Our Evidence Review

Facilitating Physical Activity and Development in Early Childhood

An evidence review commissioned by Youth Sport Trust and led by Loughborough University on behalf of NEYASP, to assess the current evidence relating to physical activity, physical development and physical literacy for children aged 5 years and under was completed in 2023. This review reinforced and built on the 'Promising Principles' highlighted by McGeorge (2018).

Promising Principles for Physical Activity in Early Childhood

1. Training and Support for Educators: Ensure staff receive training to enhance their knowledge, understanding, and confidence in supporting physical activity and addressing sedentary behaviour.
2. Supportive Ethos and Environment: Foster an environment conducive to physical activity, including a formal physical activity policy, adequate play spaces, outdoor opportunities, and access to diverse play equipment.
3. Balanced Activities: Provide a mix of child-initiated and adult-led / adult-facilitated physical activities.
4. Structured Skill Development: Incorporate structured activities aimed at developing fundamental movement skills (FMS).
5. Daily Integration: Embed physical activity into daily routines, using it to reinforce other areas of learning and development.
6. Parental Involvement: Engage parents and carers by raising awareness, sharing activity ideas, and encouraging home-based physical activity.
7. Multi-Component Interventions: Implement interventions that combine several approaches for greater impact.

Key Findings from the Evidence Review

Early Childcare Education Centres (ECECs)

Policy and Training: Settings with clear physical activity policies and trained staff promote higher activity levels. To address gaps, ECECs should ensure ongoing educator development through training focused on building understanding about physical literacy and movement skill development.

• Recommendation: ECECs should develop and regularly review physical activity policies, tailoring them to their specific setting.

Play Environment: Larger indoor spaces and outdoor areas with natural elements encourage active play. Providing a range of portable play equipment also enhances and promotes active play.

• Recommendation: ECECs should encourage regular outdoor play throughout the day and provide diverse, portable equipment such as balls, hoops, and balance beams. Incorporating natural elements like trees, sand, loose parts (e.g. sticks, pinecones, recyclable materials) and water play further enhances engagement.

Gender Differences: The evidence suggests boys tend to be more active than girls highlighting the need for gender-sensitive approaches.

• Recommendation: Educators should offer a variety of activities that appeal to all children, such as music and dance for motor skills development, and by actively encouraging girls to participate in outdoor and structured play activities.

Childminders and Home Settings

Childminders: Evidence suggests children are less active with childminders compared to those who attend ECECs, primarily due to the limited amount of space in home settings.

• Recommendation: Childminders are encouraged to make use of local outdoor and indoor play spaces like local parks or community play groups to enhance active play opportunities.
• Recommendation: Childminders should provide a range of portable play equipment suitable for use in smaller spaces, like bean bags and balls.
• Recommendation: Childminders should be supported to engage with training programmes to enhance their understanding of physical activity and physical development principles.

Home Settings: Children tend to be less active at home, with parental behaviour and socioeconomic factors influencing activity levels.

• Recommendation: Parents should be made aware of physical activity guidelines and provided guidance about how to support their child to be active at home, including promoting alternatives to screen time.
• Recommendation: Parents should integrate physical activity into family routines, for example by scheduling regular walks and trips to the park, involving children in household activities like cleaning, or active play in the garden.

Screen Time and Sedentary Behaviour

High levels of poor-quality screen time across all settings were identified as a significant barrier to meeting physical activity guidelines.

• Recommendation: Parents and educators should be made aware of appropriate screen time limits and the importance of providing alternatives to screen time which involve active play.
• Recommendation: Parents and educators working with young children should incorporate movement-based activities during traditional screen time periods, such as storytelling with actions or interactive games, like dance or yoga.

Physical Activity in Infancy (Ages 2 and under)

Although there is limited evidence for this age group, the available evidence suggests that more parental understanding about the importance of tummy time and other floor-based movement activities in a range of positions, including lying on their back, is necessary. Awareness about the need to limit the amount of screen time and time infants are restrained in pushchairs / baby seats is also needed.

• Recommendation: Parents should be made aware of, and encouraged to provide tummy time and other floor-based movement opportunities, minimise screen time, and reduce the time children are restrained in pushchairs or baby seats.
• Recommendation: Parents and educators should provide a range of floor-based play opportunities for their infants throughout the day which includes time in different positions, including on their back and lying prone.

Gaps in Knowledge and Research Priorities

Gaps in Knowledge and Research Priorities

This review identified six critical gaps in evidence that require further investigation:

1. Differences between childcare settings: More research to better understand differences between childcare settings with a focus on understanding physical activity in childminder and home settings in the UK, is needed.
2. Educator training: There is a need to develop and evaluate effective training for childcare providers, focusing on fundamental movement skills and physical activity knowledge and understanding. Introducing online training modules and in-person workshops with practical demonstrations could be impactful.
3. Gender differences: More research is needed to investigate gender-specific patterns of physical activity across different settings, identifying specific interventions to promote equitable participation.
4. Guidance for fundamental movement skills: Activity frameworks, curricula, and policy guidelines tailored to the UK context are needed to support educators to facilitate the development of fundamental movement skills for children in their early years. Piloting new physical activity programmes within ECECs and evaluating their outcomes will help to inform best practices.
5. Infant physical activity: More research is needed to enhance understanding of physical activity practices for children aged 0 - 2 years. This should emphasise best practices for parent education and effective strategies in childcare settings.

You can read the full report here.