Social and educational setting to prepare pre-school children for study through physical education

Abstract

The challenge of preparing children for study in school has acquired particular significance in the present moment. The pre-school training programmes need to be comprehensive, involving tools and methods aimed at the development of motor, intellectual, psychological and emotional abilities. A physical education programme based primarily on play method and teaching kids to play badminton, is an effective means to get children ready for school studies. An 8-month trial of this programme, implemented as part of physical education for pre-school age children attending kindergarten or a fitness club, demonstrated an improvement in the kids’ psychological and emotional qualities (assessed via Lüscher colour test), as well as physical fitness (assessed via physical fitness tests), and confirmed the kids’ readiness for school studies (through Kern-Irasek test).