Does the Animal Fun program improve motor performance in children aged 4–6years?

Piek, Jan P.; McLaren, Sue; Kane, Robert; Jensen, Lynn; Dender, Alma; Roberts, Clare; Rooney, Rosanna; Packer, Tanya; Straker, Leon

doi:10.1016/j.humov.2012.08.004

Cited by 50 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The results are consistent with Wang's (2004) research where preschool children, through a creative kinetic program developed fundamental motor skills (Piek et al, 2012;Venetsanou & Kambas, 2004;Reilly et al, 2006;Kromboholz, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

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Locomotor Development of Children Aged 3.5 to 5 Years in Nursery Schools in Greece

Tsapakidou¹,

Stefanidou²,

Tsompanaki³

2014

RES

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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.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…As Hardy et al (2009), Linovena et al (2011 and Piek et al, (2012) support the acquisition of basic motor skills differs depending on gender, while Pollatou et al (2005) argues that there is no difference in gender in relation to motor development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Locomotor Development of Children Aged 3.5 to 5 Years in Nursery Schools in Greece

Tsapakidou¹,

Stefanidou²,

Tsompanaki³

2014

RES

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“…However, the population size seems sensible in comparison to other trials investigating motor activities in preschools. Piek et al included almost the same, 501 children [37], whereas Roth et al investigated the effect of a physical activity intervention in preschools in a somewhat larger sample of 709 children [38]. However, many studies have demonstrated statistically significant effects with considerably smaller samples [39–42].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of motor skills training on children’s development evaluated in the Motor skills in PreSchool (MiPS) study-DK: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial, nested in a cohort study

Hestbæk

Andersen

Skovgaard

et al. 2017

Trials

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BackgroundGood motor skills are considered important for children’s physical, social, and psychological development, but the relationship is still poorly understood. Preschool age seems to be decisive for the development of motor skills and probably the most promising time-window in relation to preventive strategies based on improved motor skills. This research program has four overall aims: (1) investigation of the effect of a structured program aimed at improving motor skills in 3–6-year-old children on current and future motor skills, health, cognition, and wellbeing; (2) establish reference data on motor skills in 3–6-year-olds; (3) description of early development of musculoskeletal problems; and (4) establishment of a population-based cohort of 3–6-year-olds.MethodsOver a four-year period, all preschools in a Danish municipality, Svendborg, will implement a new program aimed at optimizing children’s motor skills. By introducing the program into a subset of the preschools at onset and comparing these children to another subset (control) that will not receive the intervention the first three years, it is possible to document a potential effect of the intervention. At the same time, a cohort will be established including all children attending preschools in the municipality with extensive baseline data collection: gross and fine motor skills; movement patterns; musculoskeletal complaints; physical activity; anthropometry; general wellbeing; cognitive abilities; language status; medical history; demographic background; and more.The children are aged 3–6 years at baseline. A total of 1461 children have been invited into the cohort, 368 to the intervention arm and 359 to the control arm. Follow-up time for the trial is 2.5 years. The cohort is planned to run at least until the children leave school at age 15–16 years. Longer follow-up will depend on future funding.DiscussionIf the results of the trial are positive, the intervention can be implemented in other similar settings with reasonable ease and at a relatively low initial cost. This is due to the extensive end-user involvement, the broad population base, and the pragmatic nature of the intervention. The cohort will provide important information about the influence of early motor skills on children’s development across many domains and the potential interactions between these domains.Trial registrationISRCTN registry, ISRCTN23701994. Registered on 13 October 2016.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2143-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Activities involve the imitation of animals with the idea that fun and meaningful actions will encourage children to participate. A randomized controlled trial of the program with 511 children demonstrated significant improvement in motor skills at 18-month follow-up (Piek et al, 2012b). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing Internalizing Problems in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) Program with a Motor Skills Component

et al. 2017

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Anxiety and depression are common mental health problems experienced by children in Australia. The impact of these internalizing disorders is pervasive, affecting many areas of life. By the time problems have been detected in children they can be severe in nature and harder to treat. Hence, early intervention is of utmost importance. Despite the existence of numerous prevention programs for children, there is limited empirical evidence for a program that has an impact on symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Physical activity and improved motor coordination have been indicated as having positive effects on children's mental health, although the impact of including these in a program targeting internalizing disorders has not been established. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) program (FFY3), revised to include activities to build motor-coordination and encourage physical activity. Participants were 24 children from the Perth metropolitan area alongside one of each of their parents. Results indicated significant short-term intervention effects on one of the primary outcome variables; intervention group parents reported significant pre-post improvement in child depressive symptoms, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up (ηp2 = 0.10). There were also intervention effects observed for parent-reported separation anxiety (ηp2 = 0.10), externalizing symptoms (ηp2 = 0.19), and conduct problems (ηp2 = 0.16). An additional finding indicated the intervention students reported significant improvement from session one to session two in global distress (ηp2 = 0.22). No other significant intervention effects were evident. Findings from this study indicate that FFY3 is a promising intervention to address internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 8–9 year-old children.

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Does the Animal Fun program improve motor performance in children aged 4–6years?

Cited by 50 publications

References 36 publications

Locomotor Development of Children Aged 3.5 to 5 Years in Nursery Schools in Greece

Locomotor Development of Children Aged 3.5 to 5 Years in Nursery Schools in Greece

Influence of motor skills training on children’s development evaluated in the Motor skills in PreSchool (MiPS) study-DK: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial, nested in a cohort study

Preventing Internalizing Problems in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Feelings and Friends (Year 3) Program with a Motor Skills Component

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