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International Journal of Sport Studies. Vol., 4 (6), 648-652, 2014 Available online at http: www.ijssjournal.com ISSN 2251-7502 © 2014; Science Research Publications

Effect of Some selected Games on the Development of Locomotor Skills in 4-6 Year-Old Preschool Boys

Soheila Aryamanesh1*, Mansour Sayyah2

1- Master of Exercises Sciences and Physical Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, I.R. Iran 2- Assistant Professor of Kashan University of medical sciences, Trauma Research Center, Kashan, Iran

*Corresponding Author, E-mail: Ariamanesh90@yahoo.com

Abstract

Purpose: Early childhood is a critical period for the development of fundamental movement kills. The acquisition of fundamental movement skills is contingent upon multiple internaland external factors (biological, psychological, social, motivational, and cognitive, etc.) The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of some selected games on the development of locomotor Skills in 4-6 year old preschool boys. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental research a total 60 preschool boys (4-6years old) were randomly selected from the population of796 enrolled in various kindergartens according to their pre-test scores and were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. Ulrich Test for gross motor skills was employed to measure the locomotor skills. Some selected games were performed for 18 successive sessions, 3 sessions of 45 minutes per week. One-sample K-S test and inferential statistical test (α=0.05) were used to analyze the data by SPSS. Results: The results showed that selected games are more effective than daily activities to develop the locomotor skills. The result of analysis indicated that18 sessions of Selected games in the experiment group led to a significant improvement in the score on locomotor skills of this group compared to the control group (α=0.05). Conclusion: The result of this study indicated selected game program is appropriate for locomotor skills development. These findings highlight the need to provide structured opportunities which facilitate children’s acquisition of fundamental movement skills, which may include providing equipment and spaces. That mastery of fundamental movement skills is low in primary school children indicates the importance of early intervention programs in preschools. Preschools and child care centers hold promise as a key setting for implementing fundamental movement skills programs. Keywords: Selected games, Locomotor Skills, Preschool boys, Ulrich test for gross motor Skills.

Introduction

Fundamental skills are of important concern of teachers and trainers at an early age and constitute an

important subject for researchers. Fundamental motor skills include manipulative, locomotor, and stability movement skills. These skills help children control their bodies, manipulate their environment, and form complex skills and movement patterns involved in sports and other recreational activities (Payne and Isaacs, 2002). Failure to develop and refine fundamental motor skills during the crucial preschool and elementary school years often leads children to frustration and failure to develop specialized movements during adolescence and adulthood (Gallahue and Ozmun, 2006).

Poor performance in fundamental motor skills may jeopardize future physical activities. There is an emerging literature base to show positive effects of early motor skill programs on motor skill development for

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children. In the recent years there has been a great deal of emphasis on the development of fundamental motor skills as they are the constituents of acquiring more advanced skills. There have been considerable researches projects designed to examine the factors that contribute to the development of fundamental motor skills. Factors such as age and gender (Butterfield and Loovis, 1998; Emarati, 2009) body composition (Okely et al., 2004) and enriching mobility experiences (Halverson et al., 1992; Hardy et al., 2012; Haywood, 1993; Raudsepp and pall, 2006) are among some of the factors to name.

While literature suggests different instructional programs, play can be proposed as an approach for movement skill instruction; it is the primary mode by which children learn about their bodies and movement capabilities. It also serves as an important facilitator of cognitive and affective growth in young children as well as an important means of developing both fine and gross motor skills. Contrary to the claims of some researchers (Willams et al., 2008) that fundamental skills advance only by aging and growth, it seems like reaching an advanced level of motor skills in not only dependent on physical growth but rather environmental conditions that include opportunities for practice, encouragement, and instruction are crucial to the development of fundamental movement (Gallahue and Ozmun, 2006).

Therefore, they must be instructed and practiced. Basic descriptive epidemiological information on Fundamental motor skills among preschool aged children is limited. Studies among primary school aged children indicate low levels of Fundamental motor skills mastery and given that children with low fundamental motor skills competence are less likely to participate in and enjoy many physical activities compared with their skilled peers (Gallahue and Ozmun, 2006). In order to establish relevant and sustainable programs which focus on fundamental skills development within the early childhood sector detailed information about the acquisition and mastery level of preschool aged children is required.

