Physical Activity and Fundamental Motor Skill Performance of 5⁻10 Year Old Children in Three Different Playgrounds.

Jessie Adams,Lisa Barnett,Jenny Veitch

doi:10.3390/ijerph15091896

Abstract

Playgrounds provide opportunities for children to engage in physical activity and develop their fundamental motor skills. The aim of this descriptive pilot study was to examine whether playground design facilitated different levels of physical activity and fundamental motor skills. Children aged 5 to 10 (n = 57) were recruited from three independent playgrounds located in Melbourne (Australia). Whilst playing, children wore accelerometers which measured time spent in physical activity and direct observations recorded fundamental motor skills and play equipment use. A general linear model with playground type as the predictor and adjusting for monitor wear-time identified whether mean time in physical activity was different for the three playgrounds. Frequencies and a one-way ANOVA assessed whether the observed mean number of fundamental motor skills varied between playgrounds. On average, 38.1% of time (12.0 min) was spent in moderate- vigorous-intensity physical activity. Children in the traditional playground (n = 16) engaged in more moderate-intensity physical activity (9.4 min) than children in the adventure playground (n = 21), (5.6 min) (p = 0.027). There were no significant associations with vigorous-intensity physical activity or fundamental motor skills between playgrounds. Children performed few fundamental motor skills but used a wider variety of equipment in the contemporary and adventure playgrounds. Playgrounds need to maximise opportunities for children to engage in physical activity and develop fundamental motor skills.

Highlights

Regular participation in physical activity is important for overall health
The results show that playground play can contribute significantly to children’s daily physical activity needs
That playgrounds in lower socio-economic areas may have different facilities to the playgrounds included in the current study [52]. That children in such areas may have less access to resources which promote Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) development. This pilot study showed that playground play has the potential to significantly contribute to children’s daily physical activity needs, as on average, 38% of time was spent in moderate-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA)

Summary

Introduction

Regular participation in physical activity is important for overall health It provides children with immediate social, mental and physical health benefits [1], such as reducing symptoms of depression, improving academic and cognitive performance, promoting healthy bone structure and skeletal health, supporting muscle growth and the development of the body’s vital organs, the heart and lungs, improving health related fitness, muscular strength and, preventing children becoming overweight [2,3,4,5,6]. An important individual level correlate of children’s physical activity

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