I reviewed an article that performed an environmental scan on available resources for healthy behaviour in children available to childcare workers (Carson et al., 2021). In the article, they highlight the benefit of teaching physical literacy and healthy behaviours at a young age and mention that childcare workers are ideal since they offer nap times, plenty of playtimes, as well as offering meals throughout the day (Carson et al., 2021). Unlike teachers who have plenty of subjects to cover, it appears that childcare workers are the perfect educators to take on physical literacy (Carson et al., 2021).
The study reviewed several resources and had an extensive methodology and inclusion protocol (Carson et al., 2021). It predominantly scoured the internet and used several databases to pull as many resources, articles, and literature reviews as possible. Once compiled, the resources were sorted into topics and types of resources available. I found this extremely helpful. Physical literacy includes more than just physical movement and having all the resources sorted into themes like nutrition, physical activity, and sleep, allows the educators to select which would be best suited for their needs.
I find this process extremely helpful to consider what is currently available to the public before having to identify the needs. Once an environmental scan is complete, future needs can be easily identified to fill the gaps.
Andree
Carson, V., Predy, M., Hunter, S., Storey, K., Farmer, A. P., McIsaac, J-L. & Flynn, J. (2021). An Environmental Scan of Existing Canadian Childcare Resources Targeting Improvements in Health Behaviours. Early Childhood Educ J 50, 1417–1428 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01266-2