This document summarizes a study that examined the effects of a 5-week cross-curricular physical education intervention on reception children's (ages 4-5) fundamental movement skills, physical activity, and weight status. The intervention incorporated lessons based on the story of "The Gruffalo" and assessed changes in these variables before and after for an intervention school compared to a control school. Key findings were that the intervention significantly improved children's fundamental movement skills and weekday physical activity, but did not significantly impact weight status or weekend physical activity. The intervention provides a model for using cross-curricular lessons to improve movement skills and physical activity in young children.

1. Can a cross-curricular
PE intervention improve
Fundamental Movement
Skills, Physical Activity
and Weight Status for
Reception Children?
Presented by Noel Sritharan
M00466867 – SES3360

2. Background
 Child Obesity continues to rise, nearly 1 in 10 reception children (age 4-5
year olds) classed as obese in 2013/14 (Lifestyles Statistics Team, 2015)
 Recent update shows an increase to more than 1 in 5 reception children in
2014/15 (Health & Social Care Information Centre, 2016)
 Recommended daily moderate to vigorous physical activity, 5-7 year olds
between 2008 and 2012:
 24% to 14% for boys
 23% to 8% for girls (The health and social care information centre, 2012)

3. Background (continued)
 Fundamental movement skills (FMS) have been linked to Physical activity and
more recently Weight status (Bryant et al. 2014b, O’Brien et al. 2015)
 Stodden et al. (2008) conceptual model
 Comprise of 6 locomotor skills and 6 object control skills e.g. running,
jumping, catching, kicking (Ulrich, 2000)

4. Background (continued)
 Gender differences are apparent (Vandaele et al. 2011; Bryant et al. 2014a)
 FMS mastery can be achieved by age 6 (Vandaele et al. 2011)
 Interventions are needed for reception children (Lai et al. 2014; Foulkes et al.
2015)
 A cross-curricular approach (Dudley et al. 2011; Dotterweich et al. 2012)

5. Research Aim
 Compare FMS, physical activity and weight status before and after a cross-
curricular intervention.
 PE Lessons based on the story of “The Gruffalo”
 Based on the suggested reciprocal relationship of the variables, an
improvement in all 3 was expected

6. Method
 Intervention school and a control school, 60 students each school
Pre and post testing involving:
 FMS testing using the TGMD-2 to assess FMS mastery (Ulrich 2000)
 Physical activity for 7 day after FMS testing using accelerometers
 Weight Status via BMI (Kg/m2
) and Cole et al's. (2007) reference curves
Data Analysis:
 Repeated measures ANOVA, inter and intra-rater reliability (Jones et al.
2010)

7. Lessons – 5 weeks
Lesson 1
Running
Jumping
Rolling
Kicking
Lesson 2
Gallop
Hop
Catch
Throw
Lesson 3
Sidesteps
Leaping
Striking
Dribbling
Lesson 4
Story rehearsal
(all 12 FMS)
Lesson 5
“The Gruffalo”
Story with artwork,
music and role-
play

8. Example: Lesson 4 & 5 hall layout

9. Results
 Total FMS, Locomotor FMS and Object
Control FMS significantly improved for both
sexes and the group as a whole.
Figure 2: Pre and post intervention mean scores for a) Total Fundamental movement skills, b) locomotor and object
control Fundamental movement skill. Both graphs show mean scores for males, females and all participants, with error
bars for standard deviations. * significant difference pre to post assessment of variable (p<0.05)

10. Results – (continued)
 Weekday Moderate, moderate to vigorous and vigorous physical activity
significantly increased, for the group as a whole and males but not females.
 Weekend physical activity and weight status was not significantly different

11. Findings - FMS
 Most FMS improved, attributed to class structure, FMS Mastery focus and
assistant coaches (Martin et al. 2009; Bryant et al. 2014b)
 Teachers alongside children, enjoyed the cross-curricular elements and felt
it improved FMS (Dudley et al. 2011; Mitchell et al. 2013)
 No apparent gender differences (Venetsanou & Kambas 2016)

12. Findings – Physical activity
 Strengthens the link between FMS and physical activity (Stodden et al.
2008, Bryant et al. 2014b)
 No significant differences for female physical activity attributed to lower
watch adherence, sample size and length of intervention (Cohen et al.
2015)
 Time of year and concerns with outdoor play may also play a factor into
weekend and female activity (Cliff et al. 2009; Dotterweich et al. 2012),

13. Findings – Weight status
 Attributed to the length of the intervention and lack of follow ups, following
post-testing (Cliff et al. 2011)

14. Further Limitations
 Lack of a control school (Goodway & Branta 2003)
 No follow ups were done to see lasting effect or a revert to bassline
(Goodway & Branta 2003; Dudley et al. 2011; Lai et al. 2014)

15. Recommendations and future research
 Cross-curricular intervention could act as a template (Dudley et al. 2011;
Cohen et al. 2015)
 Year long interventions with follow ups (Dudley et al. 2011; Lai et al. 2014).
 Multiple school samples to see true effects (Dudley et al. 2011)
 PE specialists and teachers can tailor interventions (Bryant et al. 2014a;
Cliff et al. 2011; Mitchell et al. 2013)

