Increasing physical activity in preschool: a pilot study to evaluate animal trackers.

Objective: This report describes a pilot study to evaluate Animal Trackers (AT), a preschool program designed to (1) increase structured physical activity (PA) during the preschool day; (2) increase practice of gross motor skills; (3) provide teachers with an easy-to-use PA program regardless of teacher experience; and (4) implement a teacher walking intervention.

Design: Pilot observational study in volunteer preschools.

Setting: Nine preschools in New Mexico.

Participants: Two-hundred seventy 3- to 5-year-old children and 32 teachers.

Intervention: Daily 10-minute classroom activities for children.

Main Outcome Measure: Implementation and duration of AT activities, teacher preparation time, and added weekly time spent in structured PA.

Analysis: Process evaluation to track program implementation, and pre-post measures to assess outcomes.

Results: AT activities were implemented 4.1 times per week (11.4 minutes/activity), with 7 minutes teacher preparation time. Overall, AT added 47 minutes of structured PA per week for children.

Conclusions And Implications: The AT program increased structured PA time in preschools. Teachers felt that AT was developmentally appropriate; that children enjoyed the activities; and that the children's motor skills improved. Results of the pilot study are encouraging, since research suggests that even small increases in PA could help prevent obesity.