Mariana Moreira

The Early Childhood Care and Education Center (ECEC) physical environment plays a significant role in shaping children’s behavior and learning outcomes and influencing educators’ management of children’s exploration and action, which is pivotal for their overall development and well-being. This study compared the researchers’ and educators’ physical environment quantitative assessments of 12 Portuguese ECECs. Wilcoxon tests were used to investigate possible differences between the researchers’ and educators’ assessments. The ratings differ significantly regarding the institution’s image and scale, safety, indoor organization, building location, and site characteristics, with educators reporting consistently higher levels of quality than the researchers. This study’s outcomes highlight the importance of adopting an interdependent perspective between the researchers’ and the educators’ assessments regarding the ECEC physical environment quality. Such complementarity facilitates the accurate identification of key physical features of ECEC that need to be readdressed to promote children’s high-quality education and positive development, learning, and overall well-being.

Kindergarten’s physical and social environment influences preschoolers’ physical activity (PA) and impacts their development. This study aimed first to describe the quality of the opportunities provided by the physical attributes and social guidelines to promote PA and, second, to investigate the relationship between design attributes and daily practices to support PA in sixteen Portuguese kindergartens (15 public). The Children’s Physical Environment Rating Scale was used to rate the quality of the design attributes. Sixteen directors and teachers filled out surveys to quantify the equipment available and assess the quality of the written policies and daily practices to promote PA. Correlations between design attributes and daily practices to support PA were analyzed. The results emphasize the need for improvements in indoor settings that facilitate a wide range of gross motor activities for children. Similarly, outdoor environments should be designed to enable play opportunities regardless of weather conditions, encouraging children to engage in diverse and challenging physical activities. Providing more times per year for teachers’ PA training is also necessary. The design attributes and daily practices to support children’s PA were related. In kindergartens with a room only for PA, children spent less time sitting and more time in teacher-led PA. In kindergartens with large and challenging outdoor areas, children engaged in more intense PA. However, having a roofed protection area outdoors was not sufficient to decrease indoor sitting time. These findings highlight the need for ongoing review and assessment of the physical and social environment in kindergartens to ensure preschoolers have the best opportunities for PA.

This study examined the relationship between the quality of the kindergarten physical and social environment to promote physical activity (PA) and preschoolers’ motor and social-emotional competence. Two Portuguese kindergartens (Gondomar city) were selected from a pool of seventeen with an assessment of kindergarten PA best practices (one with high PA practices, the other with low). Thirty-six children (M = 4.42; SD = 1.00 years) without neuromotor disorders participated in this study. Motor and social-emotional competence were assessed with standardized motor skills tasks and parent report of child behaviors. Children from the kindergarten with higher compliance with PA best practices showed significantly better motor competence. No statistically significant differences were found for social-emotional competence scores. These findings emphasize the critical importance of kindergarten in promoting preschoolers’ motor competence by assuring a physical and social environment that enhances their PA practice. This is a particularly relevant concern for directors and teachers during the post-pandemic period, given the developmental delays and decreases in physical activity preschool children experienced across the pandemic period.

The ability to initiate and engage in relationships is a critical landmark and predictor of children’s development and well-being. In kindergarten, children exhibit greater social participation outdoors rather than indoors. Indeed, the physical environment influences preschoolers’ social proximity. In this study, we examine the relationship between the quality of kindergartens’ outdoor physical environment and preschoolers’ social functioning. Two kindergartens in Gondomar, Portugal, were selected to participate according to different levels of their physical environment outdoors (poor and fair quality) and measured by a specific physical environment rating scale. Twenty-six children (aged 3–6, 10 boys) participated in this study. Children’s social proximity at the playground was measured through Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). Mann–Whitney statistical tests were used to compare social proximity between groups. Our results showed that in the higher quality outdoor area, children spent less time alone and more time in social proximity with their peers in smaller groups (one or two children). More time was also spent in social proximity with different genders. Our study emphasizes the critical importance of reviewing kindergartens’ outdoor physical environments to support preschoolers’ social needs in a more challenging and diverse setting.

Problem Statement:The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in the life routines of preschool children, both during lockdown and post-lockdown periods. Approach:An online survey completed by parents, in-loco assessment scales filled in by a researcherand semi-structured interviews with preschool teacherswere used to investigate the effects of the adjustments, which occurred in preschool children’s lives, in the lockdown and post lockdown periods.Purpose:To characterize the levels of physical activity that Portuguese children had during the lockdown period and to understand what changed in their school routines in the post-lockdown period, regarding the organization of school spaces and routines.Results:Parents reported that children aged 3 to 5spent most of their time during lockdownundertaking sedentary activities (72% of their daily activities). In the post-lockdown period,results indicate that in June there was an increase in the number of preschools with a poor quality of environment compared to the pre-pandemic period (October/November).Taking into account the measures implemented in preschools to prevent the COVID-19 transmission,teachers were of the opinion that limiting the number of children sharing material was the worst measure imposed, since it hampered children’s socialization. Conversely, increasing the use of the outdoor space was deemed positive because it improved children’s happiness and action possibilities outside.Conclusions: TheCOVID-19pandemic has had a clear impact on Portuguese children’s overall levels of physical activity during lockdown. In some schools, the implementation of health guidelines has also led to further negative effects on children’s play opportunities. However, many schools seem to be successful in finding strategies to ensure a healthy balance between promoting children’s physical activity and ensuring risk control.