Duration and intensity of different types of physical activity among children aged 10-13 years

To use a predominately objective measurement approach to assess and describe: (1) the amount of time that children aged 10-13 years spend participating in outdoor active play, active travel, curriculum-based physical activity at school, and organized sport; (2) the movement intensity composition of these four types of physical activity (i.e., % of time spent at a sedentary, light, or moderate-to-vigorous intensity); and (3) the proportion of each movement intensity obtained by participating in these four types of physical activity.

Three hundred seventy-seven children aged 10-13 years from Kingston, Canada, were studied. Children wore an accelerometer and GPS watch for 7 days and recorded the start and end times of the school day, recess periods, and organized sport sessions on a log. These data were used to estimate time spent in the four types of physical activity and the movement intensity composition of these activities.

Time spent in outdoor active play (36 min/day) and organized sport (40 min/day) was higher than that for active travel (17 min/day) and curriculum-based physical activity (26 min/day). With the exception of organized sport, values were higher for boys than for girls. Older children accumulated less outdoor active play and more active travel than younger children. The greatest proportion of light- and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity movement was attributed to outdoor active play.

We used a primarily objective measurement approach to assess and describe the amount of time children aged 10-13 participate in four types of physical activity. These descriptive findings could be used to identify target areas for physical activity interventions and policies.