Children with better-developed motor skills may find it easier to be active and engage in more physical activity (PA) than those with less-developed motor skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between motor skill performance and PA in preschool children. Participants were 80 three-and 118 four-year-old children. The Children's Activity and Movement in Preschool Study (CHAMPS) Motor Skill Protocol was used to assess process characteristics of six locomotor and six object control skills; scores were categorized as locomotor, object control, and total. The actigraph accelerometer was used to measure PA; data were expressed as percent of time spent in sedentary, light, moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and vigorous PA (VPA). Children in the highest tertile for total score spent significantly more time in MVPA (13.4% vs. 12.8% vs. 11.4%) and VPA (5% vs. 4.6% vs. 3.8%) than children in middle and lowest tertiles. Children in the highest tertile of locomotor scores spent significantly less time in sedentary activity than children in other tertiles and significantly more time in MVPA (13.4% vs. 11.6%) and VPA (4.9% vs. 3.8%) than children in the lowest tertile. There were no differences among tertiles for object control scores. Children with poorer motor skill performance were less active than children with better-developed motor skills. This relationship between motor skill performance and PA could be important to the health of children, particularly in obesity prevention. Clinicians should work with parents to monitor motor skills and to encourage children to engage in activities that promote motor skill performance.

The two-fold purpose of the investigation was (1) to describe with direct observation data the physical activity behaviors and the accompanying social and environmental events of those behaviors for children in preschools; and (2) to determine which contextual conditions were predictors of moderateto-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and non-sedentary physical activity (i.e., light activity + MVPA) for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children during their outdoor play. The results indicate that preschoolers' physical activity is characterized as sedentary in nature throughout their preschool day (i.e., 89% sedentary, 8% light activity, 3% MVPA). During outdoor play periods, when children are most likely to be physically active, some contextual and social circumstances better predict their physical activity. Implications for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers are discussed.Keywords preschool children; physical activity; physical inactivity; childhood overweight and obesity; direct observation methods Recently, the childhood obesity rate has increased considerably in the United States, and many children are becoming overweight at younger ages. Ogden and colleagues (2006) reported that the prevalence rate of at risk for overweight (i.e., ≥ 85 th percentile) among two-to five-yearold children in the U. S. was 26.2% and during the last five years the rate increased by 4.2%. Within the United States, some populations, such as African American, Hispanic, and lowincome children, have had even higher prevalence rates for childhood weight difficulties (e.g., Haas et al., 2003;Sherry, Mei, Scanlon, Mokdad, & Grummer-Strawn, 2004 NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 January 1. Published in final edited form as:Child Dev. 2009 ; 80(1): 45-58. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01245.x. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptSirard, Dowda, Pfeiffer, and Pate (2003) noted that early incidence of being overweight might inhibit young children's physical activity, negatively affecting their future weight status. Finally, Guo, Wu, Chumlea, and Roche (2002) and Baker, Olsen, and Sorensen (2007) reported children's early overweight problems predict adult obesity and significant health problems.The causal nexus between obesity and severe health problems is multifaceted and any connection may be confounded by the fact that both health problems and obesity have been associated with poor diet and lack of exercise. Nevertheless, obesity has been clearly associated with multiple health difficulties, most notably, coronary heart disease, hypertension, type II diabetes, osteoporosis, and some types of cancer (e.g., Blair & Brodney, 1999;Must et al., 1999). Many public health researchers have hypothesized that obesity is related to contemporary diets and physical inactivity (e.g., Biglan, 2004;Troiano & Flegal, 1998). Specifically, modern diets have increased caloric intake, particularly calories with saturated and trans fats and sugars, and the physical...

The study indicates that young children are physically inactive during most of their time in preschool. The preschool that a child attended was a stronger predictor of physical activity level than any other factor examined. Additional research is needed to identify the characteristics of preschools in which children are more active.