Ideally, a holistic assessment of fundamental skills incorporates locomotor, manipulative (object control) and stability skills games have humanity and cultural values. These games also include an extensive range of skills that can motivate children for the physical activity can be effective for boosting quality instruction.In this study the test of Gross Motor Development were used to examine a subset of locomotor skills which are related to activities and games in which children are most likely to participate during the preschool years. Given the lack of basic descriptive information on preschooler’s fundamental skills especially locomotor skills, the primary purpose the present research was designed to examine the effect of some selected games on the development of locomotor skills on 4 to 6 years old preschool boys.

Materials and Methods

Participants In this quasi-experimental research, a total 796 preschool boys (aged4-6 years old) enrolled in the

kindergartens withmean weight of 22/2kg and height of 123.5cm constituted the population of study. Initially 100 boys were randomly selected to complete a questionnaire. Following the collection of the questionnaires 60 boys were selected to participate in the study. The children who were from affluent family or family with master degree or higher were excluded and finally 60 participants were divided into two equal groups(n=30).

Table1: Demographic characteristics of the experimental and control group

Variables Experimental group Control group Mean SD Mean SD

Height (cm) 123 2 124 2.1 Weight (kg) 21.9 1.2 22.5 1.3 Age (yr) 5.02 0.04 5.07 0.04

Materials and procedure The participants in both group performed a pretest on Ulrich Gross test (Ulrich, 2000).This test has been

validated in Iran by other researchers on children between the ages 3-11 years. The reliability of the test (0.96) has been established (zarezade and Farokhi 2009). The time the complete the gross motor skill test is between 15 to 20 minutes. The test consists of two subscales manipulation and locomotor skills. The sub scales of manipulation including striking with hands, dribbling, catching, kicking, underhand ball rolling, and over arm throwing. The sub scales of locomotor including running, Jumping, Hopping, Leaping, Galloping and Sliding.

For the fallowing 6 weeks, the children in the experimental group performed 3 sessions of 45 minutes per a week. In every session, 15 minutes of warm up, 20 minutes for selected games and 10 minutes of cool down period were used. These activities included air stop, dodge ball, dangerous object and jumping over moving

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rope. These activities have been validated by other researcher and have been widely used in various research projects (Yusefi, 2003; Zangane, 2010). The control group performed its regular daily activity. Fallowing 6 weeks of work, both groups performed another locomotor skill test. Statistical analysis was performed on the data following the end of 6 weeks. Data analysis was performed by using descriptive as well as inferential procedure by SPSS. The result of Kolmogrov-Smirinov test indicated that the distribution of variables was normal; therefore, parametric tests were employed. Paired t-test and independent t-test were used to test the within and between group differences. All the tests were examined at alpha level set to 0.05.

Results

The results of analysis indicated that 6 weeks of performing the selected games significantly improved the patterns of all 6 locomotor skills (p<0.05). These results are presented in table 2. The result test showed that there was a significant improvement in the performance of the experiment group comparing the pre-test and post-test performance (p<0.05) whereas no significant difference between the performance of control group in pre and post –test condition was found (p>0.05). These results are presented in table 2.

Table 2: comparing pre and post – test performance of the experimental group versus the control group

