No abstract

No 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.

No abstract

There are many aspects which need to be explored before a comprehensive description of young children's rhythmic ability can be developed. The present study examined the relation of age and sex and preschool children's rhythmic ability expressed in performance with one and two hands, bilateral and parallel use of upper and lower limbs. Two groups of preschool children participated (N= 77), 4.5 to 5.5 and 5.6 to 6.5 yr. of age. A version of the High/Scope Beat Competence Analysis Test was used to assess rhythmic ability. The children performed the same six movements, e.g., parallel movement of hands, bilateral movement of hands, movement of the preferred hand, movement of the nonpreferred hand, bilateral movement of feet in a seated position, and bilateral movement of feet in a standing position. Analysis showed that girls were more accurate than boys on bilateral movement of hands while boys were more accurate than girls on bilateral movement of feet in a seated position. Also, children were more accurate (a) on the movement with the preferred hand than with parallel movement of hands and nonpreferred hand movement, (b) on bilateral movement of hands than with parallel movement of hands and bilateral movement of feet in a seated position, and (c) on bilateral movement of feet while standing than seated. It can be concluded that the various rhythmic movements with upper and/or lower limbs follow different rates of development in preschool children. The above findings may assist physical educators in implementing a physical education program more effectively for the corresponding age groups.