Physical Literacy: The Foundation of Movement, Confidence and Lifelong Wellbeing

“Physical literacy is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.” – The International Physical Literacy Association, May 2014. Physical literacy is the foundation for movement, confidence and lifelong health.

Physical literacy begins when parents encourage movement in infancy, supporting the development of fundamental movement skills that all children need to engage in the world around them. Over time, these movement skills set the stage for having the confidence, physical competence and motivation to walk, run, throw, and catch. This allows your child to join physical activities including participating in gym class, or joining a team sport such as hockey, swimming, or dance. Physical literacy develops naturally through exposure to structured and unstructured activities on a daily basis.

Developing strong physical literacy in childhood helps lay the foundation for an active life. Being physically active on a daily basis has many health benefits, some of which include:

Increased self esteem, resilience and happiness
Reduced risk of many health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer, diabetes, and low back pain
Development of healthy lifestyle habits

In a world becoming more sedentary and reliant on technology for daily tasks and entertainment, finding ways to support physical literacy in your life and your children’s life is more important than ever.

How can we enhance physical literacy throughout all ages?

When you visit your medical doctor, chiropractor, or physiotherapist, often they ask if your little one is meeting their milestones based on their age. The first year of life is where your child learns the precursors to physical literacy by learning basic motor skills including: grasping, rolling over, sitting, crawling, cruising, and walking. It’s important for your child to reach these milestones as they are crucial to developing basic motor skills that will be needed to engage in the world around them as they grow.

When meeting new parents, I am often asked what to do during the day with their baby. My first response is TUMMY TIME! Tummy time is crucial for motor development, helping to build neck, back, shoulder muscles/nervous system pathways to support later movements including rolling over, sitting and crawling. The goal is to spend 30-60 minutes of tummy time each day. This can consist of a few moments in a row to longer stretches as your little one gets more comfortable with the position.

Some ways to achieve this include: baby being held up to the adult’s shoulder, such as while being burped or carried; laying on the parents chest; laying across the parent’s arms or legs; laying on an exercise ball, nursing pillow or even simply laying on a play mat on the floor. To help keep your little one engaged, try talking and encouraging your little one, put a high contrast toy near them (or a mirror) so they can look at themself. As your child gets stronger and starts to sit, crawl and cruise, you can build on play time by placing toys further away for him or her to find, and playing peek-a-boo.

Other ways to build on physical literacy during the early ages include being active with your child. Going for regular walks, and letting your little one walk beside you as they are learning are excellent ways of mirroring these skills. Head to your local park and play on the slide or swings. In the winter, make a snow angel, try throwing a snow ball, or go tobogganing. In your home, have your child try climbing the stairs (with supervision), practice folding laundry (wash cloths are an easy item to try), play hide and seek and let them help you with tasks like dusting or vacuuming. These unstructured activities are great ways to increase physical activity, complete daily house tasks and start to build their physical literacy in a fun and calm environment.

As your child ages, play time can increase to include helping with age appropriate chores around the home, running errands like grocery shopping (lots of walking, lifting and bending there!) As they get older, join more group activities like baseball, soccer, skating, dance, swimming and more. Just like it is recommended to read daily with your child to help develop their love of books, playing and engaging with your child helps develop their love of movement and play. I’m sure most of you have heard the term “motion is lotion” in our adult life, where regular movement helps keep your joints healthy, combating stiffness and pain; the same is true for children. Active children tend to be happier, healthier and perform better in school.

By laying the physical literacy foundation in childhood, you are giving them the confidence, motivation, balance, coordination and strength to stay active throughout their whole life. As we age, physical literacy gives the confidence and competence to remain active in daily life, thus reducing the risk of chronic health conditions, improving mental wellbeing, reducing stress, and enhancing energy so you have the ability and motivation to engage in work, your family and hobbies. As older adults, physical literacy keeps us independent and is critical to maintaining our quality of life. Physical literacy helps reduce the risk of falls and injuries, keeps us socially connected (reducing isolation and risk of depression), preserves mobility and the confidence to perform our activities of daily living and supports our cognitive (brain) health.

To sum up, physical literacy is about having the:

Motivation to be active
Confidence to believe you can move well
Physical compete to perform the activity through developing movement skills
Knowledge and Understanding to know why being active is so important

World Spine Day and Physical Literacy

As we celebrate World Spine Day on October 16^th, 2025, we are reminded this year to #investinyourspine. Almost one third of Canadians report activity limitations due to back pain. Investing just thirty minutes of movement per day helps build and maintain a healthy spine.

A few ways you can participate in World Spine Day include:

At Work:
- Take a posture break every 45 minutes of sitting by standing up and stretching
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator or park further away from your office
- Practice safe lifting
- Go for a walk on your lunch break
At Home:
- Check your child’s backpack to ensure its light, snug and both straps are being worn
- Head to the playground to decompress after daycare or school
- Practice good posture – avoid “W” shape sitting, looking straight down at books or smart devices
- Have a dance party in your kitchen before dinner
- Try some yoga stretches before bed
- Turn off your smart device and try playing instead!

Try thinking of “exercise” as “movement” – movement is a natural part of where we live, work and play. As we celebrate World Spine Day, let’s commit to investing in our spine through regular movement, education, and a proactive approach to health. After all, everyone deserves to live an exceptional quality of life!

~ Dr. Elizabeth Carter, Chiropractor

Carleton Place, Ontario