What is it about?
The goal of the study was to determine whether increasing children's outdoor playtime during nursery would increase their physical activity levels. We examined ten Australian daycare facilities serving kids between the ages of three and six. What we did: Instead of one lengthy play break, children at half of the centres received three short ones. The other half continued their one-on-one outside playtime as normal. The children's movement was measured over the course of five days with accelerometers. What we learnt: Children who had more play breaks each day spent roughly five more minutes moving more briskly. These children also engaged in more intense physical activity on a proportion of their time. More play breaks did not result in a rise in injuries. All of the children benefited from the additional exercise, regardless of their initial level of activity, age, or gender.
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Why is it important?
By dividing up outdoor playtime, this small change could go a long way towards encouraging many children to be more active while in nursery. Increased physical activity is beneficial to children's growth and well-being.
Perspectives
As a busy parent, it was useful to learn shorter but more frequent play breaks result in more physical activity
Lubna Razak
Brunei Ministry of Health
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Impact of scheduling multiple outdoor free-play periods in childcare on child moderate-to-vigorous physical activity: a cluster randomised trial, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, April 2018, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1186/s12966-018-0665-5.
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