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Younger Children's Physical Fitness, Motor Ability and Physical Activity

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Children's Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 17276

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Prof. Dr. Patrick W. C. Lau

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Guest Editor

Department of Sport & Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: physical activity and behavioral modification; childhood obesity intervention
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Dr. Jingjing Wang

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Guest Editor

National Physical Fitness Research Center, China Institte of Sport Science, Beijing 100061, China
Interests: physical activity; physical fitness; health promotion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Recently, physical health, and in particular the childhood obesity of preschoolers, has bacome a worrying problem. Early childhood is a critical period for human growth and healthy lifestyle development. Additionally, early childhood is the stage for the formation of various basic motor abilities and skills. Among the daily physical activities (PA) and movements used by adolescents and adults, 80% to 90% are acquired in early childhood. Early childhood lays a solid foundation for the future learning of complex motor skills, so that children have a lot of choice in exercise and sports.

Physical fitness, motor ability development, and PA are closely related to each other from early childhood to adulthood. In the dynamic correlation between PA and motor skill development level, physical fitness may be a vital intermediary factor that cannot be ignored. This correlation may be relatively weak in the early life of an individual, but it will grow with age. On the other hand, childhood PA is a crucial determinant of the development of motor skills and physical fitness level. Obtaining and accumulating all kinds of exploratory sports experience in early life can promote formation and maturity of children’s basic motor pattern, further inspire children to participate in PA, and have a positive effect on physical fitness levels. Investigation in PA, physical fitness, and motor development as well as its complex correlation with age will have significant and long-term influence on promoting children’s and adolescents’ PA, obesity intervention, and health promotion.

To provide better guidelines for the health promotion and intervention study on childhood obesity, studies on kindergarten children’s PA, physical fitness, and motor ability are imperative to produce a more evidence-based foundation to tackle the challenges and bridge the missing links in this research area. Research based on prospective longitudinal studies, random controlled trials, meta-analyses, intervention methods, and the application of these methods on this topic are invited for this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Patrick W.C. Lau
Dr. Jingjing Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Kindergarten children physical fitness
Kindergarten children motor ability
Kindergarten children physical activity
Younger children’s early physical development
Younger children’s health
Younger children’s motor development

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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8 pages, 334 KiB

Open AccessArticle

BRAINballs Program Improves the Gross Motor Skills of Primary School Pupils in Vietnam

by Van Han Pham, Sara Wawrzyniak, Ireneusz Cichy, Michał Bronikowski and Andrzej Rokita

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(3), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031290 - 1 Feb 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3033

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the BRAINballs program on second graders’ gross motor skills in a primary school in Vietnam. A total of 55 students (23 boys and 32 girls) aged seven years participated in the study. The research used the method of a pedagogical experiment and parallel group technique (experimental and control group) with pre- and post-testing. The study was conducted in the school year 2019/2020. The gross motor skills performance was assessed by the Test of Gross Motor Development—2nd Edition. The BRAINballs program was conducted twice a week and combined physical activity with subject-related contents by means of a set of 100 balls with painted letters, numbers, and signs. The results showed that the experimental and control groups improved their motor skills after one school year (p < 0.001). However, the analysis of covariance demonstrated that students from the experimental group, compared to students from the control group, showed significantly better scores in both subtests: locomotor (p = 0.0000) and object control skills (p = 0.0000). The findings of this study show that the BRAINballs program had a positive effect on children’s motor performances and may help to better understand the development of basic motor skills of seven-year-old students in Vietnam. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Younger Children's Physical Fitness, Motor Ability and Physical Activity)

11 pages, 314 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of a Nine-Month Physical Activity Intervention on Morphological Characteristics and Motor and Cognitive Skills of Preschool Children

by Damjan Jaksic, Sandra Mandic, Nebojsa Maksimovic, Zoran Milosevic, Roberto Roklicer, Jovan Vukovic, Suncica Pocek, Nemanja Lakicevic, Antonino Bianco, Samuel Cassar and Patrik Drid

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(18), 6609; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186609 - 11 Sep 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3922

