The Impact of Physical Activities and Plays on the Development of Mental Abilities of Preschool Girls

The aim of this study is to identify the impact of physical activities and plays on thedevelopment of mental abilities of preschool girls. The participants were 60 Iranianpreschool and nursery children selected during the 2005-2006 school year, from thesecond education district of Tehran. They were divided into experimental (N=30)and control (N=30) groups on the basis of their age ranging from 4.3-4.9 and 5.3-5.9years old. First, a pre-test was administered for both experimental and controlgroups. After two months of treatments (organized physical activities and plays) tothe experimental group, a post-test was administered for both experimental andcontrol groups. In order to see if physical activities and plays could influence thedevelopment of mental abilities of preschool girls (space perception and bodyimage), three tests, including "draw a man test", "cumulative copied drawing andcumulative copied drawing", and "cumulative by heart drawings" were used. Thefindings show that the treatments have significantly increased the mental abilities ofthe experimental group. Thus, we can say that the physical activities and plays canfacilitate the development of mental abilities of preschool children.