The value of (pre)school playgrounds for children's physical activity level: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT: The (pre)school environment is an important setting to improve children's health. Especially, the (pre)school playground provides a major opportunity to intervene. This review presents an overview of the existing evidence on the value of both school and preschool playgrounds on children's health in terms of physical activity, cognitive and social outcomes. In addition, we aimed to identify which playground characteristics are the strongest correlates of beneficial effects and for which subgroups of children effects are most distinct. In total, 13 experimental and 17 observational studies have been summarized of which 10 (77%) and 16 (94%) demonstrated moderate to high methodological quality, respectively. Nearly all experimental studies (n = 11) evaluated intervention effects on time spent

SUBMITTER: Broekhuizen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4031969 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature