Effects of an 8-Week Programmed Physical Activity Intervention on Children’s Cognitive, Emotional, and Body Movement Development—A Quasi-Experimental Study of a Preschool in Taiwan

TL;DR

An 8-week physical activity program improved preschool children's motor skills, attention, and emotional development in Taiwan.

Contribution

A structured physical activity program with cognitive and emotional components was shown to improve multiple developmental domains in young children.

Findings

Children aged 4–5 years showed significant improvements in attention and gross motor skills.

Children aged 5–6 years improved in attention and working memory.

Emotional competence improved across age groups, though results require cautious interpretation.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
A structured, near-daily programmed physical activity intervention effectively enhanced gross motor development in preschool children.Physical activity programs integrating cognitive and emotional components were associated with improvements in attention, working memory, and overall emotional competence.

A structured, near-daily programmed physical activity intervention effectively enhanced gross motor development in preschool children.

Physical activity programs integrating cognitive and emotional components were associated with improvements in attention, working memory, and overall emotional competence.

What are the implications of the main findings?
Well-designed physical activity programs can be feasibly integrated into daily lesson plans in preschool settings with multiage classrooms.Incorporating contextual storytelling into physical activity programs may support the integration of cognitive and social–emotional elements, thereby promoting young children’s physical and mental health.

Well-designed physical activity programs can be feasibly integrated into daily lesson plans in preschool settings with multiage classrooms.

Incorporating contextual storytelling into physical activity programs may support the integration of cognitive and social–emotional elements, thereby promoting young children’s physical and mental health.

Background: This study examined the associations between participation in an 8-week programmed physical activity (PA) intervention and cognitive, emotional, and motor development in young children. Methods: Thirty-three children aged 4–6 years from a kindergarten in northern Taiwan were recruited through convenience sampling. A quasi-experimental design was employed. Children in the experimental group participated in an 8-week programmed PA intervention, while those in the control group engaged in routine gross motor activities. Cognitive outcomes (attention, number sense, and working memory), emotional competence (assessed using the Emotional Competency Rating Scale for Young Children), and motor development (assessed using the Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale) were measured before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant characteristics, and parametric or non-parametric tests were applied as appropriate to examine within-group and between-group differences. Results: Following the intervention, children aged 4–5 years (mean age = 4.16 ± 0.31 years) in the experimental group showed significant improvements in attention (p = 0.032, d = 0.86), whereas children aged 5–6 years (mean age = 5.34 ± 0.45 years) demonstrated improvements in both attention (p = 0.004, d = 1.22) and working memory (p = 0.026, d = 0.84). Significant gains in overall gross motor development (p = 0.001, d = 1.65) and object manipulation (p = 0.042, d = 0.89) skills were observed among children aged 4–5 years in the experimental group. Improvements in selected domains of emotional competence were observed across age groups, although these findings should be interpreted with caution given the study design. Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary evidence that participation in structured physical activity programs may be associated with improvements in selected cognitive, emotional, and motor outcomes in young children. From an applied perspective, the results offer ecologically valid insights that may inform the design of future physical activity programs in early childhood education settings, while highlighting the need for larger-scale studies employing more rigorous methodological designs.

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