Stimulation of Gross Motor Skills in Early Age Children

through Playing Estafet and Circuit

Panggung Sutapa

, Hadwi Prihatanta

, Suharjana

Sports Science Study Program, Faculty of Sports Science, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta,

Jln. Colombo No. 1, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Motor Skills in Early Childhood, Estafet and Circuit.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of stimulation through playing on a relay and

playing on a circuit against gross motor skills in early childhood. Motor skills are divided into two parts,

namely gross motor and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills involve large muscles and fine motor skills

involve small muscles. The participants in this study were the children of kindergarten budding jasmine

with a total of 68 people. All children were used as samples by using population sampling techniques. The

sample was divided into two groups; group A received treatment playing on a circuit and group B received a

relay treatment. The instruments used to measure gross motor skills consisted of five points, namely (1)

speed - 25 meters running, (2) strength - tennis ball throw, (3) explosive strength of the legs – standing

broad jump, (4) balance - walking on 4 meters long balance beam, and (5) agility - shuttle run passing the

cones with 4 meter distance. Data analysis was conducted by using ANOVA with a significance level of

5%. The results showed that circuit and relay play were very influential on the gross motor skills P < 0.05.

The relay play was very effective for increasing leg power and arm power while the circuit play was more

effective in increasing speed, agility and balance P < 0, 05.

1 INTRODUCTION

Early childhood education which is carried out

before basic education plays an important role as the

basic potential development of cognitive, affective,

and psychomotor skills. Thus, it can be said that

early childhood is the golden age of growth and

development. Children are national assets that need

special attention because of their uniqueness in their

growth and development. In general, every child has

the same pattern of growth and development, yet the

speed going through each stage is not the same. This

kind of difference is often called the sensitive

period, which is a condition of readiness in receiving

stimulation. Such potential will disappear and will

not appear again if the child is not given the

opportunity to develop in the appropriate time. In

this sensitive period, children need to be stimulated

through playing.

Playing is a fun activity and is the best way to

stimulate growth and development. A pleasant

atmosphere makes children not depressed so they

can enjoy the environment while playing. They are

not bored to repeat the same activity, meaning that

children indirectly train their motor skills. Many

benefits that can be obtained by children through

playing such as establishing social interaction,

training the five senses, and fostering an empathetic

spirit. There are many kinds of plays that can be

done by children in indoor or outdoor. An indoor

play is preferred by parents because children do not

get tired, overheated, and consume too much energy,

while an outdoor play is beneficial for children who

are experiencing body growth and development.

Thus, energy usage making them hungry and more

secretion of growth hormones affects the increase of

growth and development. Physical activities

requiring energy usage is very helpful in making the

children healthier, stronger, and more cheerful.

Outdoor plays could be in the forms of relays and

circuits. Relay and circuit plays require speed,

agility, strength, and coordination (Wang, 2009: 34).

The elements of motion become the basis for

responding to stimuli through movement.

Kinaesthetic development in children is divided into

two. They are gross motor and fine motor

development. Gross motor development leads more

to activities involving large muscles, while fine

336

Sutapa, P., Prihatanta, H. and , S.

Stimulation of Gross Motor Skills in Early Age Children through Playing Estafet and Circuit.

DOI: 10.5220/0009786003360341

In Proceedings of the 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science in conjunction with the 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Spor ts

(YISHPESS and CoIS 2019), pages 336-341

ISBN: 978-989-758-457-2

motor one leads to the ability to control coordination

between various types of motion into a series of

motion. Most people assume that the gross motor

development will automatically develop along with

the increasing age of the child. In fact, slow motor

development can occur because of lack of

stimulation, making the child not confident in

carrying out physical tasks and skills. Children with

good motor skills will have well nervous system in

coordinating all movements in the body so that they

will be responsive, agile, and strong. Based on the

background described above, the problem can be

formulated as: since the differences between the

effect of relay and circuit plays on gross motor skills

of early childhood is not known whether which one

is more effective for increasing gross motor skills of

children, as well as the differences based on gender,

can relay and circuit plays improve the gross motor

skills of early childhood? Which is more effective to

improve the gross motor skills in early childhood?

Playing has an important meaning for children

especially to socialise as a member of the

community, to recognise, and to appreciate the

community, meaning that playing can foster a sense

of togetherness, tolerance, and empathy. Behrn et al.

