Role of Spanish Toddlers’ Education and Care Institutions in Achieving Physical Activity Recommendations in the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

To our knowledge, there are no published studies that describe the physical activity (PA) levels and objectively measure them through accelerometry in toddlers (2–3 years old) attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aims of this study were two-fold: (a) to analyse toddlers’ PA levels and sedentary behaviour (SB) during school hours in ECEC institutions, as well as the rate of adherence to specific recommendations on total PA (TPA) and moderate–vigorous PA (MVPA); and (b) to evaluate the characteristics correlates (age, gender, and body mass index –BMI) of young children and the school environment on toddlers’ TPA, light PA (LPA), MVPA, and SB during school hours in ECEC institutions. PA was evaluated with ActiGraph accelerometers. The main findings were that: (a) toddlers engaged in very high amounts of TPA and MVPA during ECEC hours; (b) girls and boys displayed similar levels of LPA, TPA, and SB, while girls had lower levels of MVPA, compared to boys, and younger toddlers were less active than older ones; (c) BMI was not associated with PA of any intensity or SB; (d) playground and classroom density were not associated with higher levels of PA of any intensity, though classroom density was associated with SB. These ECEC institutions provide and challenge the new COVID-19 scenario, as well as supportive environments for toddlers’ PA.

Environmental and practice factors associated with children’s device-measured physical activity and sedentary time in early childhood education and care centres: a systematic review

“…Reducing the number of ECEC classes sharing the playground during recess time, which led to an increase in space per child from 7.4m 2 to 16.7m 2 , was associated with a 1 min reduction (− 5.1% of recess time) in time spent sedentary [65]. More children/m 2 was non-significantly associated with less time spent in sedentary in toddlers [67] and more sedentary time in preschoolers [51].…”

“…Gubbels et al's crosssectional study compared the relative size of outdoor free play space (mean m 2 per child = 42.9 ± 45.6) for 152 children across 22 ECECs in the Netherlands [55]. Similarly, another three studies of cross-sectional design from Belgium [66] and Spain [51,67], related the average number of children per m 2 with PA of 789 children across 39 ECECs [66], 116 children across six ECECs [51], and 120 children across seven ECECs [67].…”

Correlates of Toddlers’ Physical Activity Levels and Sedentary Behavior During Unstructured Outdoor Play in Early Childhood Education and Daycare Settings

“…However, Kelly et al (2022) observed similar levels of SB and MVPA in U.S. boys and girls in daycare/preschool settings. There were different results in some other studies, of toddlers during school hours, asboys exhibited higher levels of MVPA than girls (Ellis et al, 2017;Hesketh et al, 2015;Vega-Perona et al, 2022). Also in an Australian sample, Hnatiuk et al (2012) found that young boys were more active than young girls in morning hours, while there were no sex differences over the entire day.…”

“…In a more recent study, Gubbels's group used accelerometry to assess PA, and age was then significantly associated with less SB and increased PA during all daytime hours (Gubbels et al, 2018). In the Spanish preschool/daycare context, Vega-Perona et al (2022) found that, during school hours, younger toddlers performed less LPA than older ones, but BMI was not associated with PA of any intensity or SB. In Swedish two-yearolds across all daytime hours, Johansson et al (2015) found that children's BMI was not significantly correlated with PA.…”

“…Preschool and daycare settings are considered contexts in which toddler PA can be effectively promoted (Daly-Smith et al, 2020). In these settings, patterns and correlates of PA and sedentary behaviors (SB) have been described by others with some limitations (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022; Hunter et al, 2019; Kelly et al, 2022; Vega-Perona et al, 2022), and adequate PA levels have been reported among toddlers (aged 2–3 years) during school hours (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022; Vega-Perona et al, 2022).…”