Abstract
Preschooler inactivity and insufficient motor development have serious long-term consequences. The Chinese Ministry of Education launched a nationwide football-focused pilot project aimed at kindergartens in 2019 and issued the policy "Notice on the Establishment of National Football Kindergartens" in 2020. However, the impact of fundamental movement skills (FMS) interventions on other aspects of child development is unclear. This study will evaluate the effects of ball skills physical education projects on the development of Chinese preschoolers' physical, motor, cognitive, and social competencies and examine the influencing factors. This is a quasi-experimental study evaluating how well the "Hello Sunshine" curriculum project promotes children's development over 10 weeks. The trial will be conducted from September 2021 to November 2021 in 12 classes from 3 kindergartens with a total of 249 children aged 4 to 6 years in Haikou, China. Pre- and posttest analyses will include tests on participants' physical fitness, FMS, cognitive self-regulation, and emotional competence. Participants' background information will be collected through questionnaires answered by parents and teachers. The intervention will focus on game-based basic ball skills. If this intervention provides evidence that these skills improve children's multidimensional development, it will support the promotion of similar programs in China. We will also outline the social-ecological factors affecting the intervention's results, providing further information for improving pedagogical methods related to preschool ball skills.
Highlights
The preschool years form an important stage in the development of children’s physical, motor, socioemotional, and cognitive skills (Chinese Ministry of Education, 2012; Leppänen et al, 2016; Van Capelle et al, 2017; Zeng et al, 2017)
The three kindergartens are categorized based on three different PE programs provided for the children: a Hello Sunshine (HS), an ordinary PE (OPE), and a free play (FP) depending on their existing PE curriculum
This study aims to conduct a “Hello Sunshine” curriculum project and evaluate its effects on the development of physical, motor, cognitive, and social competence in preschoolers
Summary
The preschool years form an important stage in the development of children’s physical, motor, socioemotional, and cognitive skills (Chinese Ministry of Education, 2012; Leppänen et al, 2016; Van Capelle et al, 2017; Zeng et al, 2017). Aim: This study will evaluate the effects of ball skills physical education projects on the development of Chinese preschoolers’ physical, motor, cognitive, and social competencies and examine the influencing factors. We will outline the social-ecological factors affecting the intervention’s results, providing further information for improving pedagogical methods related to preschool ball skills. There is a rise in sport-centric characteristics among kindergarteners, and some successful examples, the question of how to use ball activities to promote early childhood development still needs exploration, along with a scientifically comprehensive evaluation of children’s developmental benefits resulting from participation in these games. Based on the current cultural context and the potential importance of children’s ball skills for the long-term promotion and maintenance of health-related fitness (Stodden et al, 2014), our research will use ball activities to promote FMS, cognitive performance, social skills development, and other health benefits. It is hoped that this study will provide a basis for a pedagogical method to improve preschooler’s ball skills
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