Why is physical activity important from birth?

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

Health benefits of physical activity at 0-5 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 and type-2 diabetes

Wellbeing benefits of physical activity at 0-5 years

• Boosts your child’s happiness and confidence
• Reduces your child’s risk of developing anxiety and depression
• Builds your child’s self-esteem and sense of belonging
• Helps your child learn to manage emotions and self-regulate
• 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 too.

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 babies, toddlers and preschoolers need each day?

Australian guidelines say that children aged under one year should have plenty of floor play.

Children aged 1 year up to 3 years should do at least 3 hours of different physical activities each day, including some energetic play.

Children aged 3 years up to 5 years should be physically active for at least 3 hours each day. This includes one hour of energetic play.

Energetic play is a natural way for children to move and be active. For example, babies rock and kick their feet. Older children run, jump, twirl, kick, throw, dance to music, play on playground equipment, enjoy rough-and-tumble play and much more.

What physical activity should your child be doing at 0-2 years?

From birth to 12 months, your child needs plenty of opportunities for free movement and floor play. An environment that encourages your child to explore and develop skills like reaching, rolling, sitting up, crawling, pulling up and walking is great, as long as it’s also a safe environment.

Before your child is walking: tummy time

Australian guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of tummy time spread throughout the day when your child is awake. Tummy time builds your child’s head, neck and upper body muscles, which your child needs for rolling, creeping, crawling and sitting later on.

You can make the most of tummy time in many ways. One great way is to get down on the floor and play with your child. When your child lifts their head, try looking into their eyes and then moving your gaze. Your child might follow your eyes and turn their head. You can also talk, sing, clap or play peekaboo to encourage your child to lift their head, look, turn and move.

Low-cost play materials are great for tummy time too. For example, try old boxes with bright colours, drawings of dots, squares or stars, shiny surfaces, or changing textures. Containers with things that rattle or make sounds can also interest your child. Just make sure container lids are on very tightly and be careful of choking hazards. If you put toys or objects just out of reach, it encourages your child to try to move towards them.

A large blanket on the floor or the grass outside can be a safe, clean and welcoming place for tummy time. When you put your child on the floor or ground, just remember to look for potential hazards at their level. Stay with your child to keep them safe and remember to be sun safe too.

Playing together and praise encourages your child as they learn to move.

When your child is walking: everyday play and movement

Once your child is walking, you can encourage physical activity just by letting your child move often. This means plenty of time out of the pram or stroller. In fact, it’s best for your child to spend no more than an hour at a time sitting or restrained, where possible.

This is a great time to look for objects and activities that encourage movement. This could be climbing up the play equipment to ride down a slide at the local playground or just walking or using a tricycle, scooter or push-along toy to get around.

Your child can be active inside or outside. Being outside can provide endless opportunities to use big muscles, think creatively and explore and learn more about the environment.

What physical activity should your child be doing at 2-5 years?

Toddlers and preschoolers need plenty of free time and space to run around and play. Backyards, empty sporting fields, adventure playgrounds, school playgrounds, parks, trails and the beach are all great places.

Fun physical activities for toddlers and preschoolers

• Use balls of different textures and sizes to practise catching, hitting, bouncing and kicking. Some rolled-up socks can be good for this activity too.
• Make up games that involve different types of movement. For example, get your child to chase bubbles, walk, run or skip along chalk lines, gather shells, or jump over puddles or cracks in the ground.
• Play different kinds of music, or make sounds with your voice or instruments. This can encourage dancing and a sense of rhythm.
• Invent entertaining walks and runs with your child. You could play guess the animal games, where you run like a monkey, jump like a bunny, flap like a bird and so on.
• When your child is ready, let them try learning to ride a bike, scooter or tricycle – under your supervision, of course. Your child might also enjoy playing with push toys like trucks, doll prams and toy lawn mowers.
• Give your child opportunities for outdoor play and nature play. You could try going on family nature walks, playing at a river or lake, or taking the dog for walks.
• Encourage your child to try rough-and-tumble play or risky play like climbing trees or play equipment.
• Leave the car or stroller at home when you can and walk to local places like the library, park or shops.

When you’re choosing physical activity for your young child, focus on play and activities that are fun. If your child enjoys what they’re doing, they’re more likely to want to keep doing it. And physical activities that your child enjoys will help to build their confidence, physical skills and love of movement.

When should your child start organised sport?

When your child is ready is the simple answer.

If your young child is interested in organised sport, it might be worth looking for a non-competitive option. Some sports offer modified versions for preschoolers – for example, Soccajoeys, Grasshopper Soccer, Little Kickers, Ready Steady Go or Gymbaroo. Other options could be dance, gymnastics or swimming classes.

Modified sports and junior physical activity programs usually focus on:

• encouraging children to enjoy physical activity
• developing physical and social skills
• introducing children to structured, organised sports
• building confidence
• getting everyone to have a go.

This is good because it helps young children learn about the fun of playing, being active and trying their best.

If you think your child is ready for organised sport, you could talk to other parents about sport and physical activity programs or classes in your area. Also talk to people at the program and even the instructor for your child’s age group. Go along and watch other children playing. It’s important for young children to enjoy their first experiences of sport.

A sign of a good program is children having fun.

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.

What is physical activity?

Physical activity is any activity that involves moving your body. It includes 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. These 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
• 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, 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 and climbing. Many moderate and vigorous physical activities help to build muscles and bones.