Physical Activity and Fundamental Movement Skills of 3- to 5-Year-Old Children in Irish Preschool Services

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify levels of physical activity (PA) and fundamental movement skills (FMS) of children aged 3 to 5 years in Irish preschool services during care hours, and investigate the relationship between these two variables. Data were collected from 141 children (50.3% boys, age M = 3.9 ± 0.5 years) across 9 preschool services. Measurements included PA via accelerometry, and proficiency in four FMS (run, vertical jump, throw and catch). The recommended guideline of 15 minutes of PA per hour (min PA/hour) was met by 35% of children (M = 13.6 min PA/hour). Significant differences in mean PA per hour were found by gender, with boys (14.2 min PA/hour) more active than girls (13.0 min PA/ hour), and age, with younger children (14.2 min PA/hour) more active than older (12.6 minutes PA/hour). Percentage of children proficient in the run was high (88.4%), but low across the other skills (4.9%–18.5%). Significant differences were identified by gender for vertical jump with girls scoring higher than boys. No significant relationship was found between FMS and total PA. Low levels of PA and FMS proficiency highlight need for intervention in early years settings to ensure children develop skills to participate in PA.

Fundamental Movement Skills and Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity Levels during Early Childhood: A Systematic Review

“…A common theme found between the motor proficiency performance of the children was the majority of authors reporting locomotor skills being performed with more competency than object control skills at this age [ 46 , 47 , 50 , 53 ] and, similarly, both Duff et al [ 47 ] and Jones et al [ 48 ] found running to be the most proficient individual skill at this age over any other individual locomotor or object control skill tested. On the other hand, only Palmer et al [ 51 ] found the opposite in their baseline assessments, with object control skills being performed with more proficiency.…”

“…Of the ten articles reviewed, three articles used the full TGMD-2 protocol and scored this against the TGMD-2 criteria [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. A further three articles used a version of the TGMD-2 protocol adapted for use within individual studies [ 47 , 48 , 49 ]. This included using specific skills, removal of unwanted or unwarranted skills and addition of more relevant skills related to the study outcomes or cultural differences.…”

“…Of the FMS and PA articles reviewed ( n = 10) ( Table 1 ), accelerometry was used to assess PA, with no other objective method used to measure PA, such as pedometry. Seven articles assessed PA using hip-based accelerometry and ActiGraph models including the ActiGraph 7164, GT1M and GT3X (ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA), [ 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Wasenius et al [ 46 ] used an Actical accelerometer, the position of the accelerometer was not stated.…”

“…Roscoe et al [ 49 ] also used the Roscoe et al [ 54 ] Geneactiv, wrist-based cut points to classify activity of the children. Further to this, three articles used Evenson et al [ 55 ] cut points [ 44 , 51 ], one used Pate et al [ 56 ] cut points [ 52 ], one used Adolph et al [ 57 ] cut points [ 46 ], one used Sirad et al [ 58 ] cut points [ 48 ], one used Janssen et al [ 59 ] cut points [ 50 ], one used Pate et al [ 60 ] cut points [ 47 ] and one article used both Reilly et al [ 61 ] and Sirad et al [ 58 ] cut points to classify activity. For the measurement of epoch length, one article used 1 s epochs [ 53 ], one article used 5 s epochs [ 50 ], two articles used 10 s epochs [ 47 , 49 ], five articles used 15 s epochs [ 44 , 46 , 48 , 51 , 52 ] and finally one article used 1 min epochs [ 45 ].…”

“…Wear time varied between two days [ 48 ] and 14 days [ 53 ], with the most commonly reported length being seven days [ 45 , 46 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. Barnett et al [ 44 ] reported eight days’ wear, while Roscoe et al [ 49 ] reported four and Duff et al [ 47 ] five days of wear. However, out of the eight articles that stipulated an acceptable wear time for analysis, six articles required three days of wear [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 52 ] and the remaining two articles required four days of wear time [ 44 , 53 ].…”