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We know relatively little about the role the neighbourhood built environment plays in promoting young children's physical activity, particularly its longitudinal effect either through repeated exposure to the same environment or through change in exposure by moving from one neighbourhood to another.

Canada, Australia, the World Health Organization and other countries have released 24-hour movement guidelines for the early years which integrate physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep, focusing on supporting children to achieve a healthy 24-hour day. The guideline evidence synthesis, however, highlighted the dearth of high-quality evidence, particularly from large-scale studies. 

Children's physical activity and screen time behaviours impact their physical health and well-being. In Australia, less than half of children meet daily physical activity recommendations and only one-third meet daily screen time recommendations.

There is an urgent need for scalable interventions to promote physical activity in early childhood. An early childhood education and care physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies (Play Active) has been proposed for scale-up in Australia. 

Developing dietary guidelines for lactating women presents significant challenges, due to limited evidence being available on their specific nutrient needs and the biological impacts of various dietary dimensions. Current dietary recommendations often rely on data from nonlactating women, leading to potential inaccuracies.

Physical activity is crucial for young children's health and development. Many young children do not meet the recommended 3 hours of daily physical activity, including 60 min of energetic play. Early childhood education and care (ECEC/childcare) is a key setting to intervene to improve children's physical activity. The Play Active programme is a scalable evidence-informed ECEC-specific physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies to improve educators' physical activity-related practices.

Dog ownership is common in families with children and could play a role in children's social-emotional development. This study used longitudinal data on dog ownership and changing dog ownership to investigate their effects on young children's social-emotional development.

The school environment profoundly influences children's development, behaviours, and attitudes. This chapter delves into the relationship between school design and architecture, and their impact on bullying, victimisation, inclusivity, and student well-being. Research underscores the significant impact of school design on student social dynamics, advocating for collaborative efforts among stakeholders to craft effective anti-bullying policies.

Children are often exposed to unhealthy outdoor food advertisements during the school commute. This exposure can have negative public health consequences given childhood weight gain has been linked to the marketing of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods. This study aimed to explore schoolchildren's lived experiences and attitudes towards outdoor advertising surrounding their schools. 

In Western Australia (WA) social activities occur in aquatic environments where alcohol promotion and consumption may be prevalent creating an aquatic alcogenic environment. This poses a challenge for drowning prevention efforts.