Between the ages of one and three, children experience rapid and significant development across physical, cognitive, social, and emotional areas (Jeong et al., 2021), which can be promoted through the achievement targets for daily physical activity (PA) (Feng et al., 2021). Children aged 1–2 years old should get 180 min of total physical activity (TPA) every day, including light (LPA), moderate, and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), with zero exposure to screens, along with 9–11 h of sleep. Children should be engaging in a minimum of 60 min of MVPA daily by the time they reach 5 years of age (Ministry of Health, 2022; World Health Organization [WHO], 2019). Research across various countries reveals a consistent pattern of toddlers struggling to meet comprehensive movement guidelines, despite high adherence in specific areas (Santos et al., 2017; Meredith-Jones et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2017; Quah et al., 2024). For instance, Canadian studies showed that while most 2-year-olds met sleep and PA recommendations, the majority failed to meet screen time guidelines (Lee et al., 2017; Meredith-Jones et al., 2019). Similarly, in Australia, fewer than 9% of toddlers met all guidelines, with particularly low adherence (11.4%) to sedentary behavior (SB) recommendations (Santos et al., 2017). Conversely, recent data from Singapore indicated high sleep guideline adherence (82%), but significantly lower adherence to both screen time (38.8%) and PA (50.1%) recommendations (Quah et al., 2024). Furthermore, research across various countries shows adherence to some individual movement guidelines at certain ages throughout early childhood was associated with improved mental health and wellbeing at 5 years of age (Taylor et al., 2021). For instance, Australian studies showed that meeting the recreational screen time plus physical activity guidelines has the strongest positive association with children health-related quality of life indicators and supporting preschool children to meet all guidelines or more guidelines, particularly the sleep and screen time guidelines, may be beneficial for their social-cognitive development, respectively (Cliff et al., 2017; Xiong et al., 2022). Collectively, these findings underscore the importance of studying the interplay between PA, SB, and sleep on child health outcomes (Kuzik et al., 2017).

Different correlates of PA abound in early childhood and have been characterized in the literature through ecological models of health behaviors (Sallis and Owen, 2008). However, the research on this topic is concentrated in older toddlers (over 2 years of age) (Wijtzes et al., 2013; Johansson et al., 2015), with limited data in children aged 1–2 years (Hager et al., 2016; Carson and Kuzik, 2017; Prioreschi et al., 2017; Bruijns et al., 2020) and even less in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. At the individual level, evidence from diverse settings consistently rules out any significant association between body mass index (BMI) and PA intensity or sedentary behavior (Johansson et al., 2015; Prioreschi et al., 2017; Kelly et al., 2022). Conversely, older age is strongly associated with increased PA and reduced sedentary time (Wijtzes et al., 2013; Hager et al., 2016; Prioreschi et al., 2017). Regarding the impact of gender, there are inconsistent findings: most studies have not found gender differences in MVPA (Hnatiuk et al., 2012; Kwon et al., 2019), but some have observed higher total TPA in boys (Prioreschi et al., 2017; Kwon et al., 2019) or more SB and lower MVPA in girls (Carson and Kuzik, 2017).

