Abstract
Low motor competence (MC) can cause low participation in physical activities in preschool children, and together with a high caloric intake, it can lead to obesity. Interventions on motor skills are effective in the short term to improve MC, therefore the objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the effect of a short six-week program on levels of motor competence in preschool children, and (2) to examine the effects of gender-based intervention. A total of 156 preschool children (5.20 ± 0.54 years old) from Lugo (Spain) participated. A quasi-experimental pre–post-test design was used with a control group of 76 students. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children—2nd Edition (MABC-2) was used to collect the data. Significant differences between the control and experimental groups were found after the intervention program in aiming and catching (p < 0.001), balance (p < 0.001), the total score of eight tests (p < 0.001), and total percentile score (p < 0.001). The results regarding gender in the experimental group showed a reduction in differences with respect to the initial results except in aiming and catching, where scores were higher in boys. The data suggest that the application of specific intervention programs in MC could positively influence the improvement of MC in preschool children, thus reducing differences between genders.
Highlights
The concept of motor competence (MC) is described in scientific literature as the acquisition and improvement of skill and mastery in body movement activities [1]
The normality test revealed that the data followed a normal distribution, i.e., manual dexterity (p = 0.115), aiming and catching (p = 0.392), balance (p = 0.223), total eight test score (p = 0.107), and total percentile score (p = 0.060)
Participants in control group (CG) and experimental group (EG) were similar at baseline for manual dexterity (p = 0.905), aiming and catching (p = 0.055), balance (p = 0.656), total eight test score (p = 0.196), and total percentile score (p = 0.190)
Summary
The concept of motor competence (MC) is described in scientific literature as the acquisition and improvement of skill and mastery in body movement activities [1]. MC is a broad term that includes fundamental movement skills (FMS) ability, including locomotor, object control and stability skills [3,4]. Fine motor skills (e.g., writing or finger movements) are important in academic settings [6], and refer to precision movements that involve hand muscles [7]. Gross motor skills (e.g., throwing a ball or maintaining balance), require the participation of large muscle groups or even the entire body. Gross motor skills are important for children when engaging in physical activities [8]. These type of fundamental motor skills can be classified into manipulative (throwing, catching, hitting, etc.), balance (dynamic and static) and locomotive (running, sprinting, jumping, etc.) [9]
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