Associations between curriculum-based outdoor education and school-aged children's physical activity throughout the week.

Authors

Nanna Wackström, Elina Engberg, Sari Aaltonen, Jenny Ray, Josefine Kailaheimo-Björkqvist, Nina Simonsen

Published in

Health promotion international. Volume 41. Issue 4. Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

Integrating curriculum-based outdoor education (OE) into pedagogical practices in primary schools holds potential for health promotion as an alternative to sedentary classroom settings, but it remains understudied. We investigated associations between OE and children's school- and leisure-time physical activity (PA) throughout the week and possible differences between boys and girls in the associations. This 1-week cross-sectional study conducted in primary schools in Finland (2021-3) used accelerometer-measured PA data from 200 children aged 8-13 years, teacher-reported logbook data on OE, and questionnaire data on sociodemographics. Fifty-two percent of the children had no OE during the study period, whereas the other half had 25-335 minutes (mean 63 minutes). In linear regression models adjusted for sociodemographics, physical education, and season, low to moderate amounts of OE (25-60 minutes during study period), compared to no OE, were associated with 1.2 minutes/hour more moderate to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) and 1.8 minutes/hour more total PA (TPA) during school time among all children. The highest amounts of OE (120-335 minutes during study period) were associated with 2.7 minutes/hour more light-intensity PA and 2.8 minutes/hour more TPA on weekend days. Gender moderated some associations; the highest amounts of OE were associated with 3.5 (boys) and 4.8 (girls) minutes/hour more MVPA during school time and, among girls, with 4.2 minutes/hour more TPA during school time and 1.5 minutes/hour more MVPA and 2.2 minutes/hour more TPA on weekdays. These findings suggest that integrating OE into the school day may support PA throughout the week, particularly among girls.

PMID:
42456035
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jul 2026.

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