At the social level, parental practices—including role modeling, support, monitoring, and active play—positively correlate with young children’s PA (Kwon et al., 2019; Arts et al., 2023). Conversely, excessive screen time is a widespread concern: studies report high media exposure across diverse contexts, including in Germany (Paulus et al., 2024), the USA (Kwon et al., 2019), and Turkey (Konca, 2022). Screen use increases significantly with age (Carson and Kuzik, 2017; Paulus et al., 2024) and is linked to diminished cognitive stimulation at home (Duch et al., 2013). Compliance with screen-time guidelines is low; for example, less than 26% of Canadian toddlers under age 2 met recommendations (Luukkainen et al., 2024). In addition, Janssen et al. (2020) found in their systematic review that increased screen time is associated with poorer sleep outcomes, including shorter total sleep duration, in infants and toddlers (Janssen et al., 2020). Conversely, higher levels of total PA and MVPA were associated with longer sleep duration, improved sleep quality, and greater sleep stability in toddlers. These trends underscore the need for parental awareness and ECEC-based strategies to reduce screen exposure in early childhood (Daly-Smith et al., 2020). Toddler PA can be effectively promoted in ECEC institutions (Coyle-Asbil et al., 2024). Furthermore, ECEC institutions are considered ideal contexts for establishing healthy lifestyles, with beneficial impacts in the present (Toussaint et al., 2019; Carson et al., 2023) as well as throughout childhood and in later life (Luukkainen et al., 2024). Considering toddlers’ unique needs, specialized training and sensitivity are essential for implementing appropriate curricular practices (Gilken et al., 2023) optimizing their impact on movement behaviors (Coyle-Asbil et al., 2024). However, significant gaps persist in understanding the PA correlates in children aged 1–2 years old specifically in ECEC settings. Therefore, this study aimed to: (a) assess PA and SB in toddlers during the school day at ECEC institutions in three Spanish cities; (b) establish the rate of adherence to specific recommendations for TPA, MVPA, sleep, and screen time; and (c) characterize the relationship between individual and socioenvironmental correlates and toddlers’ TPA, LPA, MVPA, and SB during the school day.

Table 1 presents descriptive information on toddlers’ and parental characteristics. The study group consisted of children with a mean age of 21.2 months (SD 2.6), and 49% of the sample was female. Notably, the combined prevalence of overweight (6.2%) and obesity (11%) reached 17% of the sample, approaching one-fifth of the cohort. Chi-squared analyses did not reveal any statistically significant associations between personal and social variables and gender.

Table 2 shows that on average, participants were sedentary for 292 min (SD 27) per day. TPA averaged 130 (SD 29 min), consisting of 103 min (SD 23) of LPA and 27 min (SD 7.6) MVPA. TPA and SB represented 31% and 69% of the total time young children spent in ECEC institutions, respectively (naptime included – 90 min daily). As shown in Table 1, results for the mean duration of different levels of PA were similar in girls and boys: (a) SB: 294 min (SD 26) vs. 290 min (SD 28); (b) LPA: 101 min (SD 20) vs. 105 min (SD 25); (c) MVPA: 26 min (SD 12) vs 27 min (SD 13); and (d) TPA: 128 min (SD 27) vs. 131 min (SD 32), respectively.

As shown in Table 3, 90% of the participants met the health recommendations for quarter-hourly TPA per hour, and most (86%) also met the 50% TPA adherence threshold (≥90 min during total school hours). Gender-based analysis revealed nearly identical adherence patterns. A substantial majority (64%) exceeded recommended screen time limits (>1 h/day). Girls showed higher non-adherence rates (69%) compared to boys (59%). In total, a quarter of participants (26%) had more than one hour of screen time per day. Girls presented a 2.1-fold greater likelihood of excessive screen use compared to boys (χ² 10.639; df = 1; p = 0.002). Regarding sleep, most participants (81%) met sleep duration recommendations.

As shown in Table 4, after adjusting for gender, age, and BMI, the mixed-model regressions revealed statistically significant associations (p < 0.001) between age and all objectively measured movement variables: TPA, LPA, MVPA, and SB. Furthermore, there was a significant association between MVPA and visiting park (p = 0.05) and a trend association between MVPA and participation in extracurricular activities (p = 0.085). No other associations with objectively measured PA levels and SB were observed for gender, BMI, parental education, existence of siblings, or adherence to screen time recommendations.

National and international health guidelines emphasize that an active lifestyle in early childhood offers both immediate benefits and lays the foundation for lifelong healthy habits (Institute of Medicine, 2011; World Health Organization [WHO], 2019), and to support this, they establish specific daily recommendations for PA. Quantifying this activity and identifying its key correlates provides valuable guidance for families, educators, and public administrators, enabling the development of targeted strategies to promote active lifestyles among young children. Given the particular importance of this life stage, numerous studies use accelerometry as an objective measure to assess compliance with these guidelines (Wijtzes et al., 2013; Johansson et al., 2015; Prioreschi et al., 2017; Alhassan et al., 2022; Vega-Perona et al., 2022a).

