How Physical Activity Training for Preschool Teachers can Affect Young Children

Think back to your preschool days. Playtime was a big part of your day. But how does the way teachers handle this activity impact kids? Let's dive into a study that looked at this very thing. In the land of Norway1, 265 preschoolers, aged 3-5, from 46 different preschools were part of a unique experiment. The goal? To see if giving preschool teachers special training in physical activity could boost kids' self-control, thinking skills, and early learning. The experiment lasted for 7 months. Teachers in some preschools got extra training on how to make physical activity a bigger part of the kids' day. Other preschools didn't get this training and served as a control group. The researchers tracked several things: how well kids could control their actions, how they handled tasks that needed quick thinking, how much they could remember, how many words they knew, and their math skills. They even used special devices to measure how much the kids moved around. Now, let's talk results. After 7 months, the kids whose teachers had the special training showed some interesting changes. They spent less time sitting around and more time being active. But surprisingly, these changes didn't seem to help with thinking skills or early learning.Things got even more interesting when they looked at the data 18 months later. The kids who had the trained teachers actually moved around less. For boys, there was a small boost in their vocabulary after 7 months. But for girls, their vocabulary actually dropped after 18 months. What gives? The study shows that it's tough to make big changes in how kids learn and think just by changing how teachers handle physical activity. Maybe the impact of physical activity on kids' brains is more complex than we thought. So, what does this all mean? Well, it's clear that physical activity is important. But maybe we need to think bigger and deeper about how to use it to help kids learn and grow. Maybe we need to change other things too. More research is needed to figure this out. One thing is for sure:preschool teachers play a big role in shaping young minds. It's not just about what they teach, but how they teach it. And physical activity is a big part of that. But let's not forget, this is just one study. More research is needed to figure out the best ways to use physical activity to help kids learn and grow.