Preschooler inactivity and insufficient motor development have serious long-term consequences. The Chinese Ministry of Education launched a nationwide football-focused pilot project aimed at kindergartens in 2019 and issued the policy “Notice on the Establishment of National Football Kindergartens” in 2020. However, the impact of fundamental movement skills (FMS) interventions on other aspects of child development is unclear.

This study will evaluate the effects of ball skills physical education projects on the development of Chinese preschoolers’ physical, motor, cognitive, and social competencies and examine the influencing factors.

This is a quasi-experimental study evaluating how well the “Hello Sunshine” curriculum project promotes children’s development over 10 weeks. The trial will be conducted from September 2021 to November 2021 in 12 classes from 3 kindergartens with a total of 249 children aged 4 to 6 years in Haikou, China. Pre- and posttest analyses will include tests on participants’ physical fitness, FMS, cognitive self-regulation, and emotional competence. Participants’ background information will be collected through questionnaires answered by parents and teachers. The intervention will focus on game-based basic ball skills.

If this intervention provides evidence that these skills improve children’s multidimensional development, it will support the promotion of similar programs in China. We will also outline the social-ecological factors affecting the intervention’s results, providing further information for improving pedagogical methods related to preschool ball skills.

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect on frequency, variety and amount of vegetables served and staff’s food-related practices in the multicomponent BRA intervention.

Cluster randomised controlled trial, conducted between Spring 2015 and Spring 2016. For allocation of the kindergartens, a stratified block randomisation was used. Data were collected in three ways: (i) a questionnaire for pedagogical leaders assessing the variety and frequency of vegetables served, including staff’s food-related practices assumed to be related to vegetable intake; (ii) a questionnaire for kindergarten assistants assessing staff’s food-related practices; (iii) a 5-d weighted vegetable diary assessing amount of vegetables served in a department.

The target group for this study was public and private kindergartens in the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, Norway.

A total of seventy-three kindergartens participated.

At follow-up I, the amount of vegetables served increased by approximately 20 g per person per day (P = 0·002), and the variety in served vegetables increased by one-and-a-half kind per month (P = 0·014) in the intervention group compared to the control group. No effects on the frequency of vegetables served or on staff’s food-related practices were found.

The BRA intervention was successful in increasing the amount and variety of vegetables served within intervention kindergartens. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms that can affect the staff’s food-related practices.

First, to explore item pools developed to measure the physical home environment of pre-school children and assess the psychometric properties of these item pools; second, to explore associations between this environment and vegetable consumption among Norwegian 3–5-year-olds.

Data were collected in three steps: (i) a parental web-based questionnaire assessing the child’s vegetable intake and factors potentially influencing the child’s vegetable consumption; (ii) direct observation of the children’s fruit, berry and vegetable intakes at two meals in one day in the kindergarten; and (iii) a parental web-based 24 h recall.

The target group for this study was pre-school children born in 2010 and 2011, attending public or private kindergartens in the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, Norway.

A total of 633 children participated.

Principal component analysis on the thirteen-item pool assessing availability/accessibility resulted in two factors labelled ‘availability at home’ and ‘accessibility at home’, while the eight-item pool assessing barriers resulted in two factors labelled ‘serving barriers’ and ‘purchase barriers’. The psychometric properties of these factors were satisfactory. Linear regression of the associations between vegetable intake and the factors showed generally positive associations with ‘availability at home’ and ‘accessibility at home’ and negative associations with ‘serving barriers’.

This age group has so far been understudied and there is a need for comparable studies. Our findings highlight the importance of targeting the physical home environment of pre-school children in future interventions as there are important modifiable factors that both promote and hinder vegetable consumption in this environment.

To describe nutrition environments in formal child care for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Cross-sectional online survey of nutrition-related child-care policy and practice. Written nutrition policies were analysed using the Wellness Child Care Assessment Tool.

Licensed child-care services in the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato regions of New Zealand.

Eight hundred and forty-seven services (private and community day care, kindergartens and playcentres).

Managers/head teachers of 257 child-care services completed the survey. Of services, 82·4 % had a written food, nutrition or wellness policy. Most policies did not refer to the national Food and Nutrition Guidelines and lacked directives for staff regarding recommended behaviours to promote healthy eating. Food was provided daily to children in 56·4 % of child-care services, including 33·5 % that provided lunch and at least two other meals/snacks every day. Teachers talked to children about food, and cooked with children, at least weekly in 60 % of child-care services. Nearly all services had an edible garden (89·5 %). Foods/beverages were sold for fundraising in the past 12 months by 37·2 % of services. The most commonly reported barrier to promoting nutrition was a lack of support from families (20·6 %).

Although the majority of child-care services had a written nutrition policy, these were not comprehensive and contained weak statements that could be difficult to action. Foods served at celebrations and for fundraising were largely high in sugar, salt and/or saturated fat. Most services promoted some healthy eating behaviours but other widespread practices encouraged children to overeat or form unhealthy food preferences.

To assess the effectiveness of an intervention programme to improve kindergarten children's eating and leisure habits in Israel.

A cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Six full-day kindergartens in Israel were randomly divided into three groups. Group A received the full intervention programme, which included lessons on good eating habits and daily physical exercise. Group B received a partial intervention of lessons only. Group C, the reference group, did not receive any intervention.

Children aged 4–6 years (n 204) were recruited for the study.

Objective data for weight and height were collected to calculate BMI Z-scores. Activity, sedentary time, sleeping hours and daily energy intake were assessed via a parental questionnaire. Nutritional knowledge was assessed by a single dietitian using a questionnaire addressed to the children. Assessments were done at baseline and at the end of the intervention.

After adjustment for baseline levels we observed a significant reduction in daily energy intake for the full intervention group A (P = 0·03). A positive intervention effect was demonstrated on nutritional knowledge in the partial intervention group B (P = 0·03), although no significant change was demonstrated for BMI Z-score.

The study supports the incorporation of education on healthy lifestyle habits and physical activity into the curricula of kindergartens.

The study aimed to assess the relationship of various types of kindergarten differing in length of care and food availability with the development of overweight in pre-school children.

A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2002 in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of the school entrance examination. Height and weight of 2140 children (participation 70.2%) were measured and information on type of kindergarten and other potential determinants of overweight was collected by a parental questionnaire. Change in relative body mass index (BMI) position between the ages of 4 and 6 years was assessed using medical records.

The prevalence of overweight or change in relative BMI position did not differ according to the type of kindergarten. For the prevalence of overweight in German children, adjusted odds ratios (OR) comparing institutions that open only in the morning with those opening in the morning and afternoon or for the full day were 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40, 1.83) and 0.63 (95% CI 0.25, 1.58), respectively. Parental BMI and duration of television watching were positively associated, and maternal educational status and duration of breast-feeding were negatively associated, with overweight and/or change in relative BMI position. The prevalence of overweight was substantially higher among non-German than among German children (adjusted OR 2.17 (95% CI 1.53, 3.07)).

These data show no association between different types of kindergarten and the development of overweight in early childhood. Duration of television watching and breast-feeding, as well as the relatively high prevalence of overweight in ethnic minorities, deserve further attention.