The Motor Development and Motor Skill Levels of 6-Year-Old Children from the Lublin Voivodeship

Introduction. The objective of the research was to assess the level of physical development and motor skills of six-yearold children from the Lublin voivodeship against the Polish population. Material and methods. The study included 2144 children, 997 girls and 1134 boys. To assess the level of physical fitness, selected, exercises from the EUROFIT test were used. In addition, children's ability to demonstrate simple motor skills during physical play and games was also assessed. The assessment involved: throwing a bag with the right hand, throwing a ball with both hands, gripping a bag with the right hand, kicking a ball with the right foot, jumping on the right leg and jumping with both feet. In addition, coordination during the exercises was evaluated. For measurement purposes, a four-point scale was used. The reference point was children from a nationwide sample. The results were statistically analyzed using the Student T-test and the nonparametric chi-square test. Results. Children from the Lublin region differ significantly in their level of physical fitness from children of the same age throughout Poland (p≤0.001). They achieved significantly lower results in tests assessing the strength of their arms, abdominal muscles and, the explosive strength of their lower limbs and in two tests evaluating speed (running speed: p≤0.001, hand movement speed: p≤0.001). Only in the test of their sense of balance, did both sexes, obtain significantly better results (p≤0.001). In addition, in the opinion of physical education teachers, children in the Lublin region exhibited significantly lower levels of skill when performing motor tasks. Conclusions. The results suggest that the motor potential of preschool children is being neglected, which seems to be indirectly caused by different factors in the external environment.