Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Nov 2005
The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess.
British children do not meet daily physical activity recommendations, and as yet no sustainable intervention has been reported to address their sedentary lifestyle. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: First, to examine whether painting playgrounds with multicolored markings would increase the percent of recess time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) in girls and boys and second to quantify the contribution recess makes to national recommendations for young people's physical activity. ⋯ Multicolor playground markings can be a low-cost method of increasing children's daily physical activity levels in the short term. If these increases were sustained, then school playgrounds with multicolor markings would make a valuable contribution to physical activity recommendations for young people.