These kinds of everyday activities can be more affordable and easier to fit into busy family life than organised sports – and they all add up to a more active lifestyle for your child.

What about sport for children at 5-8 years?

Many children are ready for organised sport during their primary school years. And organised sports and activities can have many benefits.

At this age, play is one of the best ways to get your child interested and help them develop a positive attitude to sports. For example, backyard cricket can build interest, skills and confidence for organised cricket competitions.

Modified sports

Most sports have modified versions that are appropriate for children at this age. These include Cricket Blast, Aussie Hoops basketball, NetSetGo netball, TryRugby and Auskick.

Modified games have different rules and equipment – for example, a rubber ball instead of a hard cricket ball, a smaller field size or smaller teams. This can all help your child enjoy playing, feel successful and develop skills without getting hurt or losing confidence.

Other sporting options

Your child might prefer individual activities to team sports. Options include dance, martial arts or swimming classes.

What if your child doesn’t like sport?

Some children don’t like sports, and that’s OK. You could encourage your child to try other active hobbies – for example, dancing, bike riding, going on family walks, collecting natural items like leaves, doing land care and exploring outdoor areas.

Children with disability can do many physical activities and sports. Many sports can be modified so that children with disability can fully participate and be included.

How to help your child balance screen time and physical activity

Sometimes screen time and digital technology use can mean school-age children sit still for too long without a break. But you can use screen time and digital technology to get your child moving. For example, you can try things like:

• planning a walk with your child using a digital map
• videoing your child learning a new skill like shooting hoops, and replaying the footage so your child can see themselves learning
• choosing video dance games or virtual sports simulators for your child.

And remember – healthy screen time and digital technology use is all about balance. It’s good for your child’s development to do plenty of different activities, including physical activity, creative play, social play, reading and digital activities.

Sometimes children need to be still or want to do something less active like reading, doing puzzles, painting and so on. You can break up long periods of sitting still by encouraging your child to get up and move regularly. For example, you and your child could do a few star jumps or dance to a song.