Browsing by Author "Jokela, Maija"

In this study one of the main goals is to understand children’s motor skills and their development through the childhood years. The study examines differences between boys and girls in their basic motor skills and how children’s hobbies effects on these skills. Previous studies show that there is a difference between boys and girls in basic motor skills. Boys are better at basic motor skills that are related to throwing and catching. Girls are better in basic motor skills that are related to balance. This study is based on a qualitative research method, using systematic observation. Material of the study has been collected from one of the Helsinki city pre-school. Twelve pre-school children were part of the study; six of them were girls and six of them boys. The material of the study has been analysed with test theory. The result of this study shows that there were differences in basic motor skills between girls and boys. Boys were better in motor skills that required throwing and catching for example a ball. Girls were better in motor skills that required balance for example standing with one leg. Hobbies had a positive effect in motor skills that required balance and running, with girls balance and with boys running. Based on this study there were differences between boys and girls in the five tested motor skills. Hardest motor skills in this study were throwing of a ball and jumping forward and the easiest was catching a bean bag. The differences in this study were small, which is related to the sampling conciseness. The results of the study cannot be generalized, however the study gives a general picture of the participant’s basic motor skills and what are their strength and weakness in the area. Through the observation of the basic motor skills in this study it can be seen what skills require more learning in the future.