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First 5 County Profiles
Spark
SPARK Early Childhood is a physical activity program developed for: Head Start, public and private preschools, day care/childcare providers, and WIC agencies. SPARK EC is designed to provide high activity, academically integrated, enjoyable activities that enhance motor development and school readiness skills in children ages 3-5. SPARK includes a training component for educators, curricula and recommended equipment lists.
Strengths:
- Best suited for older children, not ideal for younger children
- Very comprehensive
- Each activity is carefully explained with objectives and equipment lists
- Encourages children’s individual development
- Detailed explanation for each approach
- Focus on physical activity for English Language Learners
- Activities are adaptable for a variety of settings
Limitations:
- No nutrition component
- Very structured and teacher-directed
- Not available in Spanish
- No parent component or link
- Costs of the materials, training and equipment may be prohibitive for some
- Lots of information to review prior to implementation
- No special needs adaptation
Implementation:
- May be more appropriate for school age, after school, recreational or school-based programs than for child care providers
- Ideally implemented on a community-wide basis
- Not very adaptable to a variety of settings – particularly difficult for family child care with large age range and often only one caregiver
- List of equipment provided but teachers may lack financial resources to purchase
- Requires training – not ideal as a stand-alone resource
- Needs structured roll-out, implementation and support