Objectives-The preschools that children attend influence their physical activity level. But, little is known about which characteristics of a preschool may influence the physical activity of children. The purpose of this study was to examine policies and characteristics of preschools and the extent to which they influence the physical activity of 3-to 5-year-old children during the preschool day.Methods-A total of 299 children from 20 preschools wore ActiGraph (Pensacola, FL) accelerometers an average of 8.1 hours (SD=1.5) per day for 5.5 days (SD=2.1). A researcher completed the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ECERS-R) for each preschool to access quality. Classrooms and playgrounds were measured, and the preschool director was interviewed about physical activity policies. For each policy or characteristic, preschools were divided into two groups based on whether or not the characteristic/policy was presumed to promote physical activity (PPA) or not promote physical activity (NPA).Results-Children spent fewer minutes per hour in sedentary activity and more minutes per hour in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in preschools that had higher quality scores, less fixed playground equipment, more portable playground equipment, lower electronic media use, and larger playgrounds. Five preschools had all five of these characteristics, and children in those preschools had significantly higher MVPA minutes per hour and lower sedentary minutes per hour compared to children in the other preschools. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPediatrics. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 February 1. Published in final edited form as:Pediatrics. Conclusions-All preschools can encourage physical activity by providing inexpensive portable playground equipment, limiting the number of children using fixed equipment and the number of children on the playground at one time, and limiting electronic media use. Children in the top five physical activity promoting preschools accumulated more than 60 minutes per day of MVPA as compared to the children in the other preschools who accumulated less than 60 minutes per day of MVPA. Keywordschildren; preschool; childcare; physical activity; accelerometerExperts have concluded that children 3 to 5 years of age should participate in both free play and structured physical activity. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education 1 recommends that preschoolers accumulate at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity and at least 60 minutes of unstructured physical activity daily. More than 60% of U.S. children ages 6 and under who are not yet in kindergarten are in some form of childcare or preschool.2 Time spent in preschool may be one place for young children to obtain a significant portion of their daily physical activity.Recently, Oliver and colleagues 3 reviewed 49 studies of physical activity in young children. They concluded that preschool-age children spend very little time in vigorous physical activity and that the majority of...

Eighty children with disabilities enrolled in a nationally distributed set of inclusive preschool programs participated in this study. The average age of the participants was 3.9 years, and 60% were male. The children exhibited a range of disabilities and developmental levels. Using a mixed-method approach, the authors established quantitative criteria for identifying children with disabilities who were socially accepted and socially rejected by their peer group, and qualitative methods revealed themes associated with social participation of each group. Cluster analyses of themes identified 3 clusters associated with social acceptance (e.g., awareness-interest, communication-play, friendship-social skills) and 2 clusters associated with social rejection (e.g., social withdrawal, conflict-aggression). Subsequent cluster analyses of children and matrix analyses illustrated how child social participation was related to superordinate theme clusters and constructs of acceptance and rejection. Socially accepted children tended to have disabilities that were less likely to affect social problem solving and emotional regulation, whereas children who were socially rejected had disabilities that were more likely to affect such skills and developmental capacities. Implications of this research for theory and practice are proposed.

In this paper we present initial information concerning a new direct observation system-the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool Version. The system will allow researchers to record young children's physical activity levels while also coding the topography of their physical activity, as well as detailed indoor and outdoor social and nonsocial contextual information. With respect to interobserver agreement (IOA), the kappa and category-by-category agreement mean of those obtained for the three illustrative preschools were generally above .80. Hence, our IOA data indicated that trained observers in the three preschools frequently agreed on the eight observational categories and accompanying codes. The results for preschoolers' level of physical activity indicated they spent the majority of observational intervals in sedentary activity (i.e., more than 80% intervals) and were observed in moderate to vigorous physical activity much less frequently (i.e., 5% or fewer intervals). For the 15 indoor and 12 outdoor activity contexts, variability across both the activity contexts and the three preschools were evident. Nevertheless, three classroom contexts-transition, snacks, and naptime--accounted for the greatest porportion of coded activity contexts for the children. In the three preschools, 4 of 17 physical activity types--sit and squat, lie down, stand, and walk--accounted for the topography of much of children's physical activity behavior Systematic observation of more representative preschool samples might better inform our present understanding of young children's physical activity in community preschool programs.

Approximately one half of children in two independent samples met the guideline for PA in young children. Policies and practices designed to increase PA among preschool children are needed, given that most children are not meeting this PA guideline.

Young children's peer-related social competence has been viewed as a critical developmental competency during early childhood. Nevertheless, a number of young children, particularly young children who have disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities, have peer interaction difficulties. During the last several decades, various intervention strategies for improving young children's peer interactions have been developed, refined, and evaluated in early childhood programs. This article presents a conceptual framework based on an intervention hierarchy for assisting interventionists in deciding how to promote the peer interactions of young children with peer-related social competence difficulties in natural environments. We discuss making developmentally appropriate and inclusive early childhood programs the foundation for improved peer interactions. Several illustrative and empirically validated intervention strategies for these children are presented and recommendations are made regarding flexible employment of the hierarchy to individualize peer interaction interventions.