Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2015 Jun;135(6):e1425-31.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-2750. Epub 2015 May 18.

Active play opportunities at child care

Pooja S Tandon  1 , Brian E Saelens  2 , Dimitri A Christakis  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Active play opportunities at child care

Pooja S Tandon et al. Pediatrics. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Physical activity (PA) is important for children's health and development, yet preschoolers are not meeting PA recommendations. The objective of this study was to examine different PA opportunities at child care and how variation in indoor versus outdoor and free versus teacher-led opportunities relate to children's PA.

Methods: An observational study of 98 children (mean age 4.5 years, 49% girls) from 10 child care centers. Classrooms were observed for at least 4 full days per center (total 50 days) to categorize time into (1) not an active play opportunity (APO); (2) naptime; (3) APO, outdoor free play; (4) APO, outdoor teacher-led; (5) APO, indoor free play; and (6) APO, indoor teacher-led. Children wore accelerometers during observations. Linear regression models examined the influence of APO categories on moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time.

Results: Children's activity was 73% sedentary, 13% light, and 14% MVPA. For 88% of time children did not have APOs, including 26% time as naptime. On average, 48 minutes per day were APOs (41% sedentary, 18% light, and 41% MVPA), 33 minutes per day were outdoors. The most frequent APO was outdoor free play (8% of time); outdoor teacher-led time was <1%. Children were more active and less sedentary outdoors versus indoors and during the child-initiated APOs (indoors and outdoors) versus teacher-led APOs.

Conclusions: Preschoolers were presented with significantly fewer than recommended opportunities for PA at child care. More APOs are needed for children to meet recommendations, particularly those that encourage more outdoor time, more teacher-led and child-initiated active play, and flexibility in naptime for preschoolers.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Trost S. Active Education: Physical Education, Physical Activity and Academics Performance. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; 2009
    1. Strong WB, Malina RM, Blimkie CJ, et al. . Evidence based physical activity for school-age youth. J Pediatr. 2005;146(6):732–737 - PubMed
    1. Janssen I, Leblanc AG. Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2010;7(1):40. - PMC - PubMed
    1. LeBlanc AG, Spence JC, Carson V, et al. . Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0-4 years). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2012;37(4):753–772 - PubMed
    1. Janz KF, Dawson JD, Mahoney LT. Tracking physical fitness and physical activity from childhood to adolescence: the Muscatine study. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32(7):1250–1257 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources