The 5th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences - The Academic College at Wingate

Intervention to Promote and Affect Fundamental Movement Skills, Physical Activity and Cognitive Skills in Kindergarten Children

Kristin Wick 1,2 Urs Granacher 2
1University of Applied Sciences for Sport and Management Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
2University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

Background: Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) are developed during early childhood and build the prerequisite to learn more complex and sport specific movement patterns (Stodden et al., 2008) for a lifelong engagement in physical activity (PA) which is essential to maintain physical health and cognitive and social development (Haapala, 2013). Not only through natural maturation and physical development FMS are acquired but more importantly through an external stimulus and constant interaction with the social and physical environment (Gabbard, 2009). A systematic review with meta-analyses (Wick et al., 2017) on programs to improve FMS involving 6126 kindergarten children showed significant positive effects among groups in favor of the intervention group. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of interventions need to be interpreted with care as they are based on low-quality evidence and immediate post-intervention effects without long-term follow-up.

Aims: The aim of this study is to develop a complete and long-term FMS intervention program with high methodological quality. Intervention contents will focus on muscular strength integrating strength and skill-building activities. In addition, elements from children’s gymnastics will complement the intervention. Primary outcomes are development of FMS proficiency and objectively measured physical activity. Evaluation of cognitive skills (concentration; attention) will be a secondary outcome. For descriptive analyses, anthropometric data (height, seat height, weight, BMI) and socio-economic status of the parents will be assessed.

Methods: From the beginning of May until the beginning of July 2018 a 6-week pilot randomized controlled trial will be carried out comparing a strength and skill-building (children’s gymnastics) program with an increase of time spent in physical activity (PA) with usual care (control group). Structured lessons of the intervention will be implemented three times a week for 30 minutes. Further unstructured PA will be offered daily (five times a week) for at least 30 minutes. Six kindergartens with children aged between 4-6 years are chosen based on similarities in resources, equipment and the socioeconomic regions from which they draw their children. FMS will be assessed by using four result-oriented items. PA will be measured by using Actiheart accelerometers and concentration and attention will be evaluated by using the Konzentrations-Handlungsverfahren für Vorschulkinder (KHV-VK). A questionnaire for parents will be used assessing the socio-economic status.

Results and Discussion: Significant and positive effects of the intervention program on FMS proficiency, time spent in PA and cognitive skills are expected. This study attempts to meet the requirements of a high quality study design in relation with results of the systematic review and meta-analyses by Wick and colleagues (Wick et al., 2017).

Kristin Wick
Kristin Wick
Potsdam University of Applied Sciences for Sport and Management








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