Organizations & Websites
- Active for Life
Active for life is a Canadian not-for-profit initiative created to help parents give their children the right start in life through the development of physical literacy. - Active Living Alliance for Canadians with a Disability
The Active Living Alliance for Canadians with a Disability (ALACD) promotes, supports and enables Canadians with disabilities to lead active, healthy lives. - Alberta Centre for Active Living
The Centre works with practitioners, organizations and communities to improve health and quality of life through physical activity. - Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) is the principal body for physical activity, health and fitness research and personal training in Canada. - Caring for Kids – Active Kids, Healthy Kids
Active Kids, Healthy Kids is a Canadian Paediatric Society program to engage health professionals in promoting healthy active living in their practices. - Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development – Physical Activity
The most up-to-date scientific knowledge on early childhood development, from conception to age five. - Inclusive Physical Literacy
Program coordinators, leaders and facility operators have a responsibility to create universally accessible physical literacy opportunities. This portal includes resources and programs to assist in moving to universal accessibility. - Parachute
Parachute is a charity helping Canadians stop the clock on predictable and preventable injuries. - ParticipACTION
ParticipACTION is a national non-profit organization that helps Canadians sit less and move more. - Sport for Life Society
Sport for Life Society is a movement to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada. Canadian Sport for Life links sport, education, recreation and health and aligns community, provincial and national programming.
More Activity Ideas
- Ophea Early Years Resource, Ophea
The Early Learning Resource assists kindergarten teachers, early-childhood educators and early-learning teams with the implementation of The Full-Day Early Learning – Kindergarten Program, 2010 – 2011 (Draft Version), Health and Physical Activity learning area. - A Hop, Skip and a Jump: Enhancing Physical Literacy, Mount Royal College
The original A Hop, Skip and a Jump: Enhancing Physical Literacy resource is a collection of activities developed by students in the Early Learning & Child Care (ELCC 1121) Course at Mount Royal College. - Hop Family Resource, LEAP BC (Literacy, Education, Activity and Play)
Hop is designed for early learning practitioners, caregivers and families as they interact with children who are three to five years old. The Hop Family Resources includes 50 fun-filled activities and ideas for play that integrate physical movement, oral languages, early literacy and healthy eating. - Move Family Resource, LEAP BC (Literacy, Education, Activity and Play)
Move was created for caregivers and families with children from birth through three years. The Move Family Resource provides 40 activities designed to promote physical movement patterns in infants and toddlers, while incorporating early language and literacy development and healthy eating. - Games and Activities, Healthy Beginnings for Preschoolers 2-5
This page is a quick and easy way to access games that will promote fundamental motor development. - Lesson Plans, Active for Life
Active for Life is pleased to offer the following resources for educators, caregivers, camp leaders, and after-school program leaders who want to deliver physical literacy instruction to children. There are different lesson plans for ages 3-5 years, 5-8 years, and 8-12 years. All lesson plans are in PDF format. - Rainbow Fun, Toronto Public Health
Rainbow Fun includes physical activities for children 3-6 years that can be done without any special equipment. - Exercise and Have Fun РGames and Exercises for Parents and Children, Gouvernement du Qu̩bec As a new parent, finding time for regular physical activity can be a challenge. It is not always easy to balance family and professional responsibilities while taking time for YOURSELF. Too often, the easiest solution is to forget about your own needs. In this document, you will find examples of activities that are both useful and enjoyable, giving you the opportunity to keep moving while you play with your child. Playing with your child is essential to his or her full development.
