Locomotor development of children aged 3.5 to 5 years in nursery schools in Greece

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the effect of an intervention program on nursery school children's locomotor development. Participants were 98 children (50 boys and 48 girls) aged 3.5-5 from three preschools of the Municipality of Kalamaria, in Greece. The 49 children who formed the experimental group participated for two months in 16 organised courses, designed to develop basic motor skills. The measurement tool used to evaluate the sample before and after the intervention was Urlich's test of gross motor development (TGMD-2, 2000). The statistical analysis showed that the experimental group after the intervention program performed better than the control group without statistically significant differences between the sexes. The results showed that educators should incorporate corresponding motor programs in their daily schedule, although there is currently no curriculum for nursery school that includes them. © The author(s).