THE EFFECT OF 10-WEEK EDUCATIONAL GAMES ON ANTHROPOMETRIC AND FUNDAMENTAL MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of 10-week educational games applied to preschool children on anthropometric and fundamental motor skill development. The sample of the research consisted of a total of 48 children aged 5–6 who attended a private kindergarten. Anthropometric characteristics of the children and measurements related to performance tests, including height, body weight, BMI, chest circumference, waist circumference, and hip circumference, were taken. To measure performance characteristics, sit and reach, horizontal jump, vertical jump, and 10-meter sprint measurements were collected both as pre-tests before the 10-week educational games training and as post-tests after the 10-week educational games training. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS 25.0 program. Descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations (SD), were calculated for the children's descriptive information. T-tests were applied to the anthropometric measurements before and after the 10-week educational game training. As a result, no significant difference was found between the performance test results of boys and girls. The anthropometric test results of the participants included in the study indicated a significant difference between the pre- and post-test measurements within groups and between groups. When the results of this study were compared with the results of other studies in the literature, the similarities and differences could be explained by factors such as genetics, nutrition, hormones, regional differences, training practices, muscle mass, warm-up, step frequency, physical activity level, psychological condition, differences in talent selection, accuracy of measurements (times, distances, etc.), calibration settings of the test device, temperature, elevation, environment, humidity, psychological condition, and training quality.

Keywords: Motor skills¹, educational play², anthropometry³, children⁴,