Motor performance of children in different models of preschools

Abstract

Background: Exercise, play and sport are essential for the overall development of our children. Through movement, they experience their environment and continue to develop their motor skills and abilities. How different levels of exercise, play and sport affect motor performance will be examined in the present study. Methods: Ten preschools with different physical education concepts were compared (sports preschools, recognized physical education preschools, preschool with physical education, preschool without physical education). In all, 855 children (461 male, 394 female, age 58.69 ± 7.75 months) participated in the study. The Karlsruher Motorik Screening für Kindergartenkinder KMS 3–6 was used to assess motor performance. The raw and Z‑scores of the individual test items as well as the total Z‑score were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The raw scores show significant differences in all variables between the different preschools. The Z‑scores also show significant group differences with the exception of the standing long jump and the total Z‑score. Discussion: The significant differences in raw scores, which are in favor of the sports preschool only in stand and reach, are almost entirely due to the significant difference in age and related developmental stage of the children. For the Z‑scores, the significant differences appear to be due to differences in emphasis in the implementation of exercise, play, and sports or lack of consistency in implementation. Furthermore, it is possible that the motor test used is not appropriate to differentiate between these groups. Conclusion: The study should be repeated using a different motor test and the results compared. In addition, the programs for exercise, play and sports should be standardized. A longitudinal study could evaluate the effects of exercise, play and sports.