Preschoolers Build Fundamental Motor Skills Critical to an Active Lifestyle: The All 4 Kids© Intervention Study.

This pragmatic, real world study examined the effects of the All 4 Kids© intervention on preschoolers' mastery of movement skills and determined whether the instruction had greater impact than natural development. Methods included a quasi-experimental intervention-comparison subsample of 379 children (COMPARISON) and a pretest-posttest design with convenience scale-up sampling of 2817 preschoolers (SCALE-UP). Children receiving education and dance instruction 3 times/week for 8 weeks were assessed using the Preschool Movement Assessment to evaluate skills pre and post intervention. Using repeated measures ANOVA, McNemar and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests, preschooler's participation in the intervention resulted in greater improvement in 12 movement skills (F = 83.451, df = 1, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.555), balance (p = 0.028), hopping (t = -3.545, df = 112, p = 0.001) and crossing the midline (p < 0.001) than natural development (COMPARISON). In the SCALE-UP study, children significantly improved in all measures based on post-intervention scores. Significant differences were observed between Hispanic and non-Hispanic children for the 12-skills (b = -0.758, se = 0.161, p < 0.001) using hierarchical linear models; boys' and girls' scores were not differentially impacted by the intervention. Therefore, implementation of interventions focused on fundamental movement skill development have the potential to remediate secular motor skill decline in young children.

Preschoolers can distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods: the all 4 kids study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine changes in preschoolers' ability to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods and stated food preferences after participation in a nutrition education program. DESIGN: Pre-post comparison/intervention study with sites clustered based on center size and language. SETTING: Preschool classrooms. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 191 preschoolers from Nevada and 128 from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Oklahoma. INTERVENTION: All 4 Kids, a 24-lesson program taught by trained instructors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pre- and post-assessment sum scores for identifying 18 foods; stated preference for, and distinguishing between, healthy vs unhealthy choice from 9 food pairs using a newly designed tool. ANALYSIS: t tests; multiple linear and logistic regression models. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant improvement in identification scores from pre- to post-study for both groups from Nevada (P < .001). For preference and distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy foods, no differences were noted at pretest. At posttest, significantly more intervention than comparison preschoolers indicated a preference for healthier foods (P < .006) and an ability to distinguish them (P < .03). Outcome comparison between Nevada and 3 states demonstrated generalizability of the study tool. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Participation in All 4 Kids resulted in preschoolers' increased understanding of healthy foods and changed their stated food preferences.