This diploma thesis was carried out to research the body characteristics of today's 5- to 7-year-olds and how they differ from the same aged children in 1999. Furthermore we researched the variety of rest units on the market, which units are used in Slovenian kindergartens and finally determining whether the dimensions of the rest units fit the body characteristics of the children. We also considered the fact that a nine-year elementary school was introduced during this period, which means that today 7-year-olds are almost out of kindergartens, while in 1999 almost everyone was still in.
The study included 32,978 children aged between 5 and 7 today and 14,825 children who were even in 1999. The sample of children aged 5 to 7 included 88 5-year-olds (mean age was 5 years and 7 months), 12,707 6-year-olds and 20,183 7-year-olds. For year 1999 we obtained data from 55 6-year-olds, 14,766 7-year-olds, and 4 5-year-olds (mean age was 5 years and 1 month). Due to the insufficient number of 5-year-olds from 1999, we did not compare the results with those of today's 5-year-olds. Data on body characteristics (body height, weight and body mass index) were quantitatively processed with Microsoft Excel.
When researching kindergarten furniture, we searched for different providers of furniture on the World Wide Web and additionally conducted an online survey in 129 Slovenian kindergartens. We were particularly interested in whether they still provide naps to the oldest age groups and what kind of rest units they use.
Our research has shown that the body weight of 6- and 7-year-olds has not changed over the past 20 years. 74,4 % of surveyed Slovenian kindergartens have already replaced the first wooden cots with plastic ones and 3,8 % use only pillow mattresses as rest unit. The dimensions of the two types of cots do not differ from each other, but none of them perfectly comply with body characteristics of the 6- to 7-year-old children.
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