Abstract:

In recent years in Poland, especially since 2002 when Poland joined European Union, the popularity of preschool education has been constantly rising. The proof for such a statement are percentages which indicate that almost 98% of children aged 4-6 have been pre-schooled. In small towns, especially in rural areas, dominate pre-school kindergartens run by the local government; usually there is one large kindergarten in the municipality, there are also small kindergartens called "pre-school points", usually created at primary schools. In turn, the offer of kindergartens in the city compared to the countryside is much richer. It is true that public institutions dominate there which are run by the local authorities, however, there are also numerous non-public kindergartens run by individuals and associations. The education program framework clearly states that all behavioral and educational activities carried out by kindergartens are aimed at supporting the comprehensive development of the child and preparing for primary school. In kindergartens there are created conditions for the implementation of various forms of educational activity of the child, including physical, social, cognitive, and emotional activity. Bearing in mind the psycho-physical development of a young person, especially a pre-school child, attention should be paid to shaping and preserving certain habits related to, for example, hygiene, nutrition, health, aesthetics, physical activity, which will be of great importance in adulthood. The physical activity of a child influences the various parameters of his or her health not only today but also in the future. Specialists pay attention to the relationship between physical activity and the development of motion, body posture, nervous system, respiratory system and vegetative one. Lack of physical activity may lead to both cardiovascular diseases and obesity. These are only a few examples for the need of physical activity in person’s life. Bearing in mind the lack of research on this issue, one should assume that there is a reason for doing this type of research. Pilot studies were conducted in Poland in 2017 on the territory of Lubelskie Voivodeship and they are part of a larger research project. The main purpose of the study was to diagnose the level of physical activity of children during the time spent in kindergarten. The level of physical activity of the examined group of children aged 4-6 (120 respondents) was determined by means of special measuring devices so called actigraphs. Children, at the time of the test, were carring for two days actigraphs, which looked like watches and did not make it difficult for them to participate in games and other forms of activities. Thanks to these devices the level of children’s activity while staying in the kindergarten was defines precisely. On the basis of collected data, statistical analysis was performed. In the research, two types of tests were used: U Mann-Whitney and Chi square Pearson in order to determine the relationship between the level of physical activity of children and sex and age and the location of kindergarten-town and village.

Pilot studies have shown that there is a relationship between the physical activity of the child and the kindergarten he or she is attending to and some other factors. The achieved conclusions were made available to kindergartens participating in the research project.

Keywords:

Child, kindergarten, physical activity, pre-school age.