Children in Child Care Centers Lack Enough Physical Activity Opportunities: Study

A new study, “Physical Activity Opportunities in U.S. Early Child Care Programs,” in the June 2022 Pediatrics (published online May 18) found less than half of early education and child care programs offer children sufficient opportunity for physical activity. National Caring for Our Children guidance recommends at least two daily outdoor physical activity opportunities lasting at least 60-90 minutes in total for young children, ages 1-6, during care. Researchers conducted a national study observing 96 child care centers and 131 Head Start programs and found, while virtually all offered opportunities for physical activity, 74% of programs met national guidance on number of outdoor activity opportunities, 50% met guidance for duration of those opportunities, and only 43% met both recommendations. Children were observed to be sedentary or inactive for substantial periods of time while in care—15 minutes out of every hour—excluding meals, snacks, and naps. Approximately 60% of U.S. preschool-aged children go to some sort of child care, averaging 30 hours weekly, meaning that these programs offer the main opportunity for physical activity for many children in this age group. Researchers concluded that there were ample opportunities to improve the provision of daily physical activity opportunities, given that physical activity is critical to encourage healthy growth, learning, and development among young children. More research is needed to determine exactly how much physical activity children are getting in an average day and how much they need to be healthy.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.