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Active play opportunities at child care
Pooja S Tandon1, Brian E Saelens2, Dimitri A Christakis2
1Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington; and Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington pooja@uw.edu.
Insights
Preschoolers have limited active play opportunities at child care, with most time spent sedentary. Increasing outdoor and child-led activities is crucial for meeting physical activity recommendations.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Child Development
- Physical Activity Research
Background:
- Preschoolers are not meeting recommended physical activity (PA) levels.
- Child care settings play a significant role in children's daily PA.
- Understanding PA opportunities within child care is vital for health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine different types of PA opportunities in child care settings.
- To investigate how indoor/outdoor and free/teacher-led activities influence children's PA.
- To identify factors limiting PA in preschool child care.
Main Methods:
- Observational study of 98 preschoolers (mean age 4.5 years) across 10 child care centers.
- Accelerometers used to measure children's activity levels during observations.
- Categorization of time into active play opportunities (APOs) and non-APOs, including indoor/outdoor and free/teacher-led variations.
Main Results:
- Children spent 73% of their time sedentary, with only 14% in moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
- Active play opportunities (APOs) were infrequent, with outdoor free play being the most common type.
- Children were more active and less sedentary during outdoor and child-initiated (free play) APOs compared to indoor or teacher-led activities.
Conclusions:
- Preschoolers receive insufficient opportunities for physical activity in child care settings.
- Increasing the frequency and duration of APOs, especially outdoors and child-initiated, is recommended.
- Flexibility in naptime and promoting varied active play are essential for meeting PA guidelines.
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.
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