Resources
- Child Care Healthy Eating and Active Living Guidelines & e-Module Training, Ottawa Public Health
The Child Care Healthy Eating and Active Living Guidelines provide you with evidence-based standards to promote healthy eating and active living environments for young children. The Child Care Healthy Eating and Active Living Guidelines training and accompanying resources provide information and ideas to put the Guidelines into action. - Inclusion Resources, Ophea
Ophea has two, free downloadable resources available to support you in delivering physical activity for children of all abilities. Steps to Inclusion outlines the necessary steps to achieving inclusion for children with disabilities. Ophea’s Adapted Lesson Plans support community leaders in delivering high quality, safe and inclusive physical activity instruction and programming for children and youth with disabilities. -  It Takes a Village: Taking Action for Healthy Children, Best Start Resource Centre
This online course is for service providers who want a better understanding of how to support the healthy growth and development of children. The focus is on healthy weights in children, in the context of healthy child development. - Early Years Physical Activity Log, Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
This daily log lists activity examples you and your infant, toddler or preschooler could be doing every day to be physically active. Try to check as many boxes as you can every day! - Kids in Motion – An Early Start to Physical Activity for Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers, Manitoba in motion
This booklet offers many suggestions for parents and caregivers to help them integrate physical activity in their family’s life. - Physical Activity and Screen Time Practices, Healthy Beginnings for Preschoolers 2-5
The Physical Activity and Screen Time manual is an at-your-fingertips resource for childcare practitioners and care providers. The games, guidelines, tips, and tools can help you create an active, healthy environment in your childcare centre. - Healthy Children on the Move: Physical Activity and the Childcare Setting WebinarThis webinar focuses on physical activity, policy and the childcare setting.
- Physical activity and young children: a fun and healthy habit, Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development
The booklet for parents presents a summary of information to support concrete actions toward young children. - Jump into Play: Increasing Children’s Physical Literacy in Early Learning Settings, North East Ontario Cancer Prevention and Screening Network’s Physical Activity Working Group
The resource is designed to help increase children’s physical literacy by decreasing sedentary behaviours and increasing opportunities for active play in Early Learning Settings. - Physical Literacy Toolkit for Childcare Settings
The Physical Activity Self-Assessment Survey and Planning Toolkit has been developed by the Ontario Society of Physical Activity Promoters in Public Health (OSPAPPH). It is intended for those who work in child care settings to help assess the physical activity environment of child care settings to help inform future programming and facility needs.
Places to go in Ontario
- Ontario Beaches
Ontario has sandy beaches stretching as far as the eye can see. They are perfect for swimming, building sandcastles and exploring. - EarlyON
EarlyON centres offer free drop-in programs for caregivers and children from birth to 6 years old. Parents and caregivers can learn and play with their child, meet people or get advice. - Parks Ontario
Locate the nearest provincial park. Choose between recreational, historical, natural environment, nature reserve, waterway or wilderness parks! - Provincial Recreation Organizations
Provincial Recreation Organizations (PROs) are non-profit incorporated organizations with a mandate to provide recreation programs and/or leadership and skills training for the recreation sector. PROs provide a wide range of recreation opportunities throughout the province. They ensure that recreation activities and programs are available at a reasonable cost, physically accessible to all, environmentally friendly, safe, cost effective and meet the needs of Ontarians. - Public Health Units
Your local public health unit should be able to provide information about opportunities for being active within your community including your local recreation department.
Places to go in Canada
- Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities (AHSUNC)
AHSUNC projects typically provide half-day preschool experiences that prepare young First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and their families, living off-reserve, for their school years by meeting their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical needs. - The Community Action Program for Children
Offers a variety of parent, child and family (parent and child) focused programs and activities such as drop-in play, parenting programs, toy lending libraries, and community kitchens. - Parks Canada
National Parks are a country-wide system of representative natural areas of Canadian significance. - Families Canada
Family resource programs enhance child and family well-being by reducing the isolation of parents with infants, toddlers and preschoolers, by providing information and resources that encourage healthy child development and positive parenting, and by being convenient access points to other community services. - YMCA
Offers a wealth of programs and services tailored to meet the unique needs of your communities. Find your local YMCA and check the Children and Youth program that will help your child to stay active.
Disclaimer: The resources and programs cited throughout this website are not necessarily endorsed by the Best Start Resource Centre.