(2013) state that playing is a very important

requirement for children that can influence positive,

physical-motoric, social, and emotional aspects. It

also serves as the means for socializing. According

to Lynch (2015), playing is an activity that makes

children happy, excited, and creating a comfortable

atmosphere. Bjartveit (2017) states that playing is an

activity that is able to provide pleasure, information,

and to develop imagination. Thobald (2017) states

that plays can be used as an educational tool to

recognize rules and to get satisfaction and pleasure.

For children, playing allows them to socialize with

friends, understand the prevalent norms, increase

creativity, and understand the world from what has

not been recognised to what can be lively

experienced. This is in line with the opinion of

Mukherji and Louise (2014) stating that playing

offers children the opportunity to develop key skills

across domains including particular skills associated

with each developmental domain involving social,

physical, and intellectual development as well as

communication/ language development. According

to Madrona (2014), playing for children is a

recreational activity as the key role in education

especially in the early stages of development that

can enable children to develop their imagination and

abilities in various aspects. Playing for children

provides an opportunity to manipulate, repeat,

explore and practice ideas. It is their medium to find

more of their world, to obtain new knowledge, and

to realise new ideas (Singer, 2006). Parsons (2013)

states that playing is not only the medium of

motorskill training, but also the stimuli of emotional

and intellectual development. Through playing,

children can jump directly into the field and become

new experienced individuals that can explore the

world.

The implementation of circuit plays is a

combination of various kinds of activities involving

elements of motions such as walking, running,

throwing, kicking, leaping, and jumping. They are

arranged in a circle performed by the player

accomplishing the whole items that have been

compiled earlier. A circuit play is divided into

several posts and there are forms of activities in each

post that should be accomplished in the fastest time.

Faigenbaum, Bush, Mcloone et al. (2015) affirm that

with qualified instruction and deliberate practice,

children can improve their motor skill performance

and enhance their muscle strength, which are the

blocks for future participation in game, sports, and

fitness activities. Wastcott (2003) mentions that a

circuit is a form of activity carried out sequentially

and continuously for one round involving different

activities. A circuit play is a way that is seen as a

very effective and efficient training with limited

equipment (Kumar, 2014). The advantage of circuit

plays is that it can be done without using weights but

it can still stimulate physical conditions such as

strength, speed, agility, and endurance depending on

the content of activities played in each post.

A relay play is a continuous activity. The

implementation of relay plays in this study is almost

the same as circuit plays. The only difference is that

there is a change of players in each post. Relay plays

require the activeness of each member in a group to

wait their turn after another player in the group

finishes carrying out activities. This kind of relay

plays is very popular among children because the

activity has the elements of game and competition.

A relay play is a game that connects the first player

to the next player by giving a sign to the actor to

continue the challenges. In playing this game, a stick

is usually equipped. In this case, the game can be

modified by tapping on the shoulder after the first

player completes the challenge.

Motor is always associated with motion;

therefore, it is difficult to distinguish motor from

motion in everyday life. Motion is a muscle

contraction while motor involves the function of

nerves, muscles, and skeletons. Motor development

includes gross motor and fine motor skills. Gross

motor skills are basically all activities that involve

Stimulation of Gross Motor Skills in Early Age Children through Playing Estafet and Circuit

337

large muscles and are the basis for many sports

(Veldman et al, 2016). On the other hand, Sher

(2009) states that gross motor activities require

coordination, such as various types of sports, or even

tasks, such as jumping forward. Willams (Zawi, et

al. 2014) determines that gross motor skills refer to

the ability in using major muscles groups to perform

organized joint movements like walking, running,

throwing, jumping, climbing, and catching. It is in

accordance to Lenner & Kline (2006) stating that

gross motor skills involve large muscles, both the

muscles of the arms, the body, and the muscles of

the legs to perform various kinds of motion like

walking, running, throwing, and jumping

Kokstejn, Musalek, Stastny et al. (2017) affirm

that Achievement of a sufficient fundamental motor

skills level by the end of the preschool period is an

important premise for the later participation of

children in many sports activities. While Bardid,

Huyben, Deconick et al. (2016) assert that the

motoric 4-6 was designed to assess the gross and

fine motor skills of preschool children(4-6 years old)

and allows early detectionof children with motor

delay which are grouped in gross motor skills

including locomotors, object-control, and balance

skills. Motor skill development affects other

development as stated by Hill (2010) that motor

development and its impact on other areas of

physical and mental health as well as cognitive

achievement, is also the central area of focus for

those working on children with neurodevelopmental

disorders. General motor skills include locomotors,

non-locomotors, and manipulative movements.

