Associations between early childhood experiences in outdoor play, risky play and screen time, and children's developmental health outcomes in kindergarten in British Columbia.

Authors

Rachel Ramsden, Randip Gill, Mariana Brussoni

Published in

Early human development. Volume 222. Pages 106621. Jul 10, 2026. Epub Jul 10, 2026.

Abstract

Early exposures are increasingly recognized as influential in shaping children's long-term development. This study examines how children's early screen time, outdoor play, and risky play experiences relate to developmental vulnerability in kindergarten.
This longitudinal study linked data from children (n = 4968; 51.1% male, 48.9% female) entering kindergarten in British Columbia in 2023 and 2024. Data from the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (CHEQ) were linked with the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The CHEQ captured children's exposure to screen time, outdoor play and risky play in the six months prior to kindergarten entry as reported by caregivers, while the EDI assessed children's developmental health across five domains (physical, social, emotional, language and cognition, and communication skills) during kindergarten, as reported by teachers. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between exposure variables (outdoor play, risky play and screen time) and children's developmental vulnerability.
In total, 32.9% (n = 1635) of children were vulnerable on one or more domains of the EDI. Increased opportunities for risky play were associated with reduced vulnerability (aOR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87-0.98), while more screen time in the early years was associated with increased vulnerability (aOR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.26-1.50). Outdoor play was not associated with overall developmental vulnerability; however, it was associated with reduced vulnerability in the physical health and well-being, and communication skills and general knowledge domains.
Collectively, these longitudinal results highlight the need to limit screen time and provide thrilling outdoor risky play opportunities in the early years to help reduce developmental vulnerability in kindergarten.

PMID:
42485671
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 23 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.