Incorporating a Movement Skill Program Into a Preschool Daily Schedule

Background/Purpose:   Children’s participation in physical activity is targeted as a leading health indicator of national and international initiatives to combat obesity and sedentary lifestyles epidemic. The challenge to battle this problem has been put in the hands of early childhood educators. However, there is little evidence that early childhood educators have the skills and knowledge to design and implement appropriate movement practices for young children. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a movement program implemented by classroom teachers daily during structured physical activity time. 

Method:   Participants were 17 girls (9 control, 8 experimental), and 16 boys (6 control, 10 experimental) with average age of 4.5 from a day care center. Test of Motor Proficiency BOT-2 was used during pre- and post-tests to assess children performance of motor skills. Children from the experimental group received 52 sessions of 30-minute structured physical activity program on a daily basis. The activities were based on a movement program called Minds-in-Motion - Maze Approach. Prior to the study teachers, researchers and graduate assistants received a workshop about how to implement the program. The physical activity structured time was divided in two 15-minute subsections that consistent of: (a) maze (e.g., walking in a balance beam, standing on a balance board), and (b) stations (e.g., trampoline, handstands).

Analysis/Results:  Wilcoxon rank tests were used to evaluate the homogeneity of motor proficiency between groups before intervention, and the efficacy of pre- and post intervention. Results showed that BOT-2 scaled scores did not significantly differ between control and experimental groups (p = .70). Improvement in motor proficiency was observed in both the control (p = .02) and experimental (p = .001) groups. However, the improvement observed in the experimental group was significantly greater than the control group (p = .04). Experimental group was more likely than control group to perform gross motor skills tasks, while the control group was more likely to improve fine motor precision tasks. Acceptability of the intervention was assessed and teachers reported that the intervention was easy to understand and implement, and it also appeared to be beneficial to the children. 

Conclusions: This study showed that the Maze approach was effective in improving children motor skills. The training of childhood educators and support from day a care center’s administrator were essential in providing children with daily physical activity structured time.