Effects of challenging games on manipulative motor skills of 4–6 years old children: an application of challenge point framework

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to investigate the predictions of challenge point theory (2004) by comparing challenging and non-challenging games groups in developing manipulative fundamental motor skills. Thirty children, aged 4–6 years, from one of the kindergartens of Tehran were divided into the groups. The games were similar in both groups; however, the challenge of these games increased in the challenging group, while it was fixed in the non-challenging group. The sample received two 42-minute intervention sessions per week for 8 weeks and the children’s skills were assessed by TGMD-2. The results of MANOVA indicated there was no significant difference between the groups in manipulative skills and all subscales except catching, in which the challenging group outperformed the non-challenging group. In conclusion, although the predictions of the challenge point theory were not confirmed, improvement of the challenging group in catching indicated more effectiveness of this method in complex skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Functional task difficulty
• kindergarten
• motor learning
• play

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Marzie Balali earned a Ph.D. in Motor Development and Learning at Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran in 2016. She teaches courses on lifespan motor development, influential factors in motor development and physical growth in childhood, and is expert in early childhood motor interventions.

Mohammad VaezMousavi is a Psychology Professor at Imam Hossein University in Tehran. He is graduated from University of Wollongong, Australia in 1995. In last two decades, he has been involved in teaching and research in the field of sport and exercise psychology and authored several books and research articles.

Abdollah Ghasemi is an Associate Professor of Motor Behavior at the Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University. He carries out research about the impact of perceptual-motor interventions on psychological and motor skills among children and adolescents, specially among intellectually disabled one. He also is the head of motor behavior department in his university and is working with plenty of graduate students in regard of their thesis about motor behavior of children.

Shahab Parvinpour is an Assistant Professor of Motor Behavior at the University of Kharazmi, Iran. His areas of expertise include early childhood motor interventions, observational learning, dyadic learning, and nonlinear pedagogy.