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first in the post-pandemic era to objectively assess PA levels and adherence to PA guidelines during school hours in young children (1–2 years old). This study evaluated adherence to PA guidelines during the school hours based on the principle that children spend approximately half of their waking time in ECEC settings. Furthermore, it uniquely evaluates the individual, social, and parental correlates of their PA and SB during school hours in ECEC institutions. Given the inherent limitations of accelerometry—as well as the need to situate the interpretation of our PA findings within the broader context of developmental heterogeneity—we maintain that the data from our week-long, cross-sectional monitoring during the school day retain their value.

The key results reveal that during ECEC hours, toddlers accumulated 130 min (SD 29) TPA, 103 min (SD 23) LPA, 27 min (SD 12) MVPA, and 292 min (SD 27) SB, achieving 72% of daily TPA recommendations (World Health Organization [WHO], 2019), despite being sedentary 69% of the time. In other words, ECEC settings account for 72% of children’s adherence to daily PA recommendations. Considering children spend only about half of their waking time there, this demonstrates that ECEC institutions are highly efficient in promoting physical activity, contributing disproportionately to the daily goal. Notably, 90% exceeded the Institute of Medicine’s minimum TPA threshold (Institute of Medicine, 2011). This aligns with studies showing ECEC effectively supports PA guidelines: Hnatiuk et al. (2012) reported toddlers meeting Australian standards; Kwon et al. (2019) documented high PA levels; Vega-Perona et al. (2022a), Díaz-Quesada et al. (2021) confirmed efficacy in Spanish ECEC institutions. Consistent with our high SB, Alhassan et al. (2022) noted 73% of time spent in SB in childcare; Johansson et al. (2015), 55% SB in Swedish 2-year-olds; and Wijtzes et al. (2013), 85.6% SB in Dutch toddlers. These results suggest that despite young children (1–2 years old) spending more time doing sedentary activities in the ECEC setting, this context still enables the achievement of PA recommendations. Given that the total time spent at school is 7 h (from arrival to departure), this equates to a recommendation of over 105 min of physical activity per school day. In our study, 90% of children exceeded this target, achieving an average of 130 min of TPA.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization [WHO] (2019) recommends that toddlers get 180 min of TPA daily. Since the present study focused solely on the school day and considered that children spend roughly half of their waking hours in ECEC settings, a target of 90 min of TPA (50% of the daily recommendation) was established for the 7-h school period. The study’s results indicate that 90% of children met this goal, achieving an average of 130 min of TPA. Therefore, the responsibility for the remaining 28% of TPA falls to parents and other caregivers outside of school hours. These results align with broader evidence linking early childhood PA patterns to holistic wellbeing, demonstrating that ECECs enable children to achieve a substantial portion of their daily recommended activity (Taylor et al., 2021). Furthermore, systematic reviews indicate that meeting PA guidelines in early childhood is broadly linked to favorable outcomes, including enhanced cognitive development, emotional regulation, motor competence, and positive social behaviors (Rico-González et al., 2025a). Therefore, the ECEC environment’s role in promoting TPA, as shown in the present study, likely contributes to these foundational aspects of early wellbeing by providing movement opportunities during school hours.

In our study, boys and girls exhibited similar levels of TPA, LPA, MVPA, and SB during ECEC hours. In contrast to our ECEC-based findings showing no gender differences, multiple studies analyzing all waking hours report associations: Carson and Kuzik (2017) found higher sedentary time and lower MVPA in Canadian girls, Prioreschi et al. (2017) observed gender-based PA intensity differences in South Africa. In the USA, Hager et al. (2016) identified gender as a correlate of MVPA, while Kwon et al. (2019) observed comparable MVPA levels between boys and girls but noted boys got 15 more min of daily TPA. Critically, these studies included substantial home-based time (e.g., 63% non-ECEC in Kwon study; 32% parent care in Carson’s study), underlining that context matters: ECEC settings have distinct PA correlates (Tonge et al., 2020), and home environments may involve differential parental practices by gender (Prioreschi et al., 2017). This contextual divergence could mask gender associations (Vega-Perona et al., 2022a), especially as ECEC hours significantly boost weekday PA (Rico-González et al., 2025b). Consequently, as indicated by the findings of this study, within a more structured and adult-guided context such as ECEC, the notion of gender as a social construct that exerts a detrimental influence on girls’ opportunities for movement could be challenged, at least at very young ages (Martínez-Bello et al., 2024). Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that the ECEC environment can potentially provide girls with avenues for PA that will persist throughout their subsequent educational years. By focusing on individual needs rather than gender, the ECEC environment supports each child’s unique development path. Future research should therefore longitudinally examine both ECEC and home settings to clarify how gender roles in PA evolve as girls grow older, particularly during key developmental transitions. Understanding these temporal dynamics is essential for designing age- and gender-specific strategies that promote sustained PA engagement from toddlerhood into early childhood.

