Abstract
IntroductionActive play is a novel approach to addressing low physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in childhood and new interventions must be developed and evaluated.AimThis study aimed to determine the feasibility of a 10-week school-based ‘active play’ intervention, and present preliminary findings on four outcomes: physical activity levels, FMS, inhibition, and maths fluency.MethodsThis was a feasibility cluster RCT in which eight schools (one primary three class per school) were paired and randomly allocated to either the 10-week intervention (n = 4) or waiting-list control (n = 4). The active play intervention consisted of a 1-h outdoor physical activity session per week, incorporating 30 min of facilitated games and 30 min of free play. Feasibility measures were gathered using appropriate methods and physical activity was measured using an ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer, FMS were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2), inhibition was measured using a Flanker Test and maths fluency was assessed using the One Minute Basic Number Facts Test.ResultsSixty-six percent of eligible children (n = 137) agreed to participate in the research. No schools withdrew from the study and three participants were lost to follow-up. Compliance to the intervention was high—none of the participants missed more than two of the ten scheduled active play sessions. Data lost to follow-up were minimal; most were lost (14%) for school day physical activity. Active play sessions were shorter than planned on average by 10 min, and participants spent a mean of 39.4% (14.2) of the session time in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). There was preliminary evidence of a small intervention effect on MVPA (d = 0.3), FMS score (d = 0.4), inhibition (fish trial: d = 0.1, arrow trial d = 0.1) and maths fluency (addition: d = 0.3, subtraction: d = 0.1).ConclusionThe active play intervention was feasible and benefitted from a relatively high MVPA content; however, preliminary findings suggest the intervention had a small effect on the outcomes. Having more active play sessions per week and/or extending the duration of the intervention may increase the effects and these should be tested before a future definitive cluster RCT is undertaken.Trial registrationThis trial was registered on the International Standardised Randomised Controlled Trials Number register (ISRCTN) in August 2017 (ISRCTN11607781).
Highlights
Active play is a novel approach to addressing low physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in childhood and new interventions must be developed and evaluated
Active play is ‘a form of gross motor or total body movement in which young children exert energy in a freely chosen, fun and unstructured manner’ [12]. It is often engaged in outdoors, which is associated with higher habitual physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels and is suggested to be one of the factors explaining the higher levels of physical activity in low–middle-income countries compared to high-income countries [6, 13,14,15]
Preliminary findings of the outcome measures from the present study suggested that the intervention may have had a small to medium effect on physical activity levels, FMS inhibition and maths fluency
Summary
Active play is a novel approach to addressing low physical activity levels and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in childhood and new interventions must be developed and evaluated. It is recommended that UK school-aged children and adolescents (5–18 years) should engage in at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day [1]. Active play is ‘a form of gross motor or total body movement in which young children exert energy in a freely chosen, fun and unstructured manner’ [12]. It is often engaged in outdoors, which is associated with higher habitual physical activity and MVPA levels and is suggested to be one of the factors explaining the higher levels of physical activity in low–middle-income countries compared to high-income countries [6, 13,14,15]. In high-income countries, those from a lower socio-economic status (SES) typically engage in less active play than those from a higher SES [16, 17]
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