Comparison of Fundamental Movement Skills among Young Children with Different Gender Age and BMI

Abstract

Fundamental movement skills are considered as important foundation for establishing the future advanced skills. Early childhood is a critical period for developing the fundamental movement skills. However, most of research studies were focused on children aged above 6 years, and there is a dearth of knowledge among children aged between 3 and years. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the development of fundamental movement skills in preschool children. In this study, test method was conducted to investigate the fundamental movement skills of children ages 3-5 years. One hundred thirty-six boys and 131 girls (mean age = 4.4 years) from 4 different preschools of Chiayi City were participated in this study. Results showed that the locomotor skills were superior to object control skills among participants. The fundamental movement skills performed better with age. No significant differences between boys and girls in locomotor skills. However, boys were better than girls in object control skills, especially, in stationary dribbling skills. Furthermore, participants classified as normal-weight had better performance in object control skills than their under-weight peers. Scores for striking a stationary ball and overhand throw were significantly better in normal-weight and overweight or obese children when compared with their under-weight counterparts. Scores for gallop and horizontal jump skills were significantly higher in normalweight children compared with their overweight or obese counterparts. Interestingly, scores for horizontal jump skill were significantly better in under-weight children as compared with their overweight or obese children. It was concluded that the gender, age, and BMI of preschool children would affect their development of fundamental movement skills.