Table 1.

Overview of the general characteristics examining the ecological view in the childcare settings, and findings regarding the interaction between childcare environmental factors and child characteristics

Study	Sample	Study type	Predictors		Outcome variable	Associations
			Environmental factors	Child charac-teristics		Direct environmen-tal effects	Indication interaction effects	Interaction effects
Boldemann et al., 2006 [29]	* N = 197	Obs.	1. Physical environment:	* Gender	* Average step count.	1a: +	Subgroup analyses	* Gender:
	* 4–6 y		a. Environment category (outdoors)		* Assessed by pedometers	1b: 0		1a: F: 0, M: +
	* 11 preschools		b. Indoor space
	* Sweden		2. Political environment:		* Indoors and outdoors together	2a: +
			a. Outdoor education
Cardon et al., 2008 [31]	* N = 783	Obs.	1. Physical environment:	* Gender	* Average step count	Not assessed (only subgroup analyses reported)	Subgroup analyses	* Gender:
								1c: F: 0, M: −
	* 4–5 y,		a. Aiming equipment		* Assessed by pedometer			2a: F: −-, M: −
								2b: F: −, M: 0
	av. = 5.3 y		b. Playing equipment					(3a: F: −, M: − )
	* 39 preschools		c. Soft ground surface		* Outdoors
	* Belgium		d. Markings
			e. Vegetation
			f. Height differences
			g. Toys
			2. Social environment:
			a. Children/m2
			b. Number of supervisors
			3. Political environment:
			a. Recess duration
Gubbels et al., 2011 [25]	* N = 175	Obs.	1. Physical environment:	* Gender	* Average PA intensity level	1a: + (I/O)	Moderation analyses and post-hoc analyses	* Gender:
						2a: 0		2a (I): F: −, M: 0
			a. Sum score activity opportunities (EPAO)	* Age	* Assessed by observation (OSRAC-P)	2b: + (O)		2a (O): F: 0, M: +
	* 2–3 y, av. = 2.6 y		2. Social environment:			2c: 0		2b (I): F: −, M: 0
	* 9 childcare centers		a. PA discouraging prompts peers			2d: + (I/O)		2b(O):F: +, M: ++
	* Netherlands		b. PA promoting prompts peers		* Indoors (I) and outdoors (O) separately	2e: − (I/O)		* Age:
						2f: − (I)		2e (O): 2y: 0, 3y: −
			c. PA discouraging prompts supervisors					2f (I): 2y: −-, 3y: −
			d. PA promoting prompts supervisors
			e. Group size peers
			f. Group size supervisors
Hannon & Brown, 2008 [27]	* N = 64	Int.	Physical environment	* Gender	* Time spent at PA intensity levels (sedentary, light, moderate, vigorous)	Intervention effect: +	Moderation analyses and post-hoc analyses	* Age:
								Moderate Activity: 3y:+++, 4y:++, 5y:+
	* 3–5 y		Activity-friendly playground intervention, providing children with various physical activity facilities/equipments (e.g. hurdles, hoops, tunnels, balance beams, balls)	* Age
	* 1 preschool				* Assessed by accelerometer			Vigorous Activity: 3y:+, 4y:+, 5y:++
					* Outdoors
	* USA
McKenzie et al., 1997 [49]	* N = 287	Obs.	None (outcome variable comprises both environmental characteristic (PA prompt) and physical activity)	* Gender	* Compliance (increasing/maintaining MVPA) to PA prompts.	+ (prevalence compliance to PA prompts is 89.5%)	Subgroup analyses	* Gender:
	* av. age = 4.4 y
	* 63 preschools
	* USA							F: ++, M: +
				* Ethnicity (European-American vs. Mexican-American)
					* Assessed by observation.
					* Outdoors
Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2012 [53]	* N = 128	Int.	Physical environment	* Gender	* Time spent at PA intensity levels (sedentary, LMVPA, MVPA.).	+	Subgroup analyses	* Gender:
	* 4–6 y,		Play space per child					F: ++, M: +
	av. = 5.1 y
	* 4 preschools
	* Belgium
					* Assessed by accelerometer
					* Outdoors
Zuercher & Kranz, 2012 [43]	* N = 54	Int.	Physical environment	* Age	* Dietary fiber intake	+	Subgroup analyses	* Age:
								2-3y: ++, 4-5y: +
					* Assessed by plate weighing
			Availability of high fiber lunch items
	* 2-5 y
	* 1 childcare center
	* USA

+ = positive association, − = negative association, 0 = no association. ++ vs. + and -- vs. - = stronger pos/neg. association.

Abbreviations: av., Average; EPAO, Environment and Policy Assessment Observation[80]; F, Female; I, Indoor; int., Intervention study; LMVPA, Light, Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity; M, Male; MVPA, Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity; neg., Negative; O, Outdoor; obs., Observational study; OSRAC-P, Observation System for Recording Physical Activity in Children – Preschool version[81]; PA, Physical activity; pos., Positive; y, Years old.