Key Takeaways

• Fewer than 1 in 4 preschoolers met daily movement goals in a UK study

• Kids moved more at daycare, but not enough overall

• Experts suggest that early childhood activity shapes long-term health

TUESDAY, Nov. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Most kiddos ages 2 to 4 aren’t moving nearly enough each day, even when they attend preschool, a new UK study finds.

Researchers tracked the activity levels of 419 preschoolers in England and Scotland using special activity belts called accelerometers. These devices recorded how much children moved during school days and days spent at home.

Fewer than 1 in 4 children, about 23%, reached the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 180 minutes of daily physical activity. Even fewer, only 2.4%, met the goal of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day.

Children were more active on days they attended daycare and preschool settings, moving about 15 minutes more per day compared to days spent outside of care.

But most children were still not active enough overall, either at school or at home.

Boys were more likely to meet activity targets than girls, with 8% more boys hitting the guidelines. Older preschoolers also tended to be more active than younger ones.

Outside of daycare or preschool settings, children from less deprived backgrounds were more active than children from more deprived families.

But when kids were in early care and school settings, those differences mostly disappeared, showing these settings can help reduce gaps in physical activity.

“These findings highlight a critical gap in physical activity among preschoolers,” Kim Hannam, a research fellow at the University of Bristol in England and senior author of the study, said in a news release.

“While early years settings provide a more active environment, most children are still not achieving the movement levels needed for healthy growth and development,” she added.

“Our study highlights the need for coordinated strategies between policymakers, educators and families to support early childhood physical activity.”

University of Bristol professor Ruth Kipping, warned that low activity in early childhood may affect long-term health.

“Low levels of physical activity in early childhood can impact on children’s healthy development and increase the risk of a range of chronic conditions in later life,” she said.

“Early years settings play an important role in promoting physical activity and reducing inequalities, especially as government-funded childcare expands. However, the low proportion of children meeting activity guidelines highlights the need for continued investment and research to support healthy development in the early years,” she added.

The study was led by the University of Bristol, working with researchers from the University of Birmingham, University of Glasgow and Cardiff University, and was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

It was published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health on Nov. 24.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on child activity.

SOURCE: University of Bristol, news release, Nov. 21, 2025

What This Means For You

If you have a young child, finding fun ways to keep them moving, even in short bursts, can help support their health in the long run.

Picture an exercise bike in your head for me real quick… got an image in your head? Good. Now chuck that image away and instead picture an enormous, 85 kilogram disc of polished marble, with horns, and miraculously a saddle and pedals. Now we’ve reached the very design-forward Ciclotte Exercise Bike, which by some miracle, is discounted down from a heady £14,000 to… uh, a still-unaffordable £10,500.

I’ll be honest with you, despite a saving of £3.5k this isn’t a deal that’s going to sneak into our Black Friday Bike Deals hub, or even our list of the best exercise bikes, but it has got me thinking if you did have 10 grand to drop this Black Friday, where you should splash your cash and still get an aesthetic indoor training setup that doesn’t fall short when actually training.

On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, boys and girls trickle into a bare-bones gym that sits between Old 41 and Route 41 in Bonita Springs.They’re dressed in exercise clothes, and are ready to get started on their warmups.

34 kids are enrolled in the program, known as Wilson’s Fit Futures. It’sfitness classes for kids, ages 11 through 17. They’re all fully funded through the end of 2026, thanks to fundraising and donations.

Jacob Guzman of Naples is 16 years old and homeschooled. He says his favorite part of the classes is leg day, which helps his basketball game.

“Because I’m a basketballplayer, sothat would help a lotforthe jumping, the vertical jumps, and it has improved over since I’ve been here,” said Guzman.

Jacob’s mother, Angielly Betancourt Guzman, says her whole family is learning more about nutrition because of the education Jacob brings home from class.

“He’s like, my coach told me I should be eating such and such,and the protein. So we are all learning in our house,”she said.

The program is the brainchild of Donnie Keller, owner of Ionic Fitness, where the classes take place.He made the program free to make it accessible to all families.

“I wanted to give back to people who didn’t have the money for $200 a month for the kids. I started lifting weights at 12 years old, and obviously it changed my life. I’m a gym owner. The goal was to not create other gym owners, but create kids that learn to work out the right way, and hopefully learn to love it and continue to do it forever,” said Keller.

The program teaches much more than working out, though.

Keller remembers meeting several of the students for the first time.

“They all shook my handand they gave me a very weak handshake, didn’t look me in the eyes. I was like, when you shake somebody’s hand for the first time, look them in the eyes. Shake my hand, and don’t squeeze it like you’retrying to break my hand, but give me a firm handshake. Like you’reconfident with who you are,” he said.

Betancourt Guzman appreciates the influence of Keller and the other coaches on her son.
“It’s like he has found a bunch of uncles and family, and he enjoys the fact that he’s learning about weight training, nutrition, plus socializing as well.This program has kind of shaped him—it’s been shaping him—into more of, I will say, a dedicated person. He watches more how he’s replying, or how he’s talking, because he’sexcited about coming to the program.”

Keller named the program for Doug Wilson, a personal training client of his who died in his 60s after a lifetime of poor health habits. He had told Keller he wished he’d learned to take better care of himself earlier. It inspired Keller to offer Wilson’s Fit Futures to the young people of Southwest Florida.

Keller said:“While they’re exercising, they’re going to get stronger, faster, healthier. That’sgoing to happen. But I want them to enjoy it, so they continue to do it forever.”

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