For the past two months, we asked professionals and parents questions about screen time and young children in order to determine if today’s children are physically ready for school. Children’s readiness for school, according to the National Education Goals Panel, consists of the following elements: physical health and motor development, social and emotional development, approaches […]
School-based occupational and physical therapists frequently recommend and educate PreK teachers on the benefits of motor skill activities throughout the day. An important question to answer is how often should preK students have movement groups? A systemic research review was conducted on exploring the relationship between fundamental motor skill interventions and physical activity levels in […]
Motor Skill Interventions versus Play-Based Lessons for Preschoolers Preschools provide many opportunities for play and motor skill development. Recent research attempted to answer the question regarding the outcomes of motor skill interventions versus play-based lessons for preschoolers. The study participants included 149 Hispanic pre-K children from low socioeconomic status. All of the children were evaluated […]
Motor Overflow in Preschool Children When observing preschoolers complete complex motor tasks, you may observe an increase in motor activation displayed as extraneous movements in body parts not actively involved in the current task. These extraneous movements are sometimes called motor overflow, mirror movements or associated movements. Perceptual and Motor Skills published research examining what […]
Early Childhood Education Journal published research on 68 preschool children (34 low socioeconomic (SES) background and 34 typically developing) to compare the motor skill performance using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 (PDMS-2). Standard scores from each subtest (i.e., stationary, locomotion, object manipulation, grasping, and visual-motor integration) and three quotient scores were calculated for all the […]
OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health published qualitative research investigating the viewpoint of teachers and occupational therapists (who work with children with autism) on the sensory-related environmental barriers to participation within the preschool context. Following interview questions, the data was analyzed and indicated that there are two essential components to increase the participation of children with autism in the […]
Here are 5 simple ideas to work on pre-writing skills without ever picking up a pencil – 1. Sensory Trays for Pre-Writing. Put some shaving cream, sand, rice, salt, etc. in a tray. Have the child practice “writing” horizontal, vertical, diagonal and curved lines using their finger. 2. Draw some horizontal, vertical and diagonal […]
McMaster University published a resource on physical activity for preschoolers. A recent study indicated that preschool children should take at least 6000 steps every day participating in at least 180 minutes of physical activity per day of any intensity. By age 5, children should participate in 60 minutes of energetic play (ie biking, running, playing […]
Interesting research in Pediatrics on the different sedentary behaviors of boys versus girls. Three hundred thirty one preschool children wore accelerometers over a period of 2 weeks. The results indicated the following: girls were more sedentary than boys for boys sedentary behavior was correlated with the amount of weekly tv/video games and physical activity equipment […]
BMC Pediatrics published research that analyzed aerobic fitness, motor skills, dynamic balance, working memory and attention in 254 ethnically diverse preschoolers (mean age 5.2 years). Baseline data was collected along with data 9 months later. The results indicated the following: a cross sectional analysis indicated that aerobic fitness level was associated with better attention cross […]