Subscale Test state Experimental Control t Sig. Mean SD Mean SD

Running Pre 6.2 1.4 6.23 1.13 0.01 0.94 Post 6.81 1.1 6.2 1.21 2.07 0.04

Jumping Pre 3.23 1.9 3.31 1.8 0.28 0.8 Post 5.86 1.72 3.8 1.72 5.42 0.0001

Hoping Pre 5.94 1.49 5.93 1.62 0.03 0.95 Post 8.51 1.42 6.02 1.8 6.40 0.0001

Leaping Pre 2.52 1.59 2.7 1.3 0.50 0.65 Post 5.29 1.12 2.81 1.44 7.73 0.0001

Galloping Pre 4.02 1.55 4.04 1.46 0.22 0.79 Post 7.11 1.18 4.62 1.57 7.58 0.001

Sliding Pre 4.2 1.89 4.4 1.6 0.57 0.52 Post 5.13 1.3 4.72 1.43 2.31 0.04

The p-values are for comparing pre and posttest of the experimental versus the control group and pre and posttest of the experimental groups only.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of this study demonstrate that selected game program is more effective than daily activity in order to develop locomotor skills. This study found that gross motor skills can be influenced by an appropriate movement program. The result indicated that six weeks of some selected games cause improvement in locomotor skills in preschool boys. All the sub skills of locomotor examined in this research improved significantly. these result are in agreement with the result of researches reported by Akbari et al (2007) who assessed the effect of indigenous games on the locomotor skills in school boys between the age 7 to 9 years of age, Zanganeh (2001) that examined the effect of selected games on manipulation skills in 7 to 8 years old boys (Yusefi, 2003) and Yusefi (2000) who also examined the effect of selected games on the motor development in elementary school girls. In addition, the results are also in agreement whit the result of study conducted by Cooly and associates (1997) that evaluated the effect of some interventional program in facilitating the development of some fundamental motor skills of 5 to 7 years old children (Haywood, 1993). Hardya et al (2012) reported that the total manipulation score of girls compared was higher than that of boys of the same age. Boys had higher total and individual object control scores compared whit girls, except the catch. The results of this study are also in agreement whit the result of previous researches that employed selected trainings on the development of some motor skill (Hardya et al., 2012; Willams et al., 2008; Wrotniak, 2006).

However, the result of this study did not support the findings of research reported by Emarati (1999) and Williams (2008) and researches (Emarati, 2009; Willams et al., 2008). In a research designed to examine the effect of some particular motor activities, Williams (2008) reported that fundamental motor skills of 4-6 year old boys did not alter by interventional programs and concluded that merely development of these skills are time dependent and change white aging and growth (Willams et al., 2008).

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It seems like the failure to observe change in motor skill development of children was caused by the type of interventional programs. Quality of program has special role in developing fundamental skills. A program that includes an extensive range of skills that can motivate children for the physical activity can be effective for boosting quality instruction. Emarati (2009) also investigated the effect of school games on the development of perceptual –skills of the school girls between the age 8 to 9 years and concluded that the intended games did not alter the development of perceptual- motor skills in this age group. Considering the fact that perceptual – motor skills is different than the manipulation skills, it is likely that other factors other than the participation in some motor skill programs may have an effect on the development of this skill.

Although it is commonly believed that children automatically acquire motor skills as their bodies develop but scientists believe now that environmental conditions are effective on motor skill development. Environmental conditions that include opportunities for practice, encouragement and instruction are crucial to the development of mature patterns of fundamental movement (Gallahue and Ozmun, 2006). Children should have sufficient time to practice the fundamental skills. Practice opportunities are limited by lack of facilities, equipment and time. The difference in the performance of the experimental group compared to the control group may be attributed to the fact that the experimental group benefited from the more stimulating environment and as a result performed the posttest better than the control group.

The control group preceded its natural developmental process as it was expected. Based on the result of this study, it may be concluded that the programs in the preschool of children participating in this study needs more comprehensive motor skill training programs. A program that is more stimulating for the motor skill learning will result in more opportunity for this group of children and will be more appropriate for the preschool curriculums. Quality of program has special role in developing fundamental skills. A program that includes an extensive range of skills that can motivate children for the physical activity can be effective for boosting quality instruction. Games are pleasure activities and diverse. The selected games which we used in this study are diverse. Required skills of these games are Well- matched with fundamental motor skills. In selected games as motor experiences, there are all kinds of locomotor skills (such as galloping, hoping, sliding, jumping …). But in daily activities, children develop a few skills. Thus, their skills have a little chance to develop.

The preschool environment plays an important role to foster and develop children's fundamental motor skills. The current findings high light the need for teachers to provide structured opportunities. The result of this study indicated that locomotor skills development is positively associated with selected games. Based on the results of this study, it may be concluded that the teachers and trainers working in these preschool setting to apply such training programs and games to enhance the motor skill development studied in this research. However, due to the limitations of the study such as the age, gender, other motor skills and time to study further developments, firm conclusions need to be waiting until future research examine the relation between motor skills development and games.

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