Nearly 1,000 ECEC services to benefit from specialist UWA physical activity program

950 early childhood education and care (ECEC) services will benefit from a specialist program developed by The University of Western Australia (UWA), designed to give preschool children the best start to a healthy and active life.

Formerly known as Uni-Active, KIDDO was launched in 2014 to help children develop the essential skills and confidence needed for physical literacy – the ability to run, jump, throw, catch and be active.

KIDDO has joined not-for-profit Goodstart Early Learning to give early childhood educators, with a focus on lower SES communities, the ability to deliver physical literacy programs to 25,000 children from birth to five years of age.

Goodstart Early Learning WA state manager, Mr Todd Dawson, said the benefits of the KIDDO program for children and educators are immense. 

“Just as important as developing the children’s gross motor skills, they love the activities which builds their confidence and motivation to be active,” Mr Dawson said. 

Outlining the importance of the program, KIDDO Program Director Amanda Derbyshire explained that Australian children, as with children the world over, are spending more time playing indoors and on screens than outdoors and in the park. As a result, they are increasingly failing to develop the basic building blocks of movement, including running, throwing, kicking, catching, jumping and balancing.

The program has been developed to counteract this issue, and to help children develop physical literacy, which will in turn make them more likely to participate in physical activity throughout their life.  

Children who participate in the program typically experience increased physical fitness, decreased risk of being overweight or obese, improved confidence and social skills, improved academic results and a decreased risk of anxiety and depression.

Funded by Lotterywest and Healthway, KIDDO aims to provide training and physical literacy programs to 75 per cent of all WA childcare services and will be traveling all over WA in 2022 and 2023 to share the program with parents, teachers and early learning educators.

All services will get the opportunity to attend workshops and demonstration sessions, access KIDDO’s online platform and provide their staff with everything they need to provide fun, active programs for children. 

For more information about KIDDO, please see here.