Adolescents’ physical activity and sedentary levels in natural vs. Traditional playgrounds: A pilot study

Abstract

The aim of this work was to compare students’ physical activity and sedentary levels between two high schools, one with a natural playground and the other with a traditional one, according to the recess periods (mid-morning and lunchtime) and the sex of students. The sample consisted of all the students attending their school playground at the time of the measurement. The System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY) was used to determine students’ activity levels. A total of 36 scans were conducted and three categories of activity emerged: Very active, walker and sedentary. To perform intra- and inter-recess comparisons, Chi-square independence tests were carried out. Results revealed that students were more active and less sedentary in a natural playground than in a traditional one. In addition, the natural playground encouraged the same levels of PA regardless of the recess period. Moreover, boys were more active than girls during both periods in the traditional playground and during lunchtime in the natural playground. In view of the results, further research is needed to understand whether natural playgrounds can contribute to increasing physical activity levels, especially in adolescence, when building active identities becomes more important.