Preschool Physical Literacy Assessment (Pre PLAy)

You’re never too young to play.

Sport for Life and the INCH Lab from McMaster University have developed the Preschool Physical Literacy Assessment (Pre PLAy)—an observation tool that measures a child’s physical literacy capabilities. It’s designed to be used in early childcare settings as they offer important opportunities to support children in developing their physical literacy.

With Pre PLAy, early years providers take a holistic view of the child, considering their movement competence while also addressing how much motivation and enjoyment a child is observed having. Pre PLAy will give early years providers and parents a good sense of how children are developing physical literacy to have a strong foundation for future healthy physical behaviours.

How long does Pre PLAy take?

Pre PLAy includes 19 questions that capture a child’s : movement competence, coordinated movements, and motivation and enjoyment. Answering all of the Pre PLAy questions should take three to five minutes per child to complete. There’s no time limit for completing the assessment, and we recommend that you observe the child multiple times across multiple activities.

The assessment is scored based on observations of the child completing everyday tasks and activities (e.g. dressing for outside and moving around their environment) and playing games. Once familiar with Pre PLAy, we recommend actively observing the child as they consider each new activity. Early years providers can also introduce additional games and activities to provide more opportunities for observation.

Pre PLAy is a valuable tool to help you support your child in their physical literacy journey—which is just beginning.