Regarding other personal factors, young children’s age was the only correlate associated with LPA, MVPA, and TPA, and inversely associated with SB. In particular, older children exhibited approximately 16 min more LPA than younger ones. Evidence consistently links older age in early childhood with increased PA across various intensities. Multiple studies report higher TPA (Prioreschi et al., 2017) and substantially greater MVPA – nearly double that in older toddlers (Hager et al., 2016) – alongside reduced SB and elevated MVPA in older children (Wijtzes et al., 2013). Furthermore, Vega-Perona et al. (2022a) found a positive association between age and LPA in Spanish toddlers aged 2–3 years, reinforcing the overall trend of heightened activity levels with advancing age.

In line with the results of the present study, several others consistently demonstrate no significant association between BMI and PA patterns in young children. Vega-Perona et al. (2022a) observed no relationship between BMI and PA intensities or SB within Spanish ECEC settings. This pattern extends internationally: Johansson et al. (2015) detected no BMI-PA association in Swedish 2-year-olds across full daytime periods, while Kelly et al. (2022), Wijtzes et al. (2013) did not find meaningful interaction between overweight status and SB, LPA, or MVPA in US and Dutch samples, respectively. Collectively, these findings indicate that personal characteristics have minimal influence on PA levels and patterns among toddlers (1–2 years old) during their time in ECEC settings. Because 12–24-month toddlers’ interest in continuous exploration grows as they do, more studies are necessary to explain how other personal correlates could explain PA and SB during school hours.

As for social factors, on the one hand, after ECEC hours, families with toddlers strongly preferred informal outdoor play over structured activities. Though 82% reported no extracurricular participation, this contextual factor demonstrated a trend toward being associated with MVPA levels (p = 0.085). On the other hand, 62% went to the park at least three times/week, showing an association with MVPA (p = 0.05). Critically, no gender differences existed in park-visit practices. The literature reports that parental practices (role modeling, support, PA encouragement) positively correlate with child PA (Kwon et al., 2019; Arts et al., 2023), suggesting that unstructured community play (e.g., parks) as toddlers’ primary non-ECEC source for PA —far exceeds PA as part of structured programs.

Current guidelines from both the World Health Organization [WHO] (2019) and the Spanish Ministry of Health (2022) recommend no screen exposure for children under 2 years of age, as early media exposure harms development (Gou and Perceval, 2023; Ogata et al., 2025). However, it is noteworthy that 64% of young children do not meet the recommendations. Globally, screen time is prevalent: 61% of 1–2-year-olds use media (mean 35 min/day) in Germany (Paulus et al., 2024), while estimated screen time stands at over 3.5 h/day in Turkey (Konca, 2022), over 60% of 13-month-olds are exposed in the USA (Kwon et al., 2019), and only 6.82% Canadian toddlers avoid screens (Vanderloo and Tucker, 2015). Increased screen time in early childhood is linked to diminished home cognitive stimulation (Duch et al., 2013) and rises with age (Carson and Kuzik, 2017; Paulus et al., 2024). Our findings indicate excessive screen exposure at this young age, with 26% of the children engaging with screens for more than one hour per day. In this line, the chi-square analysis showed a statistically significant association between excessive screen use (>1 h of screen time per day) and gender, with girls spending nearly twice the time watching a screen compared to boys. In the same line, Paulus et al. (2024) found that girls had more screen time and higher average daily media usage time than boys. Carson and Kuzik (2017) found that compared to boys, girls engaged with screens for 27.1 more min/day on average. Therefore, in consonance with our results, it seems that when young girls are at home, they spend more time on screens, suggesting that parents should have strategies for promoting active behaviors. Several key factors may explain why 64% of the sample exceeded recommended screen time limits at such a young age: (a) parents could lack structured strategies or routines to replace screen time with active play, experiential learning, or other engaging activities; (b) families often use screens as an easily accessible tool to occupy children, manage daily tasks, or provide comfort; and (c) a misalignment likely exists between the ECEC environment and the home. The ECEC may not be effectively communicating the importance of screen time reduction or providing parents with practical, actionable strategies to consistently implement this guidance at home. Taken together, the findings of this study indicate that prevalent exposure to passive screens during the early developmental stage of young toddlers (1–2 years) necessitates the urgent replacement of such screen-based activities with active play and experiential learning. ECEC communities must help families reduce screen time through parental awareness and strategies (Vega-Perona et al., 2022b; Paulus et al., 2024).

