J Phys Act Health. 2021 Jun 7;18(8):949-956. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2020-0849. Print 2021 Aug 1.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) offers many health benefits for preschoolers (2.5-5 y). In childcare, MVPA is predominantly accumulated outdoors, with higher rates purported among children within the first few minutes outside. The Supporting Physical Activity in the Childcare Environment intervention included shorter, more frequent outdoor play sessions; this study sought to explore children's activity levels during various outdoor play schedules.
During the final week of the Supporting Physical Activity in the Childcare Environment intervention, preschoolers wore an Actical™ accelerometer for 5 days during childcare and staff logged outdoor times. Separate linear mixed effects models were run to explore the effect of the intervention on preschoolers' physical activity (total and MVPA) and sedentary time during outdoor play. Sex was entered as an interaction effect.
Preschoolers (n = 292) were significantly more active in the first 10 minutes outdoors compared with remaining time (P < .0083). For total outdoor time, children in the experimental group engaged in significantly less sedentary time than those in the control group (P < .017), and experimental group boys and girls engaged in higher MVPA than boys and girls in the control group (P < .017).
Findings support scheduling more frequent outdoor play sessions in childcare to increase physical activity participation among young children.
中等到剧烈的身体活动（MVPA）为 2.5-5 岁的学龄前儿童提供了许多健康益处。在儿童保育中，MVPA 主要是在户外积累的，据说在户外的最初几分钟内，儿童的活动量更高。“支持儿童保育环境中的身体活动”干预措施包括更短、更频繁的户外游戏时间；本研究旨在探索儿童在各种户外游戏时间表下的活动水平。
在“支持儿童保育环境中的身体活动”干预措施的最后一周，学龄前儿童在儿童保育期间佩戴 Actical™加速度计 5 天，工作人员记录户外活动时间。分别运行线性混合效应模型，以探索干预措施对学龄前儿童在户外游戏期间的身体活动（总活动量和 MVPA）和久坐时间的影响。性别作为交互效应输入。
与剩余时间相比，学龄前儿童（n = 292）在户外的前 10 分钟内明显更活跃（P <.0083）。对于总户外活动时间，实验组的儿童比对照组的儿童久坐时间明显减少（P <.017），实验组的男孩和女孩的 MVPA 比对照组的男孩和女孩高（P <.017）。
研究结果支持在儿童保育中安排更频繁的户外游戏时间，以增加幼儿的身体活动参与度。
