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Play Active Program

Physical activity is critical during the early years of life for a child’s health and development.

Play Active Program – physical activity policy and training for Early Childhood Education and Care

Play Active is a national, low-cost, evidence-based program to boost energetic play in early childhood education and care. It offers free professional development for educators.

PLAYCE

With rising levels of physical and mental health issues, ensuring children establish good physical activity behaviours early in life is more important than ever.

PLAYCE Cohort Study: Moving well for optimal child health and development

The PLAYCE Cohort was established to investigate how movement behaviours change over early to late childhood, across key behaviour settings and relationships with health and development

Child Physical Activity, Health and Development

Our Child Physical Activity, Health and Development team focuses on improving children’s physical activity levels, health and development. We work to uncover the best environments, policies and programs to facilitate physically active lifestyles for lifelong health and wellbeing.

Investigating the walkability of primary, secondary and K-12 schools across metropolitan Perth, Western Australia

Having a walkable built environment is important to encourage active school transport. The aim of this study was to measure the walkability of all Perth, Western Australian schools and investigate whether differences in walkability exist by school type, socioeconomic status and/or subregion. 

Sexualized Images on Social Media and Adolescent Girls’ Mental Health: Qualitative Insights from Parents, School Support Service Staff and Youth Mental Health Service Providers

This research explored adults' perceptions of how sexualized images typically found on social media might influence adolescent girls' mental health, what support girls might need should they experience mental health difficulties, and how such difficulties could be prevented or reduced.

Play Active physical activity policy intervention and implementation support in early childhood education and care: results from a pragmatic cluster randomised trial

Policy interventions to increase physical activity in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are effective in increasing physical activity among young children. However, a large proportion of ECEC services do not have nor implement a physical activity policy.

Awake and Alert: Examining the Portrayal of Energy Drinks on TikTok

Energy drinks (EDs) are not recommended for minors' consumption due to a myriad of health risks, but marketing initiatives persist. This study explored the promotion of EDs on TikTok, a platform frequented by children and adolescents.

Associations between natural blue and green space and preschool children's movement behaviours

Natural outdoor environments provide important settings for children to engage in physical activity. It is unclear if these relationships also exist in preschool aged children. We examined associations between amount and type of neighbourhood vegetation and blue space, proximity to the beach and preschooler's device-measured movement behaviours.