The PLAYshop physical literacy program is looking to expand! They will be conducting a research study and are seeking partnerships with agencies who directly support lower income and barriered families, especially those who have been most impacted by COVID-19.

The PLAYshop program is a parent-focused intervention that promotes ‘active play’ and physical literacy development in early childhood. Physical literacy is the competence, confidence, motivation, and understanding to value and choose to be active for life (IPLC 2017).

The PLAYshop program was developed to address the critical public health issue of physical inactivity and support parents in playing with their child/ren to develop physical literacy and improve their overall health and well-being and the trial study is being coordinated by a joint team from the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport and Recreation at the University of Alberta and the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education at the University of Victoria, led by Dr. Valerie Carson (U.Alberta). The initial program, designed for in-person delivery, was modified in response to the COVID pandemic to be offered in a virtual format.

Before expand the program, the team want to ensure it serves the needs of more diverse and vulnerable families that have been disproportionably impacted by the pandemic. They have research funding to explore the impact of the PLAYshop program with lower socioeconomic status families living in Alberta and British Columbia and are seeking organizations that serve vulnerable families and want to get involved.

What are the benefits of families participating in PLAYshop?

· Free virtual workshop on physical literacy offered at flexible days/times

· Free digital app with additional active play ideas and tips

· Free goody bag with active play equipment and resources

· Parents may become more confident in playing with their child(ren) to build their physical literacy

What does the PLAYshop research study require of families?

· Agreeing to random assignment to one of two groups (early or later workshop schedule)

· Completing two 10-minute online questionnaires

· Attending a 60-minute virtual workshop about physical literacy with short, active games for parents and their children

· Participating in a brief follow-up phone interview 2 months after the workshop  

What does the PLAYshop research study entail for your organization?

· Supporting recruitment by promoting the PLAYshop program to the families you serve through your communication channels using University approved recruitment materials

· Optional: Identifying staff that want to be trained to lead the workshop

Other considerations:

All data collected will be kept confidential. The questionnaires, workshop, and interview will be in different languages. Devices with data plans will be available to borrow if families do not have internet access. We are open to your input on other considerations

The program provides an opportunity for parents and their young children to connect through active play ideas and games that are designed to improve children's physical literacy or their capacity for a physically active lifestyle. The program has previously shown increases in parental knowledge, confidence, and perceived availability of resources to support their children's physical literacy.

The study will include:

• a free 60-minute online physical literacy workshop for parents and their 3-5 year old children

• access to a free app with supporting play information

• free goody-bags of play equipment that families will use during the workshop and keep afterwards

• materials available in English, Spanish, Farsi, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese 

If you are interested in learning more and helping connect eligible families, please contact Morgan Potter (Project Coordinator) at perbel@ualberta.ca. 

In the “Protocol for the PLAYshop randomised controlled trial: examining efficacy of a virtually delivered parent-focused physical literacy intervention for early childhood on child-specific and family-specific outcomes” paper, the team outlined the rational behind the development of the program:

With the growing understanding of the importance of physical literacy, interventions to target and improve physical literacy have been increasing exponentially since 2015. However, a systematic review on physical literacy interventions conducted in 2020/2021 only found four physical literacy interventions (five articles) that exclusively targeted preschool-aged children (3–5 years). Within the review, these four interventions were all categorised as ‘theory-inspired’ meaning they lacked significant links between physical literacy components (eg, physical competence, confidence) and intervention content. Additionally all four interventions focused on the childcare setting. While educators in the childcare settings are important facilitators of physical literacy in the preschool years, parents also play a critical role in children’s physical literacy development. This is especially true considering not all parents need or chose to enrol their preschool-aged child in childcare. Therefore, parent-focused interventions targeting physical literacy development in preschool-aged children are needed.

The PLAYshop programme, a novel, brief, theorybased, parent-focused physical literacy intervention for early childhood, was developed to tackle current evidence gaps.