Content area

Abstract

Background: Considering the critical role of physical activity (PA) beginning in early childhood education and the demonstrated validity and reliability of contemporary technological measurement tools, this paper aimed to systematically review and analyze studies comparing PA levels in preschool-aged children during weekdays versus weekend days, using objective technological devices, and highlight what factors correlate with children’s PA. Methods: The search strategy was designed based on the PICOS framework. A systematic review was conducted using two databases (PubMed and Web of Science) to identify studies that included preschool children doing PA during weekdays, measured through technological devices, and compared to PA during weekend days. Study quality was evaluated using the MINORS scale. Results: From 1959 articles, 30 documents met the inclusion criteria, encompassing 32,251 preschool children. Conclusions: The results suggest that preschoolers were generally more active on weekdays than weekends, although it could depend more on contextual or individual factors than on the day of the week. In this sense, parental/maternal behavior (sedentary behavior, shared activities during weekend days, parents’ educational level, and parental/maternal screen time) influences children’s PA level, as well as other factors such as gender, morphology, motor competence level, the type of activity (indoor vs. outdoor), age, meeting PA guidelines, and the community transportation environment. Considering these factors, professionals working in preschools or kindergartens, as well as parents/mothers, should consider these factors to foster children’s PA level from early childhood, which could influence children’s lifespan.

Details

1009240
Title
A Comparison of Preschool-Aged Children’s PA on Schooldays vs. Weekend Days Using Technological Devices: A Systematic Review
Author
Rico-González Markel 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Moreno-Villanueva, Adrián 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Martínez-Bello, Vladimir 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Martín-Moya, Ricardo 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Didactics of Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression, University of the Basque Country, UPV-EHU, 48940 Leioa, Spain; [email protected] 
 Department of Sports Sciences, University Isabel I of Castille, 09003 Burgos, Spain 
 Department of Teaching of Musical, Visual and Corporal Expression, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers, 4, 46022 Valencia, Spain; [email protected] 
 Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Education and Sport Sciences, Campus of Melilla, University of Granada, 52006 Melilla, Spain; [email protected] 
Publication title
Volume
15
Issue
15
First page
8302
Number of pages
27
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
Place of publication
Basel
Country of publication
Switzerland
Publication subject
e-ISSN
20763417
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
Document type
Review
Publication history
 
 
Online publication date
2025-07-25
Milestone dates
2025-06-11 (Received); 2025-07-23 (Accepted)
Publication history
 
 
   First posting date
25 Jul 2025
ProQuest document ID
3239020068
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/comparison-preschool-aged-children-s-pa-on/docview/3239020068/se-2?accountid=208611
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Last updated
2025-08-13
Database
ProQuest One Academic