This systematic review synthesised evidence on associations between nature-based early childhood education (ECE) and children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. A search of nine databases was concluded in August 2020. Studies were eligible if: (a) children (2–7 years) attended ECE, (b) ECE integrated nature, and (c) assessed child-level outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened full-text articles and assessed study quality. Synthesis included effect direction, thematic analysis, and results-based convergent synthesis. One thousand three hundred and seventy full-text articles were screened, and 36 (26 quantitative; 9 qualitative; 1 mixed-methods) studies were eligible. Quantitative outcomes were cognitive (n = 11), social and emotional (n = 13), nature connectedness (n = 9), and play (n = 10). Studies included controlled (n = 6)/uncontrolled (n = 6) before-after, and cross-sectional (n = 15) designs. Based on very low certainty of the evidence, there were positive associations between nature-based ECE and self-regulation, social skills, social and emotional development, nature relatedness, awareness of nature, and play interaction. Inconsistent associations were found for attention, attachment, initiative, environmentally responsible behaviour, and play disruption/disconnection. Qualitative studies (n = 10) noted that nature-based ECE afforded opportunities for play, socialising, and creativity. Nature-based ECE may improve some childhood development outcomes, however, high-quality experimental designs describing the dose and quality of nature are needed to explore the hypothesised pathways connecting nature-based ECE to childhood development (Systematic Review Registration: CRD42019152582).

The environment has long been associated with physical activity engagement, and recent developments in technology have resulted in the ability to objectively quantify activity behaviours and activity context. This paper reviews studies that have combined Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and accelerometry to investigate the PA-environment relationship in children and young people (5-18 years old). Literature searches of the following bibliographic databases were undertaken: Sportdiscus, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA). Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, and covered topics including greenspace use, general land use, active travel, and the built environment. Studies were largely cross-sectional and took place across developed countries (UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia). Findings suggest that roads and streets, school grounds, and the home location are important locations for total PA, and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA). The relationship between greenspace was positive, however, multiple definitions and outcome measures add complexity to the results. MVPA was more likely in those exposed to higher levels of greenspace compared to sedentary individuals. Total MVPA time in greenspace is low, but when framed as a proportion of the total can be quite high. Domestic gardens may be an important area for higher intensity activity. Researchers are encouraged to show transparency in their methods. As a relatively new area of research, with ever-evolving technology, future work is best placed in developing novel, but robust, methods to investigate the PA and environment relationship. Further descriptive work is encouraged to build on a small but increasing knowledge base; however, longitudinal studies incorporating seasonal/weather variation would also be extremely beneficial to elicit some of the nuances associated with land use. A greater understanding of geographic variation (i.e. within and between countries), as well as urban/suburban and rural dwelling is welcomed, and future work should also include the investigation of psycho-social health as an outcome, as well as differences in socio-economic status, sex and adiposity.

Background: Living in urban or rural environments may influence children’s levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviours. We know little about variations in device-measured physical activity and sedentary levels of urban and rural children using nationally representative samples, or if these differences are moderated by socioeconomic factors or seasonal variation. Moreover, little is known about the influence of ‘walkability’ in the UK context. A greater understanding of these can better inform intervention strategies or policy initiatives at the population level. Methods: Country-wide cross-sectional study in Scotland in which 774 children (427 girls, 357 boys), aged 10/11 years, wore an accelerometer on one occasion for at least four weekdays and one weekend day. Mean total physical activity, time spent in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), per day were extracted for weekdays, weekend days, and all days combined. Regression analyses explored associations between physical activity outcomes, urban/rural residence, and a modified walkability index (dwelling density and intersection density); with interactions fitted for household equivalised income and season of data collection. Sensitivity analyses assessed variation in findings by socioeconomic factors and urbanicity. Results: Rural children spent an average of 14 min less sedentary (95% CI of difference: 2.23, 26.32) and 13 min more in light intensity activity (95% CI of difference, 2.81, 24.09) per day than those from urban settlements. No urban-rural differences were found for time spent in MVPA or in total levels of activity. Our walkability index was not associated with any outcome measure. We found no interactions with household equivalised income, but there were urban/rural differences in seasonal variation; urban children engaged in higher levels of MVPA in the spring months (difference: 10 mins, p = 0.06, n.s) and significantly lower levels in winter (difference: 8.7 mins, p = 0.036). Conclusions: Extrapolated across one-year, rural children would accumulate approximately 79 h (or just over 3 days) less sedentary time than urban children, replacing this for light intensity activity. With both outcomes having known implications for health, this finding is particularly important. Future work should prioritise exploring the patterns and context in which these differences occur to allow for more targeted intervention/policy strategies.