Locomotor motion is a movement performed by

moving the body from one place to another, non-

locomotor motion is carried out in a place without

moving around, and manipulative motion is a

movement that uses a tool requiring coordination.

Furthermore, according to (Wang, 2009), the basic

elements of motion shaping motor skills are

strength, agility, balance, and coordination. Motor

skills as the basic foundation for early childhood are

divided into two, namely gross motor and fine

motor. Gross motor skills are the ability in using

large muscles to make physical movements of the

whole body or the body parts as in running, leaping,

jumping, and crawling while fine motor skills are the

ability to coordinate various elements of motion into

one set of motion. Johnson Holaca (2010) states that

fine motor skills are those manipulative skills that

involve small movements and small muscles in parts

of the body, such as picking up, feeling themselves,

threading, drawing, cutting and dressing. Fine

motor skills develop slightly later than gross motor

skills and need patience and practice to develop.

According to Payne & Larry (2012), fine

movements are also integral to motor development

in general to other areas of human development, like

academics and social development. Fine motor skills

like printing or writing legibly, for example, are

important for transmitting written ideas. Rebbeca et

al. (2014) state that gross motor function has a very

important role in maintaining the health of a child

with which the child is able to carry out daily

activities without interference so that they can

improve their quality of life. Furthermore, Yusof, et

al. (2013) state that mastery of motor skills leads to

improved proficiencies in complex skills, which in

turn enhances participation of children in physical

activities.

2 METHODS

This was an experimental study involving two

groups with different treatments, namely the group

of relay plays and the group of circuit plays. The

number of samples in this study was 68 children

aged 5-6 years tested subsequently and then ranked

and paired to be divided into two groups. Group A

performed all the items (five posts) and then

replaced by other players (circuit plays) and Group

B performed every activity in each item then moved

to the new item in relays. The instruments used to

measure gross motor skills consisted of five points,

namely (1) speed– 25meters run, (2) strength –

tennis ball throw, (3) explosive strength of the legs –

standing broad jump, (4) balance – walking on 4

meters long balance beam, and (5) agility – shuttle

run passing the cones with 4 meter distance.

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

338

Table 1: Achievement.

Time of 20 m

run (second)

Ball throw

(meter)

Explosive

strength (meter)

Time of walking on 4 meters

long balance beam (second)

Time of shuttle

run (second)

Score

1 >3.59 < 5.9 < 1.53 > 5.11 > 4.0 5

2 3.60-4.02 4.8 – 5.8 1.22 – 1.52 5.12 - 6.76 4.01 – 4.53 4

3 4.03-4.45 3.7 - 4.7 0.91 – 1.21 6.77 - 8.41 4.54 – 5.06 3

4 4.46-4.88 2.6 - 3.6 0.60 – 0.90 8.42 - 10.06 5.07 – 5.59 2

5 < 4.89 > 2.5 > 0.5 < 10.07 < 6.00 1

The data analysis technique used in this study

was the ANACOVA test at a significance level of

5% with a test on the prerequisite of data normality

and homogeneity. The hypothesis in this study was

as follows: relay and circuit plays could improve the

gross motor skills of early childhood. Circuit plays

were more effective than relay plays in improving

the gross motor skills of early childhood.

3 RESULTS

The preliminary test results that must be obtained

were the normality and homogeneity tests. The

results of the normality test show that the

distribution of the data was normal, indicated by the

results of the statistical test of P<0.05, while the

results of the homogeneity test indicated that the

data were homogeneous, indicated by the results of

the statistical test of P <0.05. The results of the first

hypothesis test stating that relay and circuit plays

could improve the gross motor skills of early

childhood was proven with P< 0.05 and the results

of the second hypothesis test stating that circuit

plays were more effective that relay plays in terms

of improving gross motor skill in early age of

children was proven with P < 0.05.

The table 2 below explains that both circuit-

based and relay-based play treatments show a

significant effect on gross motor improvement in

early childhood with P < 0.05.

Based on the table 3 below, it can be determined

that the treatment of circuit plays is very influential

whether on running speed, the ability to throw the

ball, standing broad jump, balance, and agility and

all of them were proven to be significant with P <

0.05.

