The Role of Physical Exercise in Children’s Development

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, there has been a growing body of literature focused on improving the physical activity levels of children.  Exercise is a sub-category of physical activity that requires the critical attributes of being planned, structured, repetitive, and purposeful, and it is dependent on the antecedents of ability, environment, and motivation to achieve the resultant expected outcomes (e.g., health-related fitness, performance-related fitness, learning etc). The paediatric lifespan extends from infancy to late adolescence and there are a variety of unique considerations that must be applied to both safely and effectively implement age- and ability-appropriate exercise with paediatric clients and their families.  This is especially true if one is to achieve the desired health, developmental, educational or performance outcomes. In 2021, the ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (11th Edition) update: ExRx for Children and Adolescents was published, drawing focused attention to both healthy paediatric populations and those requiring special considerations. Of particular interest, the new addition of the ACSM Guidelines provide updated information regarding exercise prescription for those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.  These are wonderful additions to the exercise prescription literature, but more high-quality evidence is needed to enhance exercise-related outcomes for paediatric populations.

The goal of this Special Issue in Children is to highlight the evidence-based opportunities to advance the health, development, learning, and performance outcomes of paediatric populations (infants, children, and adolescents) through many different forms of exercise.  We encourage submissions that have utilised a variety of primary or secondary research methods to explore how exercise can positively influence developmental outcomes in children and youth. We welcome reviews and original research considering novel approaches to exercise for enhancing health, learning, performance, and development in paediatric populations, or research exposing gaps in the knowledge regarding the relationship between these variables.

Dr. Nikki Milne
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• exercise
• development
• motor skills
• learning
• sport
• performance
• injury prevention
• fitness
• health
• psychological
• wellbeing
• chronic disease prevention