Various places to increase children’s daily physical activity
Does a child want to play with a rumble or more quietly? And what kind of physical activity is allowed in day care or at school, and is it safe for children to go for their activities on their own? Researchers know that it is advisable to offer children such physically active daily life that suits best to their personal characteristics.
Most children regard play and physical activity as pleasurable things in which they feel doing well. According to the JOYPAM (PIILO) research project investigating young children’s physical activity, a vast majority, 93 percent, of children find themselves happy when engaged in a physical activity.
“Children are fond of imaginary plays and find it nice when an adult is participating and showing interest in physical activity”, describes Postdoctoral Researcher Donna Niemistö from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä. Read to whole JYUnity article.
Talk with Associate Professor Arja Sääkslahti, University of Jyväskylä (click for video) in Up on our feet. You can watch the video from this link. Some clips about Arja's interview here below:
“Physical activity supports motivation, it supports logical thinking. It also supports emotions, how we learn things by using the whole body, and how we learn through sensory stimulation. And physical activity offers and means this all.”
“In Finland, (at the primary level) our lessons are 45 minutes, which means that every hour has a 15-minute break when children go outdoors … After this kind of refreshment, they go back to the classroom and are ready to concentrate for the next lesson. … Classroom teachers are also encouraged to use ‘brain breaks’ after 20 minutes when they have some (physical) activities that help the children concentrate.”
“Genetically, we are built, created that we need to use our body muscles and have heartbeats, and breathe strongly, and use our senses to learn things and do things. So it’s part of our wellbeing. We need this kind of (physical) stimulation to be happy and to learn things.”
“There could be some engineers and IT officers who blame something else, but sorry, it’s not true.”
(What I’ve learned from all my years of work:) “This might sound quite simple, or maybe even too simple, but it’s ‘Go out to play.’ It’s a strong message and it’s possible for everyone, but it’s so important. It’s supporting the total amount of physical activity on a daily basis, it supports your cognitive aspects, it keeps you well, your social wellbeing, healthy body. So it’s simple, but it’s the main thing, an easy thing, and equal for everyone.”
You are warmly welcome to follow the public defense of PhD thesis on Friday 18th of June in 2021 at 12.15 (UTC +3). The opponent of PhD thesis is Professor Luís Paulo Rodrigues from the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (Portugal) and Custos is Professor Taija Juutinen (University of Jyväskylä). The language of the defense is English. Lectio praecursoria is held in Finnish.
You can join to the event following the link. Later on the record of the public defense is available until 7th of July 2021. Afterwards, you can contact Donna to receive the recording of the event.
Age, participation in organised sports and some temperament traits are significant factors in the development of children’s motor skills
A recent study among 3- to 7–year-old children showed that children’s motor skills benefitted if a child was older and participated in organised sports. Additionally, the study provided information about the importance of temperament traits for motor skills. More specifically, traits such as activity and attention span persistence were found to be positively associated with motor skills. This was a rather novel result, as the association between motor skills and temperament during early childhood is not yet widely understood. Read the whole press release.
Finnish children’s motor skills at the top in Europe
Data gathered in Finland, Belgium and Portugal reveal that Finnish children are ahead of their European peers in motor skills at ages 6 to 10 years. Differences in motor skills increase with age and independently of the remarkable differences in overweight across the countries. The gross motor skills of around 3,300 children were evaluated between 2008 and 2016 by using the internationally well-known KTK test. The test measures body coordination and balance, which are known to be fundamental for any kind of human movement. Read the whole press release.
Preschool yards are important for development of motor skills. However, there is differences in preschool yards in Finland
The study aimed to determine if childcare centre facilities and environmental conditions are associated with children’s MS. The study participants were 1,136 children aged 2 to 7 years attending early childhood education (ECE) at randomly selected Finnish day-care centres (N = 37). Results revealed variation in environmental and social condition between childcare centres: 32 % of centres did not have own gym, and size of the playground area varied substantially (226–11,000 m2), as did access to forests (54 %). Physical education (PE) varied also: 54 % of centres had yearly plan for PE and the amount of organized PE in a week varied from 0.5–7 times/ week. The size of yard associated with manipulative skills and shape of yard with locomotor skills. , T. 2018. Learn more: Preschool facilities and children’s motor skills. Liikunta & Tiede 56 (2–3), 77–83
Find out more about the topic from Aamulehti (In Finnish).
Children living in the countryside outperform children living in the metropolitan area in motor skills in Finland
In a recent study with 3 to 7-year-old children provided an example of how children’s daily living environment and motor skills are closely related in the Finnish context. The main finding revealed that residential density is related to children’s motor skills, engagement in outdoor play and organised sports. It was found that Finnish children living in the countryside spent more time outdoors and had better motor skills than their age peers in the metropolitan area. On the other hand, children living in the metropolitan area participated the most in organised sports. Read the whole press release.
Find out more about the topic from Finland Today, or in Finnish from Helsingin Sanomat, Länsiväylä and Iltalehti.
Girls need more positive experiences of ball skills
Children’s positive perception of moving is an important supporter for natural physical activity and developing motor skills. A study at the University of Jyväskylä suggests that children had high perceptions of motor skills. Some gender differences were identified, however: girls were better in locomotor skills and boys had higher perception and actual skills in ball skills. Read the whole press release.
The Skilled Kids -follow-up study Active family data collection is started during the autumn 2018! We warmly invite you Skilled kids families to join in!
Active Family -study (Liikkuva perhe) is a research project conducted in Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä during years 2018-2020. It is funded by Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.
Active Family -study aims to examine how physical activity parenting predicts the change in children’s PA over the transitional period from kindergarten to primary school, when children’s PA is highly polarized and begins to decline. The study also aims to examine how children’s PA and personal characteristics at kindergarten age predict PAP later at primary school age. The study seeks to combine multidisciplinary and innovative research methods for examining parenting from the viewpoints of both parents and children. Physical activity parenting practices are expected to predict trends in children’s PA, and parent- and child-perceived parenting styles are expected to moderate this relationship. The child’s PA, temperament and perceived motor competence at kindergarten age are expected to predict variation in physical activity parenting practices at primary school. Collaboration with leading researchers in the different fields of child and parenting research will ensure the best available expertise for implementation. Visit Active Family -website.
Children who are seen as demanding receive less physical activity support from their parents
The Skilled Kids study, conducted at the University of Jyväskylä from 2015 to 2017, found that a child’s temperament defines the level of physical activity parenting. Parents rarely participated together in physical activity and less frequently gave support for their child’s physical activity if a child’s temperament was perceived as being, on the whole, demanding. Read the whole press release.
Surprising research result: Children living in the metropolitan area in Finland are more clumsy than children living in less crowded areas
Children who attend childcare centers in metropolitan area have lower results in motor competence measurements than children living elsewhere in less crowded areas. Additionally, metropolitan families spent less time being physically active together than families outside metropolitan area. To find out more about the news, read here (in Finnish).
Children aged 3 to 7-years have surprising differences in their motor competence
Girls should be encouraged to engage more in ball games and boys to versatility in motor competence. Docent of sport pedagogy Arja Sääkslahti was representing the latest Skilled kids -results about Finnish children's motor competence and participation in organized sport participation in Lasten liikuttajat -seminar. The seminar was held in 30. September 2017 and there were closely 230 attendants. To find out more about the news, read here (in Finnish).