Table 2: Circuit and relay treatment test results.

No. Score F Sig t df Sig.(2) tailed

1 Equal Variances 3.564 .063 6.537 66 .000 assumed

2 Equal variances not 6.537 62.674 .000 assumed

Table 3: Test results before and after treatment of circuit plays.

No Indicators F Sig t df Sig.(2tailed)

1 Run

Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

0,13 .911 3.748

3.748

65.961

.000

2 Ball throw

Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

3.556 .064 -7.638

57.413

.000

3 Broad jump

Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

2.295 .135 -11.875

-11.875

64.803

.000

4 Balance Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

0.14 .096 8.535

8.535

65.985

.000

5 Agility Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

5 .785 8.634

8.634

65.979

.000

Stimulation of Gross Motor Skills in Early Age Children through Playing Estafet and Circuit

339

Table 4: Test results of before and after the treatment of relay plays.

No Indicators F Sig t df Sig.(2tailed)

1 Run Equal variances assumed

ual variances not assumed

3.93 .533 4.767

4.767

60.317

.000

2 Ball trow Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assume

.48 .827 -12.468

-12.468

65.770

.000

3 Broad Jump Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

12.523 .001 -11.394

-11.394

57.311

.000

4 Balance Equal variances assumed

ual variances not assumed

.483 .489 9.932

9.932

65.999

.000

5 Agility Equal variances assumed

Equal variances not assumed

26.554 .000 10.180

10.180

44.703

.000

Based on the above table, it could be determined

that the treatment of relay plays was very influential

on running speed, the ability to throw the ball,

standing broad jump, balance, and agility and all of

them were indicated significant with P < 0.05.

Table 5: Time decrease.

No Indicator Relay Circuit

1 Run 4.3685 3.3391

2 Balance 6.9574 6.0403

3 A

ilit

3.9291 3.3506

Time decrease after performing circuit-based and

relay-based physical activities of the motor running

element, balance and agility is depicted in table 5.

The time decrease indicated the effectiveness of

circuit-based and relay-based physical activity. The

treatment of circuit plays showed more effectiveness

when compared to relay plays in running, balance,

and agility with the decreasing time of 1.03 seconds,

0.92 seconds, and 0.58 seconds, respectively.

Table 6: Increased power of arm and lower limbs.

No Indicators Circuit Relay

1 Power of Arms 4.1909 4.9135

2 Power of Lower Limbs 1.0941 1.1571

The increased power of the arm and lower limbs

after relay and circuit plays is shown in table 6. This

increased power indicated the effectiveness of the

treatment of relay and circuit plays. The treatment of

relay plays showed more effectiveness compared to

circuit plays in arm power and lower limb power.

The differences of increased power were 0.72 meter

for arm power and 0.06 meter of lower limb power.

4 DISCUSSION

Playing is a physical-motoric need for children and

it turns out to be a means for socialising. Playing is

an activity that makes a person happy, excited, and

able to create a comfortable atmosphere, provides

information, and develops imagination. Playing can

be used as an educational tool to recognise rules and

to get satisfaction. Playing with physical activity for

children allows socialising with friends,

understanding the prevalent norms, increasing

creativity, improving fitness with which the

elements of physical ability such as strength, agility,

power, and speed will also increase. Playing for

children provides an opportunity for children to

manipulate, repeat, explore and try their ideas and

knowledge to be applied in the field.

The results of the research show that circuit plays

were very effective and efficient ways to improve

children's abilities such as speed, balance, and agility

which increased significantly, whereas the arm

power and lower limb power increased greater

through relay plays. The discovery of physiological

theory related to the theory of neurons states that

new neurons will interlock into a circuit if along

with given motor stimulation, so that the separated

neurons will be integrated each other creating a link

between the right brain and the left-brain nerves.

Learning in the form of circuit plays was done by

conducting a series of activities in one unit of

activity. These activities include walking, running,

throwing, leaping, and jumping. Through the

practice of direct motor skills, children will get to

know their world in a concrete manner and physical

activity leads to increased sensory sensitivity

causing increased space and time awareness. At this

rate, this kind of increased abilities causes other

functions to increase.

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

340

5 CONCLUSIONS

Relay and circuit plays could improve the gross

motor skills of early childhood with P < 0.05.

Circuit plays were more effective than relay

plays in improving the gross motor skills of early

childhood with P < 0.05.

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