Fundamental movement skills (FMS) underpin children's physical activity and healthy development, yet few observational tools capture the specific movements children demonstrate during child-led outdoor play, including outdoor loose parts play (OLPP).
Our purpose of this study was to develop and pilot Movement Observations during Play (MOP), an observational measure designed to document school-aged children's FMS during play and examine its preliminary inter-rater reliability (IRR).
MOP was developed through a review of relevant literature and adaptation of the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Environmental (OSRAC-E). OSRAC-E movement categories were expanded to include 14 additional distinct movements, and 15 FMS were added based on the literature, stakeholder consultation, and iterative reliability rounds. MOP was then used in field-based observations across four outdoor play sites in Nova Scotia, Canada with children between the ages of 3–12 years. Two observers independently recorded children's movements occurring within 15-second play events, and IRR was assessed across sites.
MOP captured 46 unique FMS across locomotor, object control, and stability categories. During reliability rounds, 40 of 46 skills (86.9%) were observed, suggesting the measure captures a broad range of movements expressed during outdoor play. Agreement for recording at least one of the same movements within a play event was high across sites (κ = 0.93–0.98; overall κ = 0.96). Observers also consistently recorded two of the same movements within a 15-second play event. Agreement for three or more matched movements was lower and more variable. Additional analyses showed strong consistency for commonly observed movements such as walking, standing, running, carrying, and holding, with agreement improving across sites over time.
MOP shows promise as an observational measure for documenting a wide range of FMS during child-led play, including OLPP, and for examining how children express movement in these play contexts.
Citation: Nila Joshi, Son Truong, Janet Loebach, Daniel Rainham, Becky Feicht, Michelle R. Stone. Development and piloting of the Movement Observations during Play (MOP) measure[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2026, 13(4): 976-998. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2026051
Fundamental movement skills (FMS) underpin children's physical activity and healthy development, yet few observational tools capture the specific movements children demonstrate during child-led outdoor play, including outdoor loose parts play (OLPP).
Our purpose of this study was to develop and pilot Movement Observations during Play (MOP), an observational measure designed to document school-aged children's FMS during play and examine its preliminary inter-rater reliability (IRR).
MOP was developed through a review of relevant literature and adaptation of the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Environmental (OSRAC-E). OSRAC-E movement categories were expanded to include 14 additional distinct movements, and 15 FMS were added based on the literature, stakeholder consultation, and iterative reliability rounds. MOP was then used in field-based observations across four outdoor play sites in Nova Scotia, Canada with children between the ages of 3–12 years. Two observers independently recorded children's movements occurring within 15-second play events, and IRR was assessed across sites.
MOP captured 46 unique FMS across locomotor, object control, and stability categories. During reliability rounds, 40 of 46 skills (86.9%) were observed, suggesting the measure captures a broad range of movements expressed during outdoor play. Agreement for recording at least one of the same movements within a play event was high across sites (κ = 0.93–0.98; overall κ = 0.96). Observers also consistently recorded two of the same movements within a 15-second play event. Agreement for three or more matched movements was lower and more variable. Additional analyses showed strong consistency for commonly observed movements such as walking, standing, running, carrying, and holding, with agreement improving across sites over time.
MOP shows promise as an observational measure for documenting a wide range of FMS during child-led play, including OLPP, and for examining how children express movement in these play contexts.
fundamental movement skills
physical activity
outdoor loose parts play
behavioural mapping
physical literacy in early years
movement observations during play
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Nila Joshi, Son Truong, Janet Loebach, Daniel Rainham, Becky Feicht, Michelle R. Stone. Development and piloting of the Movement Observations during Play (MOP) measure[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2026, 13(4): 976-998. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2026051
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