**1. Introduction**

Regular participation in physical activity (PA) has potential benefits for children to improve obesity [1,2], bone health [3], psychological health [4] and cognitive function [5,6]. However, children's physical activity levels worldwide are not positive. A study comparing physical activity behaviors of children from 15 countries found that PA behavioral indicator scores were generally low [7]. Studies have found a positive correlation between children's fundamental motor skills (FMS) and PA, and FMS have been identified as a potential mechanism for the development of PA [8–11]. FMS refer to the basic abilities and skills for children to perform a series of organized basic movements, and they includes locomotor skills (e.g., running, jumping, sliding, etc.) and object control skills (e.g., hitting, catching ball, kicking, etc.) [12]. FMS play a vital role in using more professional and complex skills in playing, games and sports [13,14]. The learning and mastery of FMS play an important role in the healthy development of children. A previous study concluded that FMS in children were significantly associated with health-related fitness (HRF) components (body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance) and that the effect increases with age [15]. Despite the many benefits of FMS, a recent systematic

**Citation:** Zheng, Y.; Ye, W.; Korivi, M.; Liu, Y.; Hong, F. Gender Differences in Fundamental Motor Skills Proficiency in Children Aged 3–6 Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. *Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health* **2022**, *19*, 8318. https:// doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148318

Academic Editors: Clemens Drenowatz and Klaus Greier

Received: 28 May 2022 Accepted: 6 July 2022 Published: 7 July 2022

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review showed that there is still much room for improvement in FMS globally in children of all ages within the range of 3–10 years [16].

It has been well established that FMS are crucial to a child's development. When children are provided with few or no opportunities to achieve appropriate FMS levels, they are at risk of suffering from slowed motor development, thus limiting their chances for successful participation in an active and healthy sports culture [8]. Given the above, it seems crucial to improve children's FMS. A recently published study protocol presents detailed experimental designs to investigate the effects of different physical activity interventions on FMS in children [17]. However, to meet the physical developmental needs of children, exercise programs should also be tailored to their unique developmental needs, so it is important to understand gender characteristics in FMS.

However, no unified conclusion has been reached on whether there are gender differences in FMS proficiency in children. Several studies have found gender differences in FMS in children [16,18–20], with boys having higher proficiency in object control skills than girls [16,18,19,21,22], In contrast, boys and girls have been found to have similar locomotor skills proficiency [18,19,21]. Pieces of evidence suggest gender differences in locomotor skills proficiency in children, with girls showing higher proficiency [20,22]. These inconsistent results may be clarified via a meta-analysis. To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated age variation points for gender differences in motor skills. Hence, the main aim of the present study was to systematically review and provide a meta-analysis of the gender differences in FMS, locomotor skills and object control skills in children aged 3–6 years. Secondarily, this study aims to investigate the age pattern of gender differences in motor skill proficiency by meta-regression analysis and determine the age inflection points at which gender differences emerge.
