Canadian researcher Mark Holder and colleagues asked 375 children, ages 8-12, about what they did for fun, paying special attention to the amount of time the kids said they spent in “active” leisure activities—physical activities such as sports and exercise—or “passive” activities, such as sitting at a screen or talking on the phone.

Holder found that the more kids engaged in active leisure, and the more important active leisure was to them, the happier they were and the more positive they felt about themselves.

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The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of two interventions on children’s physical activity during the 20-min school break. Children from three schools participated in this study. In the first intervention school (89 kids) the school’s courts were allocated to different children on alternate days of the week, playground markings were painted in the school’s yard and jump ropes were provided. In the second intervention school (89 kids) the school’s courts were just allocated to different children on alternate days of the week. The third school served as the control group (69 kids). Physical activity was measured with a pedometer during. A significant time by group interaction indicated a change in break-time activity. Four weeks after the intervention, mean steps in the first (1427+/-499) and second (1331+/-651) intervention schools were significantly higher than steps in the control school (1053+/-447).

Implementing simple, low-cost interventions during break periods could help increase children’s activity.

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