“The Effect of Gardening Activities on Motor Skills Development of Pre-K and Kindergarten Students” is written by Baker, M., Waliczek, T., & Zajicek, J. and published by “The Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture” (Baker, 2015). Visual-motor integration has been found to affect the growth of children. The principal aim of this research was to investigate the differences in visual motor integration between preschool and kindergarten-age children. The Visual Motor Integration Beery test was the tool utilized to measure the extent of children’s visual motor integration. The research was carried out using a pre-test and post-test method to assess student visual motor integration in control and treatment groups. Pre-tests were carried out in late fall and early spring, while post-tests took place at the end of the spring semester. Children in the control group practised a standard school plan, while children in the treatment group took part in their gardening classes. The teachers and parents of the students participated in a study of their sports, interests and gardening experiences. Mean measures in both grades were assessed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, paired t-tests, and correlation tests in the control and treatment groups.
Children in the control group decreased their visual motor adaptation levels during the evaluation period, while children in the treatment group retained their skill levels during the period. In comparison to those who did not participate in the free lunch plan, children participating in the free lunch program retained their visual motor integration levels throughout the course of the care cycle, showing that economically deprived children can react particularly well to gardening initiatives in the classes. The results of the treatment group are well below the standardized mean score (pre-test 98.52 & post-test 98.56) of 100, whereas the control group was more equal to the mean (pre-test 102.84 & post-test 99.77). This meant that the practice of gardening may be particularly necessary for children in the treatment group to adapt to schooling and retain strong motor skills. Most variations among kindergarten-aged children show that the gardening scheme will help this group of children starting school retain motor ability levels throughout the school year.
References
Baker, M. W. (2015). The Effect of School Gardening Activities on Visual-Motor Integration of Pre-School and Kindergarten Students. Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, 25(2), 3-14.
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