Abstract

(1) Background: Regular physical activity (PA) plays an important role during early childhood physical and psychological development. This study investigates the effects of a 9-month PA intervention on physiological characteristics and motor and cognitive skills in preschool children. (2) Methods: Preschool children (n = 132; age 4 to 7 years) attending regular preschool programs were nonrandomly assigned to PA intervention (n = 66; 60 min sessions twice per week) or a control group (n = 66; no additional organized PA program) for 9 months. Exercise training for the intervention group included various sports games, outdoor activities, martial arts, yoga, and dance. Anthropometry, motor skills (7 tests), and cognitive skills (Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices and Cognitive Assessment System) were assessed before and after an intervention period in both groups. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. (3) Results: Body weight significantly increased in both groups over time. Compared to the changes observed in the control group, the intervention group significantly increased in chest circumference (p = 0.022). In contrast, the control group demonstrated an increase in waist circumference (p = 0.001), while these measures in the intervention group remained stable. Participants in the intervention group improved running speed (p = 0.016) and standing broad jump (p = 0.000). The flexibility level was maintained in the intervention group, while a significant decrease was observed in the control group (p = 0.010). Children from the intervention group demonstrated progress in the bent-arm hang test (p = 0.001), unlike the control group subjects. Varied improvements in cognitive skills were observed for different variables in both intervention and control groups, with no robust evidence for PA-intervention-related improvements. (4) Conclusions: Preschool children’s participation in a preschool PA intervention improves their motor skills. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Younger Children's Physical Fitness, Motor Ability and Physical Activity)

14 pages, 372 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Anthropometric and Motor Competence Classifiers of Swimming Ability in Preschool Children—A Pilot Study

by Ilir Gllareva, Nebojša Trajković, Draženka Mačak, Tijana Šćepanović, Anja Kostić Zobenica, Aleksandar Pajić, Besim Halilaj, Florim Gallopeni and Dejan M. Madić

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(17), 6331; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176331 - 31 Aug 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2897

Abstract

Swimming is a form of physical activity and a life-saving skill. However, only a few studies have identified swimming ability classifiers in preschool children. This pilot cross-sectional study aimed to find anthropometric (AM) and motor competence (MC) predictors of swimming ability in preschool children, by building classifiers of swimming ability group (SAG) membership. We recruited 92 children (girls n = 45) aged 5–6 years and took the AM and MC measurements in accordance with the reference manual and using the KTK battery test (motor quotient, MQ), respectively. A linear discriminant analysis tested a classification model of preschoolers’ swimming ability (SAG: POOR, GOOD, EXCELLENT) based on gender, age, AM, and MC variables and extracted one significant canonical discriminant function (model fit: 61.2%) that can differentiate (group centroids) POOR (−1.507), GOOD (0.032), and EXCELLENT (1.524). The MQ total was identified as a significant classifier, which absolutely contributed to the discriminant function that classifies children’s swimming ability as POOR (standardized canonical coefficient: 1.186), GOOD (1.363), or EXCELLENT (1.535) with an accuracy of 64.1%. Children with higher MQ total ought to be classified into higher SAG; thus, the classification model of SAG based on the MQ total is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Younger Children's Physical Fitness, Motor Ability and Physical Activity)

Review

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17 pages, 676 KiB

Open AccessReview

Relationship between Fundamental Movement Skills and Physical Activity in Preschool-aged Children: A Systematic Review

by Fei Xin, Si-Tong Chen, Cain Clark, Jin-Tao Hong, Yang Liu and Yu-Jun Cai

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(10), 3566; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103566 - 19 May 2020

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 6710

Abstract

Preschool-aged children are in a critical period of developing fundamental movement skills (FMS). FMS have a close link with physical activity (PA). This study aimed to systematically review the associations between FMS and PA in preschool-aged children. Searching Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and EBSCO (including SPORTDiscus, ERIC, and Academic Search Premier) was utilized to conduct a systematic review of the available literature. Studies were included if they examined associations between FMS and PA among typically developing children aged 3–6 years, published between January 2000 and April 2020. A total of 26 studies met the inclusion criteria, including 24 cross-sectional studies and two cohort studies. There was a strong level of evidence to support low to moderate associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity and components of FMS, specifically, the total FMS (r = 0.11–0.48, R² = 16%–19%) and object control skill (r = 0.16–0.46, β = 0.28–0.49, R² = 10.4%–16.9%). Similar associations were also found between the total physical activity and components of FMS, specifically, the total FMS (r = 0.10–0.45, R² = 16%), locomotor skills (r = 0.14–0.46, R² = 21.3%), and objective control skills (r = 0.16–0.44, β = 0.47, R² = 19.2%). There was strong evidence that there is no significant association between light physical activity and FMS, specifically, total FMS and locomotor skills. The associations, including “stability skills–PA” and “locomotor skills–moderate to vigorous PA”, were uncertain due to insufficient evidence. Our findings provide strong evidence of associations between specific FMS components and a specific PA intensity. Future studies should consider using a longitudinal study design in order to explore the causal relationship between specific-intensity PA and the FMS subdomain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Younger Children's Physical Fitness, Motor Ability and Physical Activity)

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