Relationships between Math Skills, Motor Skills, Physical Activity, and Obesity in Typically Developing Preschool Children

Abstract

There is evidence of a relationship between motor and cognitive development. The literature has shown that of all the motor skills, fine motor skills are those that contribute most to mathematical performance in preschool children. As this is a sensitive period in the development of motor skills, low levels of physical activity in this period can compromise their development and contribute to weight gain and obesity. The aim of this study was therefore to analyze the relationship between mathematical and motor skills, physical activity levels, and obesity. The sample consisted of 62 preschool children (32 males) with an average age of 4.63 ± 0.81. The Weschler preschool and primary scale of intelligence—revised arithmetic test was used to assess mathematical skills. The tests to assess fine motor skills were the “Adapted Threading Beads Test” and the “Adapted Visuomotor Integration Test”. The movement assessment battery for children-2, band 1, “Aiming & Catching”, and “Balance” tests were used to assess gross motor skills. Levels of physical activity were assessed using the “Preschool-age physical activity questionnaire” and obesity using the body mass index. The results indicated that only the fine motor skills of visuomotor integration were included in the multiple linear regression model (F < 0.001; r = 0.464; R2 = 0.215; p < 0.001), with the exclusion of gross motor skills, physical activity levels, and obesity levels. Thus, it was concluded that mathematical skills were only directly and significantly influenced by visuomotor integration. However, visuomotor integration was positively and significantly associated with gross motor skills (r = 0.269; p < 0.05) and not with levels of physical activity and obesity. Thus, gross motor skills could contribute to improving visuomotor integration directly and consequently mathematical skills indirectly. The results of this study suggest that the implementation of structured physical activity programs can contribute to mathematical performance.

Longitudinal Associations of Body Fatness and Physical Fitness with Cognitive Skills in Preschoolers

“…Compared with prior studies, our relatively smaller sample size may also explain the non-significant results reported in the current study. However, the number of participants in our study was comparable to corresponding research in this field [9,11,47,48]. Body fat content was measured indirectly by measuring skinfold thickness, and although Slaughter's equation has fairly high validity with DEXA for calculating BF% in children, DEXA is still considered the gold standard in body composition assessment [49].…”

“…Martin et al [8] observed that a higher body mass index (BMI) in 3-year-old boys was associated with worse visuospatial skills, yet not with expressive language skills or reasoning skills at 5 years. Flores et al [11] reported that obesity was not associated with arithmetical performance among 3-6-year-old children. In addition, previous studies disagree on whether higher regional or whole-body fat content predicts worse cognitive performance [7,12,13].…”

“…There are studies to suggest inverse relationships between body fatness and cognitive skills in early childhood [7][8][9], while other investigations have not detected associations between body fatness and cognition [8,10,11]. For example, Haapala et al [9] found a negative relationship between body fat percentage (BF%) and reading fluency and reading comprehension in 6-8-year-old boys.…”

Motor activities to improve maths performance in pre-school children with typical development

“…Spatial reasoning is an integral part of everyday life, and having good spatial skills strongly predicts children's future performance in various subjects. In this sense, the books "Exploring the 3-D World: Developing Spatial and Math Skills for Young Children" (Hansel, 2021) and "Blocks and Beyond: Strengthening Early Math and Science In this sense, considering the direct influence of GMS on VMI skills (Flores et al, 2023b) and that numerous programs to develop VMI skills include working on spatial skills through the manipulation of objects in a classroom context, the aim of this study was to present a set of activities to develop spatial skills, using playful activities with a strong involvement of GMS, which could be carried out in a classroom context, at the playground or at home.…”

Longitudinal Associations of Body Fatness and Physical Fitness with Cognitive Skills in Preschoolers

“…There are studies to suggest inverse relationships between body fatness and cognitive abilities in early childhood [1][2][3], while other investigations have not found associations between body fatness and cognitive abilities [2,4,5]. For example, Haapala et al [3] found a negative relationship between body fat percentage (BF%) with reading fluency and reading comprehension in 6-8-year-old boys.…”