Abstract
The physical activity (PA) of young children is critical to their future activity, health and development, however, little is known about how the organisation of early years foundation stage (EYFS) settings impacts upon children’s PA. This study aimed to measure the PA of children in Nursery and Reception classes and to explore their PA according to learning context. Participants were 191 EYFS children (boys = 89; girls 102; Mean age M = 4.6, SD = 0.7 years) from six schools in the West Midlands, UK. Systematic observation was used to record children’s PA, learning context, adult interaction and location throughout the EYFS day. A total of 8740 observed intervals occurred. Children spent two thirds of their time being stationary (65.8% and 69.8% for Nursery and Reception respectively). Results of beta regression revealed the strongest predictors of vigorous PA (VPA) to be the learning contexts of ‘role play’, ‘physical’, ‘construction’ and being ‘outside’. Adult interaction had a negative association with moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), and girls have 16.36% lower odds of engaging in VPA and 19.4% higher odds of engaging in stationary behaviour than boys. In order to support children’s learning and development, teaching strategies and the organisation of the EYFS environment should be adapted to increase children’s, especially girls’, active learning and to reduce sedentary time.
Highlights
The health benefits of physical activity (PA) during early childhood have been widely reported in the literature, with early studies suggesting that insufficient PA is a risk factor for high blood pressure, weight gain, obesity, high cholesterol, respiratory difficulties, cardiovascular disease and Journal of Early Childhood Research 00(0)poor bone health in young children (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010; Poitras et al, 2016; Timmons et al, 2007)
Research has reported dose-response relationships between activity behaviours and psychosocial well-being in early childhood (0–5 years), positive associations with PA and inverse associations with sedentary behaviour (Hinkley et al, 2014)
Descriptive statistics are presented as means and standard deviations for all the activity variables and predictor variables for learning context, adult interaction and location, according to early years foundation stage (EYFS) year (i.e. Nursery or Reception) and gender, as well as for the whole sample
Summary
The health benefits of physical activity (PA) during early childhood have been widely reported in the literature, with early studies suggesting that insufficient PA is a risk factor for high blood pressure, weight gain, obesity, high cholesterol, respiratory difficulties, cardiovascular disease and Journal of Early Childhood Research 00(0)poor bone health in young children (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010; Poitras et al, 2016; Timmons et al, 2007). The health benefits of physical activity (PA) during early childhood have been widely reported in the literature, with early studies suggesting that insufficient PA is a risk factor for high blood pressure, weight gain, obesity, high cholesterol, respiratory difficulties, cardiovascular disease and Journal of Early Childhood Research 00(0). In a systematic review of the relationships between PA and health indicators in the early years (0–4 years; Carson et al, 2017), the majority (>60%) of experimental studies reported positive associations between PA and improved motor development, cognitive development, psychosocial health and cardiometabolic health. Across the observational studies in the same review, PA was favourably associated with motor development, fitness and bone and skeletal health in the majority of studies. Research has reported dose-response relationships between activity behaviours and psychosocial well-being in early childhood (0–5 years), positive associations with PA and inverse associations with sedentary behaviour (Hinkley et al, 2014). Associations between PA and motor skill competency in childhood have been reported (Lubans et al, 2010)
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