The influence of a rythmical-motor activity program on the development of fundamental motor skills in pre-school children

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of a rhythmical-motor education program on the development of fundamental motor skills in pre-school children. Twenty-two female children between the ages of 4 and 6 years were selected to participate in the study. Twelve of them were randomly assigned to the experimental group which received musical-rhythmical activity classes for a period of 8 weeks while the rest of the children (n = 10) formed the control group which simply followed the kindergarten program. After implementation of the 8-week program, both groups were tested on 8 fundamental motor skills (body awareness, moving and stationary balance, body roll, vertical jump, skip, run and kicking) using the Motor Skills Inventory for assessing motor development (Werber & Bruininks, 1988). The results revealed that the rhythmical activity group was classified in more advanced levels of the developmental scale suggested by the MSI in four of the eight skills examined and this superiority was confirmed by the statistical analysis. The findings of the present study suggest that a rhythmical-motor activity program could provide the ideal setting for pre-school children to develop the basic motor skills that are required for their successful future performance in sports skills.