Purpose: Many young children spend a significant portion of time in center-based childcare settings; however, these children are often not sufficiently active during care. Promoting physical activity through policy implementation is one mechanism which has the potential to increase physical activity. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide an overview of physical activity policies implemented in childcare centers and determine their effect on children's physical activity. Methods: Electronic searches were conducted in CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Sports Medicine and Education Database. Two reviewers independently examined 3,286 articles to find peer-reviewed, original studies that assessed the impact of physical activity policies on children's physical activity. Random effects meta-analyses were used to determine the impact of policies. Results: A total of 13 articles met the inclusion criteria; in which 12 unique policies were implemented. Results of the meta-analyses suggest that introducing new physical activity policies did not increase children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA); however, compared to centers without a formalized physical activity policy, children in centers with a formalized policy engaged in significantly more MVPA and total physical activity. Conclusions: Introducing new physical activity policies alone may not be sufficient to increase children's engagement in physical activity, and it may be important to combine with capacity-building initiatives for childcare staff and early childhood educators. Results reinforce the value of childcare centers implementing their own formalized physical activity policies to support children's physical activity, which highlights the importance of regulating physical activity practices in childcare. Registration: CRD42022326037.

Background: Physical activity and sedentary time are independently associated with health and developmental outcomes in preschool children. However, the integrated nature of these behaviours on early life outcomes, particularly during childcare hours, is currently understudied. As such, the aim of this study was to examine the association between preschool children's physical activity and sedentary time during childcare and various developmental outcomes (psychosocial, cognitive and fundamental movement skills).Methods: A total of 107 preschool children (M_age: 41 ± 6 months) recruited from London, Canada, wore ActiGraph wGT3X‐BT accelerometers during childcare hours to measure their sedentary time, light intensity physical activity (LPA) and moderate‐to‐vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). Developmental outcomes, including psychosocial health (internalising, externalising, prosocial behaviour), indicators of cognitive development (memory, inhibitory control) and fundamental movement skills (locomotor control, object control, total fundamental movement), were assessed using validated tools. Compositional regression and isotemporal substitution models were estimated to examine how movement compositions in childcare were associated with developmental outcomes.Results: Engaging in more MVPA relative to LPA and sedentary time was associated with fewer internalising symptoms and better total fundamental movement skills and object control skills, whilst spending more time in LPA relative to MVPA and sedentary time was associated with more internalising symptoms and worse object control skills. Isotemporal substitution models suggested that theoretically increasing sedentary time or engaging in MVPA at the expense of time engaging in LPA during childcare is associated with lower internalising symptoms.Conclusion: The findings of this study provide preliminary evidence that engaging in MVPA during childcare, at the expense of time in LPA or sedentary time, is associated with children's fundamental movement skills and psychosocial development. Further longitudinal research is required, with larger samples of young children, to assess the mechanisms through which childcare movement behaviour compositions may interact with developmental outcomes, including contextualising both sedentary time and LPA.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05359536

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large influence on children’s physical activity (i.e., play and sport) opportunities. The purpose of this study was to describe parents’ perspectives of their children’s (ages 0–12) physical activity experiences during the pandemic (i.e., since the onset in March 2020 until follow-up survey completion date [between August to December 2021]). As part of the ‘Return to Play’ study conducted in Ontario, Canada, two-parent report surveys were completed online via Qualtrics. Surveys measured parents’ perspectives regarding their children’s physical activity since the onset of the pandemic (n = 17 items) and collected demographic information (n = 16 items). Open-ended questions were included to gather a rich understanding of parents’ experiences (i.e., supports, challenges) with facilitating their children’s physical activity. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe parents’ perspectives of their children’s physical activity experiences and to determine parent demographics. Open-ended questions were analyzed via deductive content analysis. Parents (n = 382) reported that they noticed behavior changes in their children because of the pandemic (65.9%), and most (73.7%) reported challenges with supporting their children’s activity during periods when public health measures were in place. Many parents (44.5%) stated that their children asked about returning to play/sport more than three times per week during periods when play/sport facilities were closed in Ontario. Qualitative data identified common supports parents used (e.g., getting active outdoors, forming mini social ‘bubbles’), and challenges they faced (e.g., work, children’s increased screen time, and home schooling), pertaining to their children’s physical activity.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of an early childhood educator (ECE)-focused physical activity e-Learning course on children’s physical activity and sedentary time in childcare. Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 12 childcare centers in London, Ontario, Canada. A total of 145 preschoolers and 42 ECEs participated in this study. ECEs in the intervention condition completed a 5-hour e-Learning course related to physical activity. Outcomes were preschoolers’ minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, light-intensity physical activity, and sedentary time assessed using accelerometers. Results: The intervention did not have a significant effect on moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (d < 0.01, P = .984), light-intensity physical activity (d = −0.17, P = .386), or sedentary time (d = 0.07, P = .717) from baseline to postintervention. There was also no significant intervention effect on moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (d = 0.27, P = .260), light-intensity physical activity (d = −0.08, P = .740), or sedentary time (d = −0.15, P = .520) from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions: Providing ECEs with online training in physical activity through an e-Learning course may not be sufficient to increase physical activity levels among young children in their care. It may be essential to deliver multicomponent interventions to increase preschoolers’ engagement in physical activity in childcare.