Overweight and obesity are significant public health problems. One explanation for overweight is energy imbalance; low caloric expenditure through physical activity is a contributing factor. Childhood physical activity and motor skill competence have been identified as important predictors of participation in physical activity during adulthood. This suggests two important questions which were examined in this study. First, do overweight children perform or perceive fundamental motor skills differently than children of normal weight? Second, are the physical activity patterns of overweight children different than children of normal weight? Finally, because overweight is of particular concern in minority populations, a third question emerged; are there differences between Caucasian and Hispanic children on any of these variables? Locomotor and object control skill proficiency was evaluated using the TGMD-2. In the total sample (n=51), there were 27 females and 24 males, 28 younger (6-7 year olds) and 23 older (9-10 year olds) children, 30 Hispanic and 21 Caucasian participants, and 18 normal weight and 22 at-risk or overweight participants (n=22). Eleven of the children were not included in all analyses because they did not meet specified BMI criteria for inclusion in the normal or overweight groups. Children were grouped by gender, age, race, and weight status so that 9 cells had at least 2 normal/overweight pairs per cell (n=40). Multivariate analyses (weight by ethnicity) revealed no significant differences due to race, so data categorized by race was collapsed for all analyses. Analyses indicated a main effect for weight (F(1,36)=4.59, p=.04) on locomotor skill competence, but not for object control. Significant differences for weight were found for one individual skill, hopping (F(1, 37)=9.016, p=.005). Effect size calculations between the normal and overweight groups indicated that the disparity in skill competence increased with age (E.S.=0.76 younger, E.S.=0.94 older). A relationship between BMI percentile and appearance competence was also detected, an effect that was exacerbated by the degree of overweight. Effect sizes between adjacent weight status groups were small (E.S. = 0.27-.30). When the normal and overweight groups were compared, the effect size increased to 0.59. No significant relationships were found between perceived and actual skill competence. Additional analyses conducted on all 51 participants indicated significant age and gender main effects. This study indicated that many overweight children were as active as normal weight children. Keyword(s): motor skills, multiculturalism/cultural diversity, obesity issues