Under the watchful eye of a WVU student, a boy with brown curly hair hops up a narrow ramp to a wooden loft, then coasts down a sliding board into a play pool filled with balloons. Nearby, a little blonde girl jumps from the top of some foam steps to a mat below.
These children and others like them are not just playing. They are learning how to use their muscles as part of a motor skills program that has become a national model. In its 19th year, KinderSkills teaches children ages 3-5 such skills as throwing, catching, balancing, kicking, and jumping.
"We are providing children the opportunity to have instruction in movements that are required in childhood games and sports later on," says Linda Carson, an associate professor in the School of Physical Education. Carson developed the program during her first year at WVU in 1979, and the first class was held in the spring of 1980.
Children spend an hour each week in the Elizabeth Moore Hall
gymnasium on WVU's downtown campus. During each lesson, they
learn various motor skills as a group, then practice them individually
on the sliding boards, pyramid steps, jungle gyms, crawl tunnels,
and other equipment in the gym. The children then reunite to
participate in a group activity to close the lesson.
WVU students majoring in early childhood development, recreation, special education, and physical education are the teachers. Graduate students are the lead teachers.
"This is really good hands-on training for them," Carson says.
Students from local high schools also volunteer as teacher assistants in service learning projects, and some have said the experience has led them to choose teaching as a career, she adds.
In KinderSkills, parents and grandparents are encouraged to participate in activities with the children.
"We recognize that parents are not only children's first teachers but their most influential teachers," Carson says. "With that in mind, and knowing that children don't come with owner's manuals, this class allows both parents and children to get new information so they can practice this at home."
KinderSkills is one of several motor skills programs housed in the West Virginia Motor Development Center, which is a collaboration between the School of Physical Education and the University Affiliated Center for Developmental Disabilities at WVU. Other programs include ToddlerSkills for children ages 1-2; pool programs, which incorporate KinderSkills activities in water for babies, toddlers, and preschool children; and FutureFit, which teaches children ages 6-11 about healthy, active lifestyles.
The Motor Development Center recently gained some national recognition. U.S. Games, a sporting goods company, named the center a national demonstration and training site. Carson, who is director of the center, was named chair of the educational advisory board for the company's early childhood division.
"By being named a National Demonstration and Training Site, we have become the model for other early childhood educators who work with similar programs," Carson says. "We also get to try out for free some of the latest equipment sold by U.S. Games."
While pleased with the national attention, Carson is not one to rest on her laurels. She would like to expand the KinderSkills program statewide and develop new programs, provided she can come up with the necessary funds.
"We would like to be able to offer this in communities throughout the state," she says.
For more information about KinderSkills and other motor skills programs at WVU, visit the Motor Development Center web site at www.wvu.edu/~physed/motordev.htm.
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