The term cadence has been used interchangeably to describe both the rate of stepping and the number of steps in a minute epoch. This is only strictly true if walking is continuous within that epoch. This study directly compared these two outcomes in minute epochs of data from free-living adults to assess the scale of any difference between them. A convenience sample of healthy adults wore an activPAL activity monitor for 7 d. The event record output of the activPAL, providing the start time and duration of each stride to the nearest 0.1 s, was used to calculate step accumulation (number of steps), duration of walking, and cadence (number of steps/duration of walking) for each minute of measurement. Data from 117 individuals (78 females; mean age, 46 ± 16 yr; mean body mass index, 24.9 ± 3.7 kg·m-2) were analyzed. Twenty-one percent of minutes (n = 310d-1) contained walking. The distribution (most minutes fewer than 40 steps per minute) and mean (34 ± 9 steps per minute) of step accumulation were very different from that of cadence (most minutes between 60 and 100 steps per minute; mean, 76 ± 6 steps per minute). Only 12% of minutes with stepping were walked continuously, whereas 69% of minutes with stepping contained less than 30 s of walking. This is key to the difference between step accumulation and cadence, and means that cadence cannot be reconstructed from step accumulation without also knowing the duration that was walked. Step accumulation, the number of steps in a fixed period, and cadence, the rate of stepping while walking, are not interchangeable outcome measures. It is vitally important that unambiguous terminology is used to describe the rate of stepping so that the outcomes of studies can be correctly interpreted.

Background: The purpose was to synthesize evidence on the association between nature-based Early Childhood Education (ECE) and children’s physical activity (PA) and motor competence (MC). Methods: A literature search of 9 databases was concluded in August 2020. Studies were eligible if (1) children were aged 2–7 years old and attending ECE, (2) ECE settings integrated nature, and (3) assessed physical outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened full-text articles and assessed study quality. Synthesis was conducted using effect direction (quantitative), thematic analysis (qualitative), and combined using a results-based convergent synthesis. Results: 1370 full-text articles were screened and 39 (31 quantitative and 8 qualitative) studies were eligible; 20 quantitative studies assessed PA and 6 assessed MC. Findings indicated inconsistent associations between nature-based ECE and increased moderate to vigorous PA, and improved speed/agility and object control skills. There were positive associations between nature-based ECE and reduced sedentary time and improved balance. From the qualitative analysis, nature-based ECE affords higher intensity PA and risky play, which could improve some MC domains. The quality of 28/31 studies was weak. Conclusions: More controlled experimental designs that describe the dose and quality of nature are needed to better inform the effectiveness of nature-based ECE on PA and MC.

A number of studies based in the US, Canada, and Australia, have found evidence of associations between the built environment (BE) and mode of transport to school, and links between active travel and deprivation. Limited research in the UK compares potential BE supports for walking to school by area deprivation. Within this study, we gathered data on BE attributes previously linked to active travel, i.e., street/path connectivity, and dwelling density, created a composite ‘walkability score’ (WS) for areas around primary schools across urban Scotland, and explored whether poorer areas exhibit lower scores than more affluent areas, or vice versa. We consider this to be a novel approach as few studies have compared BE features by deprivation across a whole country. Address and road/path maps were obtained and primary schools (N = 937) across mainland Scotland were mapped. Schools were attributed income deprivation scores (scores divided into quintiles (Q1: least deprived, Q5: most deprived)). Catchment area (CA) boundaries, i.e., the geographic area representing eligibility for local school attendance, were drawn around schools, and WS calculated for each CA. We compared mean WS by income quintile (ANOVA), for all local authorities (LAs) combined (N = 29), and separately for the four LAs with the greatest number of schools included in the analysis. For all LAs combined, the least deprived quintile (Q1) showed a significantly lower WS (−0.61), than quintiles 3, 4 and 5 (Q2: −0.04 (non-sig), Q3: 0.38, Q4: 0.09, Q5: 0.18); while for Glasgow the second least deprived quintile (Q2) showed significantly higher WS (Q1: 1.35, Q2: 1.73), than middling (Q3: 0.18) and most deprived quintiles (Q4: 0.06, Q5: −0.10). WS differ by deprivation with patterns varying depending on the spatial scale of the analysis. It is essential that less walkable areas are provided with the resources to improve opportunities to engage in active travel.