NCLB Compliant Playground Program

Scientific Research Review

Playground markings are currently a popular intervention strategy in the increasing epidemic of childhood obesity.

Playground Markings increase children’s physical activity levels.

Scientifically based research cited in the literature review demonstrates that a research base exists to support the use of playground markings for improving children’s physical activity levels.

Research conclusions from this review include:

• Increase children’s physical activity levels. Use of playground markings is effective in increasing the amount of physical activity.
• Increase children’s energy expenditures. Students utilizing playground markings increased their energy expenditure significantly over the control groups.
• Increase activity levels in primary and junior schools. Use of playgrounds painted with multicolored markings increase physical activity.
• Decrease bullying. Use of playground markings, in conjunction with the Peaceful Playgrounds Program, were found to decrease playground bullying.
• Decrease playground confrontations. Use of playground markings, in conjunction with the Peaceful Playgrounds Program, were found to decrease playground confrontations.
• Decrease playground injuries. Use of playground markings, in conjunction with the Peaceful Playground program, were shown to decrease playground injuries.

"The Peaceful Playgrounds Program significantly reduced injuries while at the same time dramatically reduced the incidences of rule infractions and misbehavior."

Evidence-Based Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity in Florida

Florida’s Martin County Health Department embarked on a three-year effort to use quality improvement processes to address contributing risk factors that impact childhood overweight and obesity. Read the NACCHO Childhood Obesity Intervention Report

Research Results & Recommendations

Results from this study are clearly promising and this novel, inexpensive intervention which used the children to help select game markings, has potential to improve the health of children by increasing their energy expenditure through the promotion of physically active recess games.

Overall, the results suggest that playground painting can be a low-cost method of significantly increasing children’s daily physical activity levels in the short term. If these increases can be sustained on playgrounds designed in this way, it could be a valuable contribution to health-related physical activity recommendations for young people.

United States Department of Education Classic Program Recognition Blueprint and Promising programs have been determined by the United States Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free School and Community Program research; Classic and Emerging programs have been selected by the California Hate Crime Task Force. Four specific criteria were used by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence for selecting and identifying Blueprint or Promising programs for United States Department of Education. Strong Research Design. Evidence of Significant Prevention or Deterrent Effects. Multiple Site Replication. Sustained Effects. Peaceful Playgrounds was a highlighted program in the curriculum category for the Promising Practices in After School Programming List Serve. Peaceful Playgrounds is a physical activity program that has shown to decrease playground injuries, decrease bullying, and increase children's physical activity levels. The National Guideline Clearinghouse recommends our activities as a way to increase time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity during unstructured recess time. Increasing physical activity in schools: kindergarten through eighth grade.. Use pre-developed design templates specifically designed to increase physical activity on the playground. Playground Markings and Activities are available from Peaceful Playgrounds.
Action for Healthy Kids: What's Working - Peaceful Playgrounds - Best in Class. Evaluation by a nationwide initiative that acts to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity by improving nutrition and increasing physical activity in schools, which will improve children's readiness to learn. - 39kb - 2 Pages
Take Time! Physical Activity in Schools Initiative: Physical Activity Programs for Schools. The following programs have been either research tested and proven effective or reviewed and considered to be a promising practice. - 232kb - 6 Pages
Classic and Promising Program Status: Peaceful Playgrounds- Anti violence and anti bullying. Violence or hate behavior prevention programs toolkit - 97kb - 27 Pages
Promising Practice After School Programming: We Count Pedometer Wellness Program. The Whole Story - Promising Practices in After School - 56kb - 3 Pages
Physical Education Best Practices Initiatives - Wisconsin: Recess Ideas that Compliment Physical Education Class. A sample of physical education initiatives in Wisconsin - 58kb - 1 Page

Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) Evaluation Bullying and feelings of safety, seemed to improve over the course of the grant, and students improved as assessed by the Clark Motor Skills Inventory and the We Count pedometer program. Saugus Union School District has H.E.A.R.T. - Final Report January 2006 - 21 Pages - 188kb

Nassau County Health Department Evaluation Peaceful Playgrounds schools reported very positive impact of recess or physical activity on academic achievement, social development and general well-being. Major improvement in overall classroom behavior after recess, physical education, or school physical activity. Nassau County Peaceful Playgrounds Evaluation - Results January 2008 - 24 Pages - 10mb

