Time spent practicing fundamental motor skills during an eight-month preschool PE programme: Observational case study

The developmental period during preschool years is critical if children are to master the Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS). FMS are needed to adopt a physically active lifestyle (Sääkslahti et al., 2004; Raudsepp and Päll, 2006). Time spent on physical activity alone is not enough to cause expected positive changes in preschool children’s FMS (Fisher et al., 2005; Deli et al., 2006). Skill specific learning experiences are needed. According to Gallahue and Donnelly (2003) a developmentally appropriate curricular model of young children’s PE is based on the phases of motor development and the stages of movement skill learning.