Abstract
A child’s play is critical to whole child development. However, literature related to how traditional games and unstructured free play is limited. This study investigated if traditional games and free play could influence the motor skills of preschool children. One hundred and ninety-two children (Traditional Group: n = 114, M age = 4.5 & Play Group: n = 78, M age: 4.7) were recruited. Traditional Group played five types of traditional games while Play Group had free play over 20 sessions in 5 weeks. The MABC-2 was used to assess their motor skills. Data were analysed in three groups: All, performing 30 and Underperforming 30. The results showed that all participants made significant improvements in balance and overall motor skills with either traditional games or free play. Within the Performing 30 category, the Traditional Group performed significantly better in manual dexterity and overall motor skills as compared with the Play Group. However, both groups improved significantly in manual dexterity, balance abilities and overall motor skills within the Underperforming 30 category. This suggested that irrespective of structured traditional games or unstructured free play, child’s play has positive benefits on the development of motor skills especially for children with poorer motor skills.
Highlights
A child’s play is critical to whole child development
All Participants: The MANOVA, ANOVA, unpaired t-test and paired t-test were used to test for significant differences between groups based on their standard scores (RS & SS) for all MABC-2 test items
This study appears to be the first to investigate the effect of traditional games and free play for motor skill development in preschool children aged three to six years old
Summary
A child’s play is critical to whole child development. Play is an important contributor to a child’s life from childhood, through adolescence and to adulthood (Fleer, 2015; Nonis, 2005). Children develop language, social and cognitive skills as they became involved in divergent play and critical thinking (Nonis & Tan, 2010). Communicating their feelings through social interactions with their friends would help them to make better sense of their world. The dynamic interactions of individual, task and environment contribute to the motor skill development of a child (Newell, 1986). A child’s play at early childhood stage can be categorised as structured and unstructured play
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