The importance of physical activity in the development of balance of preschool children

The diploma thesis aimed to discover whether a systematically designed physical exercise programme, which contains exercises for developing balance, affects the development of this motor skill. We wanted to determine whether differences in progress would emerge between the experimental and the control group based on their test results. The research involved 26 children, aged 3-4. They were divided into two groups. Half of them, i.e., 13 children, made up the experimental group, while the other half represented the control group. Data were obtained by testing both groups with the same tests for determining their level of balance. We conducted both tests (at the beginning and end) with the control group; with the experimental group we carried out a systematically designed physical exercise programme between the initial and final test. The programme was repeated 15 times. The obtained results were statistically processed using SPSS software. We subtracted the results of the first test from the results of the second test, thus getting a new variable. We called it “progress in balance skills”. The independent samples t-test was used to compare the two groups. The statistical significance level was set at 5%. The obtained results show that there are statistically significant differences in progress in all three tests. The experimental group achieved greater progress in all the tests