RELATED LITERATURES ON PRESCHOOLERSRoles of Motor Play in Physical, Cognitive and Language and Socio-EmotionalDevelopment of a PreschoolersDecades of research have shown that play is an important mediator in thephysical, social, cognitive, and language development of young children (Bergen, 2002;Garvey, 1993; Vygotsky, 1976).Motor Play and Physical DevelopmentMotor play has long been recognized as a factor in healthy physicaldevelopment. According to some studies, that parents, teachers, and caregivers canenrich play to strengthen its effect on physical development. In preschool years,between ages 3 and 5, are marked by significant changes in height, muscle strength,and body mass and proportion that allow children to move in far more coordinated andcomplex ways (Casby, 2003; Payne & Isaacs, 2008a, 2008b; Williams, Pfeiffer,9Dowda, Jeter, Jones, & Pate, 2008). Recent research, suggests that motorcoordination and play do not emerge naturally in all children as part of maturation;healthy physical development is not guaranteed. The environment and the people in ithave a significant impact on whether or not children develop important motor skills andmaintain physical health. The promotion of physical health is a major reason forincluding motor play experiences in preschools. Low physical activity level in the earlyyears predicts later health problems (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh, & Merchant, 2005).Furthermore, preschool children must be active in order to develop motor skills andfitness levels appropriate for their age. As a result, parents must provide enticing self-directed play spaces and experiences, as well as some structured activities, toencourage children to spend more than a few minutes a day on the playground. Givingchildren experiences that will inspire them to continue participating in fun movementactivities as they grow older. The quality of the preschool or child care classroom inwhich they are enrolled, on the other hand, is one of the best predictors of physicalactivity level in young children. Besides that, individual classroom practices—particularlythe amount of outdoor play time provided and the size of the playground, which variedgreatly across the programs studied—were strongly related to the amount and vigor ofchildren's active play. Physical activity levels have also been linked to the type ofplayground equipment and space available to children in preschools and child carecenters. Children in programs with larger playgrounds and greater numbers ofmoveable play equipment, such as riding toys and balls, were found to be morevigorously active than those whose preschools had small classrooms and more fixedplayground equipment (Brown et al., 2009). Teachers and parents should encouragechildren to move, to move vigorously, and to move for long periods of time each day.
