The Effect of Creative Movement Games on the Fundamental Motor Skills of 4-6 Years Old Children

 As a significant dynamic period of human life, childhood has always been of great importance to researchers. Children are very active during their early life which improves their locomotor health and consequently their cognitive abilities. This is when most of the developments, including motor development, show a rapid progress in the child. Basic motor skills are among the most significant skills in childhood which are the roots of sport skills learning. In order to learn everyday motor skills and sport skills, basic motor skills are required to be fully experienced. Moreover, numerous studies have claimed that basic motor skills have an influence on physical, social, and cognitive development of the child. While it is well known that playing is in the center of children’s daily activities, almost all the literature on children’s sports deals also with the idea of playing games, since sport programs may be designed in the form of games. Playing begins with the child’s birth and is a natural form with which the child tries to contact with their environment. It is an inseparable part of a child’s life and its presence in the child’s daily life is to the extent that it may even escape our notice. The role of playing is indeed evident in the importance it has for the child. It is observed that children get so absorbed in playing that they forget about their surroundings. The main part of a child’s life consists of playing and discovering the world around. Since playing is an intervention specific to children that has significant advantages over other methods and is actually a way of expressing and interacting in children, in this study the intervention was performed in the form of games. This method attracts children and gives them a chance to precisely and individually examine their behavioral patterns and observe every aspect included. The present study surveys the effect of creative locomotor games on basic motor skills in children between 4 to 6 years old. The present research is designed to answer the following questions: - Do creative movement games affect the manipulation skills in 4 to 6 year-old boys and girls? - Do creative movement games affect locomotor skills in 4 to 6 year-old boys and girls? This study used a quasi-experimental method and a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the study included all 4-6 year-old preschool children in Shiraz, Iran, during the 2014-15 school year. Given the objective of the study and using multistage cluster sampling, one kindergarten was selected and 63 children between 4 to 6 years old were chosen (33 for control group and 30 for experiment group) and were accidentally assigned to the control and experimental groups. First, samples were examined by the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD2). This test made an assessment of the basic skills with the two sub-criteria of movement skills (running, trotting, hopping, jumping, sliding) and manipulation skills (hitting a fixed ball, dribbling, getting the ball, hitting a fixed ball by foot, throwing a ball from over the shoulders, turning it over under the shoulder). Subsequently, the experimental group was guided through creative locomotor plays during 24 sessions each for 45 minutes while the control group maintained their usual locomotor activities during the same periods. Finally, the posttests were administered and the scores were recorded for both groups. Levene’s test was also performed for the homogeneity of variances. Based on this test the 2x2covariance analysis statistical method was used to analyze the data. The results showed that in performing object-control skills (F=267.91 and p=0.001) and movement skills (F=92.99 and p=0.001) there was a meaningful difference between the two groups. But between the two types, there was no meaningful difference in terms of performing movement skills (F=0.176) and performing manipulation skills (F=0.547) with a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Discussion and Considering the present results, locomotor exercise and training in play form could be an effective factor in developing the children’s basic motor skills. Furthermore, the child’s need for motor activities requires an appropriate plan for them, especially before entering school. In general, the results of the study showed that environment is a significant factor in the development of basic motor skills in children. We know, however, that in the motor development literature, the overlap of different areas of motor development such as mental, cognitive, social and locomotor has been emphasized and growth experts have noted the interaction of these factors with each other. This shows the importance of providing various and proper motor experiments for an overall development in children. One important reason that makes motor experiments and training motor skills more effective than normal activities is having the chance to exercise. Since creative locomotor games result in basic patterns by involving the child in fundamental motor processes, they need to be more concerned. In this case, chances to develop basic motor skills could be provided by enriching educational environment in preschools.