How physically active are boys and girls are during playtimes in primary school?

Children spend 20% of their whole school day in England during
playtimes, within the literature, the school setting is described as a diverse place that may or may not have a contributory effect to physical activity levels. Ridgers et al. (2006) stated that “playtime can contribute between 5-40% of the recommended daily physical activity levels when no interventions have been utilised” (p. 359). Whilst Pate et al. (1996), suggested that “children best accumulate physical activity during playtime where they are free to interact with their peers” (p. 96).

This paper compares boys and girls and infants (6–7 years) and juniors (9–10 years) physical activity levels. Data were collected within a case study school setting over one school year. 20 children wore Actigraph accelerometers to record physical activity intensity levels. A repeated measures 3 factor ANOVA was used to analyse the effects of factors, P values of <0.05 were taken as the value for statistical significance. Statistical analysis was completed using SPSS 17.0.

Significant findings were found for boys being most active during playtimes. Junior boys were active at a moderate to vigorous level (MVPA) for 38% of the time whilst infant girls were only MVPA for 18% of the time. Children were static for between 33 and 46% of the time and that infants were static for the longest.

The paper proposes opportunities for improving MVPA of infants, including supporting infants who have not yet mastered the fine and gross motor skills involved in cutting up their lunch (Gallahue, 1996).