Finally, 81% of participants achieved adherence to sleep guidelines. The literature reports that screen time is associated with poorer sleep outcomes in infants and toddlers (Janssen et al., 2020). In addition, recent research shows that parents’ knowledge of movement behavior guidelines (e.g., screen time) is associated with greater adherence to individual and combined movement guidelines (Rivera et al., 2024). According to the mixed-model regression, there was no association between objective measures of PA and SB and adherence to recommendations on screen time or sleep time. However, despite the absence of observed associations between screen time and sleep, and a borderline association between TPA and MVPA levels and adherence to screen time guidelines, further research is necessary to fully elucidate the potential implications of these factors in young children’s PA when attending ECEC institutions. Meeting combined PA and screen time guidelines shows a strong positive link to health-related quality of life, while following sleep and screen time recommendations benefits social-cognitive development (Cliff et al., 2017; Xiong et al., 2022). As discussed above, as screen exposure becomes normalized in young children, prioritizing parental and public education about its adverse effects on PA, sleep, and developmental trajectories is essential.

The key results of this research can be summarized as follows. (a) ECEC settings significantly contribute to young children (1–2 years old) achieving daily TPA recommendations (72%), despite high sedentary time (69%) during school hours; (b) Most young children (64%) exceeded screen time recommendations, with prevalence of non-adherence twice as high in girls as in boys. Although sleep guidelines were largely met (81% adherence), no associations were found with PA or SB; (c) Age was positively correlated with LPA, MVPA, and TPA, and inversely correlated with SB, whereas no associations were observed for gender, BMI, or other personal and social factors with any PA or SB variables. (d) After ECEC hours, children strongly preferred unstructured outdoor recreation over structured activities. No gender differences were observed in parenting practices related to these activities. Furthermore, went to the park at least three times/week was associated with MVPA. ECEC practitioners must collaborate with parents to address home/social factors limiting PA opportunities. Finally, parents need to be aware of their influence on children’s media habits, and ECEC settings should develop strategies to reduce excessive screen time. Practitioners and parents should also actively promote PA equally for girls across settings, despite the absence of gender-based differences in the findings. Based on the provided research, a balanced approach to PA, reduced sedentary time, and limited screen exposure—alongside healthy sleep habits supported by such routines—is consistently linked in emerging evidence to better early childhood wellbeing.

To build on these findings, subsequent research should prioritize longitudinal designs to track the evolution of PA and SB over time. Such studies are a critical first step, as they allow for the examination of causal pathways and developmental trajectories by identifying how key correlates (e.g., environmental, familial, or policy factors) influence behavior over time. This longitudinal data would provide the essential foundation for designing and evaluating targeted intervention programs. Future research should, therefore, move beyond correlation to analyze the causal impact of such interventions. Furthermore, to enhance the generalizability of findings, future research must endeavor to include more diverse and representative samples. This includes recruiting participants from a wider range of demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds, expanding study populations to include the often-overlooked rural areas where access to resources may differ, and extending studies to include children enrolled in private early childhood education centers. This would enable a comparative analysis of movement behaviors across different geographic, socioeconomic, and educational settings and ensure that successful interventions can be effectively translated into various real-world contexts.