Study: Preschoolers more likely to sit around than run
By KJ Dell’Antonia, New York Times
Parents feel as if their young children are constantly in motion. But research suggests that children in preschool have few opportunities for active play and are often sedentary.
To learn more about how preschoolers spend their day, University of Washington researchers monitored the activities of 98 children attending 10 preschools in Seattle.
The scientists spent an average of seven hours a day for at least four days at each school. They tracked the amount of time children were given for active play, and students were equipped with accelerometers — wearable devices that measure movement — as a way to gauge the children’s level of physical activity during play time.