PLAYCE 2 School

Establishing good movement behaviours early in life sets children up for an active, happy and healthy life. Physical activity is essential for children’s health and development. Daily physical activity helps young children maintain a healthy weight, have good mental health, build strong muscles and bones, as well as support their motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional development.

The Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines considers sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity as three co-dependent behaviours. The guidelines provide advice on the amount of physical activity, sedentary (including screen) time and sleep children should have each day.

The objective of the PLAYCE 2 School study is to investigate young children’s movement behaviours and their impact on future health and development outcomes in order to inform national Movement Guidelines and future intervention strategies.

Originally, our team comprehensively measured movement behaviours, weight status and development in a representative sample of over 2000 children aged 2-5 years as part of the Healthway funded PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity (PLAYCE) study in 2018.

We followed up this cohort in their first year of full-time school in 2018-2021. In 2021-2023 we are following children who are aged 8-10 years.

The PLAYCE 2 School study is part of an international project, the Built Environments And Child Health in WalEs and AuStralia (BEACHES).