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Children’s Activity Levels in Different Playground Environments: An Observational Study in Four Canadian Preschools

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Abstract

Engaging in moderate to vigorous amounts of physical activity is needed for young children to grow and develop to their full potential and the playground environment can help play a role. The purpose of this study was to determine the physical activity levels of children in preschool settings during outdoor playground activity time. Four preschools in British Columbia, Canada were purposefully selected based around their playground design and structure. The System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth, Children’s Activity Rating Scale, and the Observation for Recording Physical Activity in Children—Preschool Version were used to determine the physical activity levels of children, to track the location of preschool children and to code the types of activities. A total of 2,268 observations were recorded across all four environments. Results found that children in approximately half of the observations were engaged in sedentary physical activity (51 %) while only participating in vigorous activity during 20 % of the observations. These findings support the need for educators to consider the role the environment plays in determining young children’s amounts of physical activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education EME-3169, University of British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Stephen Berg

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  1. Stephen Berg
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Correspondence to Stephen Berg.

Appendix

Appendix

Centre A

Medium sized, gravel and paved areas with sandbox, water table shovels, buckets, boats as well as swings, slide, bikes and balls. Surrounding the centre was a bike path and several trees around play area.

figure a

Google Map (2014a)

figure b

Centre B

Medium sized with gravel, grass, and paved areas. Manufactured play structures including slide, climbing wall, and stairs. Also had forts, sandbox, shovels and buckets with a large wooden playhouse. A large bike path surrounds the play area.

figure c

Google Map (2014b)

figure d

Centre C

Large sized with three separate, small area consisting of gravel, grass, paved and soft fall. Wooden and plastic play structures with bikes, balls, field for running, sports activities and water play. Also had a sandbox, water table, shovels, buckets, kitchen and kitchen tools, and cars. There was also a small bike/ball/sandbox area away from the field in a separate play area.

figure e

Google Map (2014c)

figure f

Centre D

Small in size, minimal equipment and structures. There were two grass areas one being small and one large. A sandbox, buckets and boat as well as balls and Frisbees were present.

figure g

Google Map (2014d)

figure h

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Berg, S. Children’s Activity Levels in Different Playground Environments: An Observational Study in Four Canadian Preschools. Early Childhood Educ J 43, 281–287 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-014-0654-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-014-0654-5

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