Western researchers create online resource to support physical activity for children with disabilities
Western News
Media Coverage
Western researchers create online resource to support physical activity for children with disabilities
Western News
February 7, 2023
A new online guide to inclusive physical activity opportunities in and around London, Ont. called Everyone Can Play has been created by researchers at Western. It is intended as a comprehensive, dynamic resource for children with disabilities and their families. A recent review led by a team from Western’s Child Health & Physical Activity Laboratory revealed low levels of physical activity among children under the age of six with disabilities.
Connecting local families to physical activity resources for children with disabilities
Western Health Sciences, Stories with Impact
January 25, 2023
The benefits of physical activity for children are well documented, and children with disabilities are no exception to that rule. Studies have consistently shown that regular physical activity can improve a child’s physical health and positively influence social skills and emotional wellbeing.
Pandemic upside? Families rediscovered the outdoors: London researchers
The London Free Press
April 24, 2022
Ontario families have a newfound respect for the outdoors as a consequence of repeated lockdowns and pandemic measures that limited access to competitive sports and other recreational activities, Western University researchers say. “The most important thing we found was that the pandemic made people embrace the outdoors because they were confined in their homes for such a long period of time, that the only thing really to do was get outdoors,” said Monika Szpunar, a Western University doctoral student.
Shift toward more unstructured physical activities could be pandemic legacy, researchers find
CBC News
April 19, 2022
Curious about what the cancelling of swimming lessons, dance classes and team sports did to family activity levels, researchers at Western University's Child Health and Physical Activity Lab set out to find how the pandemic has shifted how we move.
Monika Szpunar is a researcher with Western University's Child Health and Physical Activity Lab. (Supplied by Monika Szpunar)
"As COVID expanded and became a global pandemic in March 2020, we wondered what that means for children's physical activity, because kids use sports, indoor facilities, arenas, and parks to get active, and all of those things closed," said Monika Szpunar, a research with the lab.
As kids’ activities reopen, parents share insights about keeping families active during COVID-19 shutdowns
The Conversation
April 22, 2022
Organized play and sporting opportunities for children have finally started to resume after having just passed the two-year mark of the pandemic. As parents know too well, the pandemic led to extended closures of settings that previously supported children’s play and sport, like parks, community centres and sport facilities. Our team of researchers in the Child Health and Physical Activity Lab at Western University wanted to understand COVID-19’s impact on children’s activity levels. Via social media and sports organizations, we recruited Ontario parents and their children (under 12 years), to hear their perspectives in interviews.
e-Learning course boosts ECEs' confidence to provide healthy activities
Western Health Sciences
April 6, 2022
It is well known that young children need physical activity for healthy development. In childcare, early childhood educators (ECEs) are influential on children’s physical activity levels, playing a prominent role in promoting healthy activity and limiting sedentary behaviours. However, ECEs have reported that they lack the appropriate training to confidently lead healthy activities for children in childcare.
Outdoor play in shorter, more frequent windows can boost physical activity in early learning settings
The Conversation
June 29, 2021
Physical activity is important for early childhood development. There’s a preconceived notion that children are highly active while in childcare when often, they are not. The good news is that when children are outdoors at childcare, they engage in 10 times as much energetic play (higher-intensity physical activity) compared to when they are indoors! With outdoor environments being preferred to indoor settings as we grapple with COVID-19, it is important to encourage outdoor play — now more than ever.
Whether at home, school or in child care, 3- to 5-year-olds experience similar levels of physical activity
Western News
March 12, 2021
Many parents assume children in centre-based child care experience higher levels of daily physical activity, but a first-of-its-kind study out of Western’s Child Health and Physical Activity Lab suggests they’re no more active over all than those who stay at home. The study, conducted by Julie Statler, MSc’18, BSc’16, and lab director and occupational therapy professor Trish Tucker, used Statistics Canada data to examine patterns of physical activity and sedentary time of 3- to 5-year-olds in four settings — school kindergartens, child-care centres, home daycares and care at home by a parent or guardian.
Habitual physical activity levels and sedentary time of children in different childcare arrangements
Sedentary Behaviour Research Network
January 20, 2021
Childcare refers primarily to center-based and home-based facilities that offer group-based care outside of a child’s home. Approximately 80% of Canadian preschoolers (age 3-5 years) attend childcare facilities (1) and they spend many hours (at least 30 hours per week) in these venues (2). Therefore, the childcare environment has been identified as an optimal setting to support the physical activity and sedentary time behaviour patterns of young Canadian children. Little is known about how different childcare types influence the habitual or daily activity levels of young children. Traditionally, parents have believed that children experience high levels of activity throughout the day (3). Are parents correct in this assumption?
Children in childcare are not getting enough moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity
The Conversation
November 19, 2019
Many children are now enrolled in some type of childcare while their parents work, many for multiple hours a day, several days a week. Given the increasingly busy schedules of today’s families, parents often rely on early childhood educators (ECEs) in childcare centres to supply children with their daily physical activity, as well as other opportunities for nurturing their development. But are they prepared for the challenge? The evidence suggests we may be placing an unfair burden on these education specialists.