Weather linked to how much preschool children are physically active
Sunshine, heat, cold and rain all play a role in how active preschool children are during the day. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Environmental Research, in which researchers have linked children’s activity patterns to everyday weather conditions.
“The study shows that weather is not a factor that can be ignored when studying children’s physical activity habits. Our results point to the need for opportunities for active play even when the weather is less favourable,” says Pablo Campos-Garzón, a researcher at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, and the study’s lead author.
Although outdoor play in all weathers is an established part of Swedish preschools, the results of the new study show that weather conditions nevertheless have a clear correlation with how much children move and remain still in their daily lives.
In total, over 3,300 children aged three to five from preschools in the Stockholm area took part. The children’s physical activity was measured using accelerometers – electronic sensors that measure changes in an object’s velocity – worn on the wrist, whilst the researchers used daily weather data from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).
“We see that everyday weather conditions are clearly linked to how children’s time is divided between physical activity and sedentary behaviour,” says Pablo Campos-Garzón, a researcher at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet.
Days were grouped in "weather profiles"
Instead of analysing temperature, rain and sunshine separately, the days were grouped into different “weather profiles”, such as sunny and warm or cold and cloudy days.
The results show that the children were most active on sunny and warm days. When the weather was cold and cloudy, the children had, on average, around 15 minutes less moderate to vigorous physical activity per day compared with sunny days. At the same time, light physical activity decreased by around 32 minutes and sedentary time increased by almost 47 minutes. Rainy and cloudy days were also linked to less physical activity and more sedentary behaviour, but the differences were slightly smaller.
The links between weather and physical activity were similar for girls and boys. However, the effects were more pronounced at weekends than on weekdays, which may suggest that nursery routines provide some protection against the influence of the weather.
”The study cannot show exactly why children move less when the weather is worse, but young children depend on adults to give them the opportunity to be active. If adults feel that rain, cold or darkness make it less appealing to go outside, this is likely to affect children’s physical activity. That is why nursery routines are so important – they can help make physical activity a natural part of the day, whatever the weather,” Pablo Campos-Garzón.
The study was funded by Region Stockholm, the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science. The researchers state that there are no conflicts of interest.
Publication
”Sunny days, cloudy behavior? Associations between weather patterns and movement behaviors in preschoolers using compositional data analysis”, Pablo Campos-Garzón, Per Tynelius, Michael Lundberg, Charlotte Wilén, Viktor H. Ahlqvist, Jairo H. Migueles, Martin Neovius, Pontus Henriksson, Micael Dahlen, Cecilia Magnusson, Daniel Berglind, Environmental Research, online June 2, 2026, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2026.124902