16. References
 Bryant, E.S., Duncan, M.J. & Birch, S.L., 2014a. Fundamental movement skills and weight status in British
primary school children. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(7), pp.730–736.
 Bryant, E. et al., 2014b. Prediction of habitual physical activity level and weight status from fundamental
movement skill level. Journal of sports sciences, 32(19), pp.1775–1782.
 Cliff, D.P. et al., 2009. Relationships between fundamental movement skills and objectively measured
physical activity in preschool children. Pediatric exercise science, 21(4), pp.436–449.
 Cliff, D.P. et al., 2011. Movement skills and physical activity in obese children: Randomized controlled
trial. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 43(1), pp.90–100.
 Cohen, K.E. et al., 2015. Physical activity and skills intervention: SCORES cluster randomized controlled
trial. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 47(4), pp.765–774.
 Cole, T.J. et al., 2007. Body mass index cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents:
international survey. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 335(7612), p.194.
 Dotterweich, A.R., Greene, A. & Blosser, D., 2012. Using Innovative Playgrounds and Cross-Curricular
Design to Increase Physical Activity. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(5), pp.47–55.
 Dudley, D. et al., 2011. A systematic review of the effectiveness of physical education and school sport
interventions targeting physical activity, movement skills and enjoyment of physical activity. European
Physical Education Review, 17(3), pp.353–378.
 Foulkes, J.D. et al., 2015. Fundamental Movement Skills of Preschool Children in Northwest England.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 121(1), pp.260–283.

17. References
 Goodway, J.D. & Branta, C.F., 2003. Influence of a motor skill intervention on fundamental motor skill
development of disadvantaged preschool children. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 74(1),
pp.36–46.
 Jones, R.A. et al., 2010. Perceived and actual competence among overweight and non-overweight
children. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 13(6), pp.589–596.
 Lai, S.K. et al., 2014. Do school-based interventions focusing on physical activity, fitness, or fundamental
movement skill competency produce a sustained impact in these outcomes in children and adolescents?
A systematic review of follow-up studies. Sports Medicine, 44(1), pp.67–79.
 Mitchell, B. et al., 2013. Improvement of fundamental movement skills through support and mentorship of
class room teachers. Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, 7(3), pp.e230–e234.
 O’Brien, W., Belton, S. & Issartel, J., 2015. The relationship between adolescents’ physical activity,
fundamental movement skills and weight status. Journal of Sports Sciences, (December), pp.1–9.
 Stodden, D.F. et al., 2008. A Developmental Perspective on the Role of Motor Skill Competence in
Physical Activity: An Emergent Relationship. Quest, 60(2), pp.290–306.
 Ulrich, D. A., 2000. Test of gross motor development-2. Austin: Prod-Ed
 Venetsanou, F. & Kambas, A., 2016. Motor Proficiency in Young Children: A Closer Look at Potential
Gender Differences. SAGE Open, 6(1), pp.1–10.
 Williams, H.G. et al., 2008. Motor skill performance and physical activity in preschool children. Obesity
(Silver Spring, Md.), 16(6), pp.1421–1426.

18. Thank you for listening.
Question time.

20. Stodden et al. (2008) conceptual model
Figure 1: Stodden et al. (2008) conceptual model of Fundamental movement skills reciprocal relationship with physical
activity and weight status.

21. Lesson plans
Table 1: Lesson overview for the 5-week intervention
FMS= Fundamental movement skills
Lesson
number
FMS
learnt
Lesson objectives Cross-curriculum Reference to the Gruffalo story
1
Running,
Jumping,
Rolling,
Kicking
Demonstrate teaching
points for each skill to
allow for skilful
demonstration, with
references to the
Gruffalo story
Children begin to read
the story in class/ watch
musical video.
Warm up involves reference to
the forest, a river, rock. Skills
begin to be linked with the
animal e.g. "snake roll" for
rolling in the "forest". Warm
down introduces the Gruffalo
2
Gallop,
hop,
catch,
throw
Demonstrate teaching
points for each skill to
allow for skilful
demonstration, with
references to the
Gruffalo story
Use of pair work and
counting (maths) in a
competitive and fun
manner.
Use of a "pebble field", and
linking animals to skill during
main activities, continued
linking of new skills to animals
e.g. "fox-gallop", or items in the
story "catching and throwing
rocks" (beanbags)
3
Sidesteps,
leaping,
striking,
dribbling
Demonstrate teaching
points for each skill to
allow for skilful
demonstration, with
references to the
Gruffalo story
Listening skills (English),
children to make art
work for last 2 weeks
(masks)
"Gruffalo says" game in the
warm up, continued animal or
item reference durin main
activity "Owl leap", "Gruffalo
dribbling"
4 All 12 FMS
Children to
demonstrate all 12 FMS
in the context of the
story, while being told
in a PE and role play
context.
Children do all activities,
during different parts of
the story, while story is
being told by the
teacher, while wearing
masks, along with
coaches. Each zone is
signposted for the
childrens reference and
allows them to read.
During the interactions
with the coach, the
children are engaged in
role play.
The entire story is being told,
each area has name, where an
animal lives and certain skills
are practised, for example,
"Fox's underground house".
5 All 12 FMS
Run through the entire
story, with the children
demonstrating all 12
FMS, with artwork,
music and the story
being told on a
projector
Children do all activities,
during different parts of
the story, while story is
being told using a video,
while wearing masks,
along with coaches. Each
zone is signposted for
the childrens reference
and allows them to read.
Music is also included in
the video and the
children are engaged in
role play.
The entire story is being told,
each zone has a name and and
someone who lives there,
where the children play the
animal, for example "Gruffalo's
house".
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=ThZqDoJi5S0#action=share

22. Individual FMS group
Figure 3: mean scores for a) Locomotor Fundamental movement skills (FMS) b) Object control FMS, with error bars for
standard deviation, * significant difference pre to post assessment of variable (p<0.05)

23. Individual FMS group
Figure 4: Mean scores for Individual a) Locomotor and b) Object control fundamental movement skills (FMS), for males
and females, pre and post intervention, with error bars for standard deviations, * significant difference pre to post
assessment of variable (p<0.05)