Coupling our plough of thoughtful moving to the star of children's right to play: from neuroscience to multisectoral promotion

Echoing the Swahili proverb that “We should hitch our plough to a star”, we suggest that the child’s right to play can enlighten our efforts to promote quality physical activity (PA), transitioning neuroscientific evidence stepwise into multisectoral policies and practices. We start recalling key evidence on the functional, structural and biological changes in children's brain related to PA to go beyond the common discourse about getting children moved merely linked to the overweight epidemic. We propose to capitalize on neuroscience as a tool in the service of education centred on quality PA as a unique form of enrichment that impinges on lifelong brain sculpturing, cognitive flexibility and adaptability of goal-oriented achievement behaviour. To this aim, we discuss how to translate neuroscientific evidence into cognitively challenging PA games for children that are organized, driven, and planned by qualified professionals. Key concepts for this translation, emerging at the intersection point between motor and cognitive development and learning areas are variability of practice, cognitively optimal challenge point and metacognitive engagement in PA. Then, we present emerging evidence of commonalities that bridge cognitive and life skills training through PA. To move on along the way from neuroscience to good practices, we adopt an ecological approach. First, in the step of designing mind-body interventions for children that build on principles of radical embodied cognitive neuroscience, emphasizing the entire brain-body-environment system. Second, in the step from guidelines adoption to implementation, addressing the barriers that may render implementation unsuccessful. We further zoom out, proposing a holistic perspective on healthy child development that links the advocacy for quality PA to the child’s right to play and be physically active. We discuss on how the two fields of human rights and public health may jointly contribute to the provision of the child’s right to play and be physically active as a health determinant. Finally, we discuss how multisectoral strategies involving urban planning, transport, health, sport, and education sectors, and public-private partnerships involving corporate social responsibility commitments may effectively converge on rendering the environment more conducive to active play, physical education ‘thoughtful’ and classroom learning ‘moved’.