Summer day camp attendance facilitates some children meeting physical activity recommendations: Differences by gender and weight status

The purpose of this study was to determine if participants in a summer camp met physical activity guidelines and to examine whether physical activity levels differed by gender, race, socio-economic status, or weight status. Height, weight, demographic information, and accelerometer-measured physical activity were obtained from 132 participants aged 6–12 years at 6 day camps. Participants engaged in an average of 57.7 min (SD = 26.54) of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during the 8 hr of camp. Almost 40% (39.8%) of the campers met the physical activity guidelines of at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during the camp day, but there were gender and weight status differences. Results of an ANOVA analysis indicated that boys were more active than girls and normal weight children were more active than obese children. Summer day camp attendance appears to provide many children with an opportunity to attain recommended levels of physical activity, but differs by gender and weight status.