Movement responses to a stimulus could be either quantitative or qualitative, or could also be the answer to a pre-established problem. This process activates both divergent thinking and critical thinking. Divergent movement ability generates both quantitative and qualitative movement responses to a stimulus. The aim of this study was to examine…

In this article, the authors discuss how children develop their motor skills at different age levels. Newborn's movements are jerky and uncoordinated. Spending lots of floor time with a baby lying on her back or stomach helps her develop coordination, balance, and muscle strength during her earliest months. As locomotion enters a baby's life, she…

This article features activities for children to explore the concepts of "over" and "under." Using boxes and blocks, children explore positional relationships and develop physical skills. Here, the author offers activities for every age level.

Previous research has noted a corresponding relationship between young children's play and divergent thinking ability. This study examined how far fluency and flexibility in movement patterns' production, as indicatory elements of divergent thinking and critical thinking, are related to a variety of psychological elements (physical spontaneity,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a creative movement program on gross motor skills of preschool children. Sixty children between the ages of 3 to 5 were drawn from the population of a preschool in Taichung, Taiwan. An experimental pretest-posttest control-group design was utilized. The children enrolled in the…

Aims: To characterise the cognitive, motor, and language skills of toddlers and preschoolers who had been physically abused and to obtain concurrent MRIs of the brain. Methods: A between groups design was used to compare of sample of 19 children, aged 14-77 months, who had been hospitalised for physical abuse with no evidence of neurological…

The purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of an introductory traditional Greek dances programme on the motor proficiency development of pre-school-age children. The sample of this research consisted of 66 students (36 boys and 30 girls) attending public kindergarten in Argolida prefecture (Greece), aged 4-6 years (X = 59.79 plus or…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the extramusical effects of a music education program in one preschool classroom over a period of six weeks. The class had not previously been exposed to regular music lessons. Readily available teaching resources containing sound recordings were used. Analysis revealed six themes that addressed the…

The author investigated age- and gender-related changes in self-evaluative judgments of 87 children followed from preschool through 2nd grade. Focusing on cognitive, physical, and peer competence assessed by the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (PSPCSA; S. Harter & R. Pike, 1984), the author tested PSPCSA subscale…

This study explored the effects of a full-day preschool program on 4-year-old children. The study compared the development of a group of children (N = 403) who attended the preschool program on a half-day basis during the 1999-2000 school year (the last year the half-day program was in place) with the development of a group of children (N = 418)…

"I know there is something wrong, but what? How do I know if outside help for this child is needed? How do I tell parents that their child could have a learning difficulty?" These are questions that most nursery workers, at some point in their careers, will have to face. Based on the lives of real children and typical situations in early years…

The 2011 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 47th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…