The effect of a structured intervention to improve motor skills in preschool children: Results of a randomized controlled trial nested in a cohort study of Danish preschool children, the MiPS study.

The study investigates the effect of an intensive structured intervention to improve motor skills in three- to six-year-old kindergarten children.

After six months, the intervention had generally positive results, but after 30 months, the results were more negative and few were statistically significant. In kindergartens where the children initially had poorer motor skills, the researchers saw a tendency towards greater improvement in the intervention group.

The sample consists of 471 children from Danish kindergartens who participated in an intervention aimed at improving the children's motor skills. The researchers used the Motor Assessment Battery for Children-2 tool to measure how well the children could move. The children were tested before the intervention started, and then again after 6 months, 18 months and 30 months.

Hestbaek, L., Vach, W., Andersen, S. T. & Lauridsen, H. H. (2021). "The effect of a structured intervention to improve motor skills in preschool children: Results of a randomized controlled trial nested in a cohort study of Danish preschool children, the MiPS study". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23):12272.