The purpose of this essay called is to examine how preschool teachers understand planned and spontaneous physical activities in preschool. We also search to elucidate if there is some difference between a preschool with a pedagogical orientation based on outdoor physical activities and a traditional preschool in which outdoor physical activities are not a part of their pedagogical orientation. We want even to examine how teachers understand their own role in children's physical development. The study draws on a phenomenographic approach and we apply a qualitative method to collect our data. The data is mainly based on interviews with preschool teachers from preschools with the two forms of pedagogical orientation that we mentioned earlier. We interviewed a total of six preschool teachers, three from each preschool. The results of the study showed that the informants from both preschools understand planned physical activities as an activity that is initiated and organised by the teachers. On the contrary they understand spontaneous physical activities as an activity initiated by the children, often in the form of games. Another important result is that the informants in our study agree in that spontaneous physical activities are given quite more time in the preschool’s everyday than planned activities. Finally, the study shows that the informants in the study feel confident as leaders in physical activities, regardless of the preschools pedagogical orientation. It is rather a question of education and personal interests than pedagogical focus.