Physical Activity of Young Children in Hong Kong Preschools

Are preschool children physically active? A bulk of research evidence indicates that most preschool children engage mainly in sedentary behavior and have little physical activity (PA) time. Recent reviews show that physical environment such as outdoor play, equipment, and toys as well as the type of preschool can affect children’s PA. In Hong Kong, most children ages 3 to 6 years attend preschools of half-day or whole-day sessions. The purpose of this paper was to present summarized results showing the amount of daily step counts taken by a sample of 240 preschool children (137 boys, 103 girls) in Hong Kong. The study participants came from five preschools. The data included four consecutive days of two weekdays and two weekend days. Findings showed that boys had significantly higher mean daily step counts (15,221 steps) than girls (12,208 steps) and children were significant more active during weekends compared with weekdays.

近期愈來愈多文獻指出，幼兒整體的體能活動，逐漸下降，不利健康成長。本文以步行計儀器量度香港幼兒的體能活動情況，資料顯示：以一連四天計算，男童和女童的整天活動量分別為15,221步及12,208步，而且周末的活動量明顯較平日為多。