AUTHOR=Quan Sheng , Liao Yutong , Ji Yulin , Zheng Shuwen 

TITLE=Structured training on gross motor skills and physical fitness in 4–5-year-old children

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2024.1466911

DOI=10.3389/fped.2024.1466911

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>Preschool children are in a period of rapid physical development, and improving their gross motor skills and physical fitness is quite important for their health. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a structured physical training program in improving Chinese preschool children's gross motor development and physical fitness.</p></sec><sec><title>Method</title><p>A sample of 80 children aged 4 to 5 from Fujian, China, were randomly assigned to the intervention group (<italic>N</italic> = 41), which received a 15-week structured physical training, while the control group (<italic>N</italic> = 39) continued with their daily physical activity. The Test of Gross Motor Development-3, and the National Physical Fitness Measurement Standards Manual -Preschool Children Version (2003) were assessed before and after the intervention.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A series of ANCOVA analyses revealed significant group differences in aspects of gross motor skills (<italic>F</italic> = 10.17, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01) including locomotor skills (<italic>F</italic> = 5.31, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) and ball skills (<italic>F</italic> = 15.09, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) after controlling the effect of the age, sex, and pre-test scores. Moreover, the results also indicated a higher improvement in young children's physical fitness (<italic>F</italic> = 91.33, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) including their body shape (<italic>F</italic> = 5.05, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), health-related fitness (<italic>F</italic> = 43.09, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and skill-related fitness (<italic>F</italic> = 61.47, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) in the intervention group over the control group. The results demonstrated that the effect size of the structured training on young children's health-related fitness (<italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.38) and skill-related fitness (<italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.50) was much stronger than on children's body shape (<italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.07).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The structured training program effectively improved young children's gross motor skills and physical fitness.</p></sec>