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Lack of Physical Exercise in Preschools
By Jeanette Fich Jespersen, MA, International Manager of the KOMPAN Play Institute
Only in the preschool with free outdoor play in a well structured playground do children get the recommended 60 minutes a day moderate to vigorous physical exercise. They are significantly more active than children in other preschools in which the children only reach half of the minimum physical activity recommended.
That is the result of a new study on preschool children and physical activity carried out by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark.
The outset of the report was to investigate the difference in activity levels in 6 conventional and sports preschools and the Four Seasons Kindergarten - an institution supporting the children’s right to play freely in a well planned play area, planned by KOMPAN. The surprising result is that there is close to no difference in activity levels in the six conventional and sport preschools measured. The children in the six preschools get far too little physical exercise at the recommended level of intensity (moderate to vigorous) in the kindergarten. In The Four Seasons the children get almost double as much exercise at the recommended level.
“Our observations for this study suggest that the amount of exercise is due to the well planned playground and play garden and the staff’s support of the right to play and spend a lot of time there. It would be most interesting to pursue this in a new survey as we suspect the environment and the caregivers’ attitude to be decisive elements in children’s activity,“ states associate professor Karsten Froberg from the Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics who coordinated the survey.
“According to our latest research in the European Youth Heart Study children need to be physically active at least at a moderate intensity level as a minimum 90 minutes per day to stay healthy. The children in the six of the preschools measured are active in average 35 minutes a day in the kindergarten. To reach satisfactory exercise levels parents would need to see to that the children get at least 55 minutes physical exercise after daycare - which seems unrealistic as the children measured spend most of the day in preschool”, Karsten Froberg says.
The report also states that there are significant differences in activity levels in boys and girls from the age of 3. Furthermore, 5-6yearold children are about 20% more physically active than their 3-4yearold friends.
“We think that this study points out some possible determinants of activity patterns in preschools that we would like to investigate further. There are indicators that the activity levels throughout the rest of a person’s life is established in the preschool years.”
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