Physical Activity Resources for Professionals

Using a comprehensive approach when planning, developing, and implementing strategies and/or programs includes raising awareness, building skills, and creating policies and a supportive environment. The resources below use this approach to have the greatest impact on increasing unstructured play and reducing sedentary behaviours.

Resources to share with parents and caring adults 

These resources are intended to increase general knowledge about unstructured play and sedentary behaviours in parents and children. Organizations can use these resources to share with parents, promote messaging, or use activities within programs.

Fact sheets

These are easy to read and informative resources on physical activity, screen time, and outdoor play that can be posted, distributed, or linked to your organizational website.

Posters and slide shows

These are visually pleasing and informative resources for physical activity, screen time, and outdoor play that can be used to print and post, linked on your organizational website, or shared during presentations.

Downloadable activities

These fun and informative activities promote activity for all ages that parents and caregivers can print to use with their children.

Interactive activities

These online resources engage parents and children to understand types of physical activity, promote a screen time informed home environment, and encourage parents to reflect on their childhood journey of the play.

Toolkits and social media

These packaged resources include quick, easy to use social media content with pictures, or toolkits to help organizations and parents build nature or accessibility into their play/programming.

Feel free to tag us on Social Media with the following handles:

Free resources

These materials can be ordered free of charge to help promote physical activity.

Resources to inform staff development and programming 

These resources can be used to help increase motivation, confidence, and competence in staff. They include activities and programs to build capacity within your organization.

Programming support

The Healthy Kids Community Challenge Toolkit includes printable cards that have activities and games for children. This toolkit is to help parents, teachers, camp leaders or any recreation professional understand and implement games and activities that will help increase the physical literacy of children ages 0 - 12 in our region.

The Active for Life Community Toolkit provides age-based ready-made lesson plans that educators and program leaders can use to promote different physical activities within their programs. A tip sheet is also included to help with providing instructions for different movements. 

Staff development and training

HIGH FIVE offers certification of quality standards for programs delivered to children and youth. Organizations can:

  • Become certified through training and development opportunities
  • Use evidence-based tools to assess program quality
  • Implement proven-effective policies and procedures

Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) has tools and resource packages to assist with staff training to understand how to implement the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines into their work. This includes case scenarios with a framework recommended by CSEP certified professionals.

Resources to promote a supportive environment and guide policy 

These resources help to promote ongoing, sustainable activities that make it easier for people to take action and work to address barriers of physical activity. Organizations can demonstrate commitment, clarify roles, and formalize the supportive environment through policy. 

Policy suggestions

Affordable Access to Recreation for Ontarians: Policy Framework – Every One Plays from Parks and Recreation Ontario offers policy strategies to increase access and enhance universal programs.

Frameworks

The Region of Waterloo has developed a Comprehensive Checklist for promoting unstructured play and reducing sedentary behaviours that organizations can use to help integrate pieces of each component based on their program and organizational needs and capacity.

Pathways to Wellbeing: A Framework for Recreation in Canada from the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association is a guiding document for public recreation providers in Canada. The five main goals are:

  1. Active living
  2. Inclusion and access
  3. Connecting people and nature
  4. Supportive environments
  5. Recreation capacity

Research

Digital Canadian Families includes national data on families about their digital life. It offers implications and recommendations that can be used to raise awareness and implement strategies for reducing screen time for children and families.

Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth from ParticipACTION is a comprehensive assessment of child and youth physical activity in Canada. The Report Card combines data from multiple sources, including the best available peer-reviewed research, to assign evidence-informed grades across 14 indicators.

Additional resources 

These are resources from key organizations.

Professionals may subscribe to this page (see link below) to receive updates on the latest resources for teaching physical activity. 

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