San Diego County Consortium Physical Education for Progress The San Diego County Consortium (SDCC) was designed to provide standards-based curriculum, equipment and instructional support for physical education programs in elementary schools without physical education specialists. Peaceful Playgrounds PEP Project Evaluation August 2005 - 47kb

California Obesity Prevention Initiative COPI and its partners work to create environments and policies that support physical activity and healthy eating for all Californians. Final Obesity Prevention Initiative (OPI) Evaluation Report April 2005 - 120kb

The New P.E. & Sports Dimension Increasing physical activity in schools through the use of playground games December 2008 - 4 Pages - 38kb

Reducing Conflict at our School - Twin Peaks Elementary Conflict Resolution through Peer Mediation with Peaceful Playgrounds May 2008 - 1 Page - 71kb

Peaceful Playgrounds A Program to Reduce Playground Injuries in School Settings August 2004 - 15 Pages - 92kb

Portable Playground Equipment and Increased Physical Activity

Increasing preschoolers' physical activity intensities: an activity-friendly preschool playground intervention Hannon JC, Brown BB. Prev Med. 2008 Jun;46(6):532-6. Epub 2008 Jan 26.

The purpose of this study was to see if portable play equipment added to a preschool playground resulted in higher intensities of physical activity among 3-5-year-old children.

Conclusion: Results suggest simple interventions, requiring little teacher training, can yield increases in healthy physical activity.

Relationships between the home environment and physical activity and dietary patterns of preschool children: a cross-sectional study N Spurrier, A Magarey, R Golley, F Curnow and M Sawyer. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008, 5:31

Conclusion: Physical attributes of the home environment and parental behaviors are associated with preschool children's physical activity, sedentary behaviors and dietary patterns. Many of these variables are modifiable and could be targeted in childhood obesity prevention and management. Three factors influenced the amount of children's physical activity at home. 1. parental physical activity, 2. size of backyard, and 3. amount of outdoor play equipment.

San Diego County Office of Education
Instructional Television Presentation

Shaping Up: It's Elementary
Solutions for Childhood Obesity.
PEP Grant Components.
SPARK and Peaceful Playgrounds.
View this 30 minute program...

Research on Playground Markings and Increased Physical Activity

Research shows physical activity is linked to increased learning Deb Loy, MSBA Journal. 2008 July/August.

Conclusion: Physical activity has always been a part of children’s educational experience. While many factors have contributed to the decline in students’ activity levels, there are multiple reasons and resources for school leaders to consider in reclaiming physical activity as an essential component to their growth, development and education.

The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess Stratton G, Mullan E., Prev Med. 2005 Nov-Dec;41(5-6):828-33. Epub 2005 Aug 31.

Conclusion: 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.

Promoting children's physical activity in primary school: an intervention study using playground markings Stratton G. , Ergonomics. 2000 Oct;43(10):1538-46

Conclusion: These results suggest that while playground markings had a significant and positive influence on children's physical activity, factors other than playground markings may also influence children's physically active play.

Long-term effects of a playground markings and physical structures on children's recess physical activity levels Ridgers ND, Stratton G, Fairclough SJ, Twisk JW. Prev Med. 2007 May;44(5):393-7. Epub 2007 Feb 1.

Conclusion: The results suggest that a playground redesign, which utilizes multicolor playground markings and physical structures, is a suitable stimulus for increasing children's school recess physical activity levels.

Children's physical activity levels during school recess: a quasi-experimental intervention study Ridgers ND, Stratton G, Fairclough SJ, Twisk JW. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2007 May 21;4:19.

Conclusion: The playground redesign intervention (playground markings and physical structures intervention) resulted in small but non-significant increases in children's recess physical activity when school and pupil level variables were added to the analyses. Changing the playground environment produced a stronger intervention effect for younger children, and longer daily recess duration enabled children to engage in more MVPA following the intervention.

This study concludes that the process of increasing recess physical activity is complex when school and pupil-level covariates are considered, though they should be taken into account when investigating the effects of playground intervention studies on children's physical activity during recess.

Download a Copy of our Current Research Projects Current Playground Research Projects 2006 - 1 Page - 16kb