Levels of physical activity have a direct effect on a child's health and are important in helping develop the attitudes, skills and behaviours for lifelong physical activity and health. The creation of strong links to opportunities for physical activity both at home and in communities is fundamental to developing active lifestyles for families and children. Many sectors within the early years workforce contribute to encouraging and supporting active and healthy lifestyles among parents, children and families.
Physical movement and active play have a positive impact on developing social skills and bonding. For babies and young children, learning and movement are interdependent, and encouraging parents and carers to play and interact with their baby can help build a sense of wellbeing that is important throughout childhood and adult life. Establishing daily play routines early in childhood encourages children’s enjoyment of physical activity and promotes the value of parents doing exercise as role models. The play@home programme strengthens the relationship between parents and children to develop their self-esteem, giving them confidence to try new activities.
What do we mean by 'physical activity'?
Physical activity includes all forms of activity, such as everyday walking or cycling to get from A to B, active play, work-related activity, active recreation (such as working out in a gym), dancing, gardening or playing active games, as well as organised and competitive sport.
For children - and adults who join in - physical activity can range from basic movements, like reaching for and grabbing toys, to playing games that move the whole body and get children out of breath and sweaty.
It can include anything from walking to nursery and helping with household chores to playing chasing or jumping games.
Why is physical activity in childhood important?
In infants and very young children, being physically active strengthens developing muscles and bones and helps develop coordination and movement skills.
In children, taking part in a variety of physical activities helps maintain healthy weight, improves self-confidence and social skills and can provide opportunities to develop friendships.
Being active in childhood means children are more likely to be active later in life and so is an important part of developing a lifelong healthy lifestyle.
What are the recommendations for physical activity for the early years?
From birth and before walking:
Babies should be encouraged to be active from birth. Before babies begins to crawl, they should be encouraged to be physically active by reaching and grasping, pulling and pushing, moving their head, body and limbs during daily routines, and during supervised floor play, including tummy time.
Once babies can move around, they should be encouraged to be as active as possible in a safe, supervised and nurturing play environment.
Once they can walk:
Children who can walk on their own should be physically active every day for at least 3 hours (180 minutes). This should be spread throughout the day, indoors or outside.
The 180 minutes can include light activity such as standing up, moving around, rolling and playing, as well as more energetic activity like skipping, hopping, running and jumping.
Age and development-appropriate active play, such as using a climbing frame, riding a bike, playing in water, chasing games and ball games, is the best way for this age group to be physically active.
Children under 5 should not be inactive for long periods, except when they're asleep.
Watching TV, travelling by car, bus or train or being strapped into a buggy for long periods are not good for a child’s health and development. There's growing evidence that such behaviour can increase their risk of poor health.
Physical activity and inequalities in the early years
Being physically active promotes healthy physical, emotional and social growth and development throughout childhood.
Many physical activities also provide opportunities for fun, bonding and new friendships.
Physically active children are more likely to maintain healthy levels of activity later in life, which can help mediate the effects of health inequalities.
Quick links:
- What are health inequalities?
- Policy context
- How do inequalities relate to physical activity levels in children?
- How might levels of activity in children be increased?
What are health inequalities?
The WHO defines health inequalities as "differences in health status or in the distribution of health determinants between different population groups."
For a general discussion of health inequalities and the early years, please see Inequalities in the early years.
Policy context
Activity in this area is consistent with commitments and priorities detailed in the Early Years Framework and the National Parenting Strategy, Equally Well, Achieving our Potential, a range of NHS Scotland's Quality Indicators and is relevant to Scotland's national practice model for child-centred services - Getting it Right for Every Child (all external links).
Let’s Make Scotland More Active set out a 20-year ambition to increase physical activity in Scotland and has recently been supplemented by recommendations for the Early Years from the UK's Chief Medical Officers detailed in Start Active, Stay Active.
How do inequalities relate to physical activity levels in children?
The relationship between inequalities and physical activity in children is not linear and differs for boys and girls.
The 2011 Scottish Health Survey (external link) showed that, among all children aged 2-15, only 70 per cent of girls met recommendations, compared to 76 per cent of boys. Rates of activity are higher among children under 8 years as activity levels begin to drop in later childhood and into adolescence.
While boys aged 2-15 living in the least deprived areas are most active (81 per cent met recommendations), those living in the second most deprived fifth of areas have higher levels of activity than the remaining groups (77 per cent met recommendations).
Associations with socioeconomic classifications were not significant for boys but girls living in lower supervisory or technical households were the most active (77 per cent met recommendations), compared with 67 per cent-69 per cent in all other types of household.
One of the strongest associations was with the activity levels of mothers.
80 per cent of boys aged 2-15 and 71 per cent of girls aged 2-15 whose mothers met adult recommendations for physical activity met the child recommendations, compared with 72 per cent of boys and 62 per cent of girls whose mothers did not.
Disabled children from benefit dependent families, looked after children and children of asylum seekers are also more likely to experience restricted play opportunities, including for active play (The Power of Play: An evidence base (external link)).
Almost 1 in 6 children in Scotland have no access to safe places for outdoor play with children living in deprived areas being more affected than those in the least deprived areas (Findings of the Scottish Play Commission: Raising the Bar (external link)).
How might levels of activity in children be increased?
The report Growing Up in Scotland: Overweight, obesity and activity (external link) suggested that action at the family level to encourage parents and children to share a similar active lifestyle, increasing maternal awareness of recommended activity levels and improving access to attractive green spaces and play areas may be effective in increasing activity.
The Physical Activity Health Alliance conducted research into how best to promote physical activity to all age groups (including the early years) and has produced a learning note on Development of key themes for physical activity promotion (external link).
Key learning points include:
- the need for a 'person centred' approach that helps individuals make messages and information personally relevant to their own lives
- the importance of highlighting the personal health and social benefits to them and their children
- the need to keep language simple
- the importance of highlighting accessible, everyday activities that can contribute to healthy levels of activity.
