Front Public Health. 2026 Feb 4;14:1706377. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1706377. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aims to explore the correlation between Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) and Aquatic Competence (AC) acquisition in preschool children aged 4-6 years.
METHODS: A total of 120 preschool children aged 4-6 years with no swimming learning experience (60 boys and 60 girls) were recruited in Beijing. All subjects were stratified and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group (30 boys and 30 girls). Before and after a 6-week (twice a week, total of 12 sessions) aquatic movement skills course in the experimental group, all children underwent FMS and AC testing. Descriptive statistics were performed on the results of the two tests, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the ΔAC of the two groups of subjects. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and rank-transformed ANCOVA were used for inter-group difference analysis. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between FMS and AC acquisition.
RESULTS: The locomotor skills, object control, and FMS scores of the experimental group and the control group in the post-test were all higher than those in the pre-test, and the AC post-test score of the experimental group was higher than the pre-test. The improvement levels of locomotor skills (F = 18.98, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.14), object control (F = 32.19, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.22), FMS (F = 45.85, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.28), and AC (F = 1663.96, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.93) in the experimental group were significantly better than those in the control group. At the same time, the improvement level of Aquatic Competence (ΔAC) in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (Z = -9.48, p < 0.01). Correlation analysis indicates that the acquisition of AC in boys is significantly positively correlated with object control skills (r = 0.419, p = 0.021) and FMS (r = 0.388, p = 0.034).
CONCLUSION: Learning aquatic movement skills can significantly enhance the fundamental movement skills and aquatic competence of preschool children aged 4-6 years. The control skills of boys are related to their aquatic competence acquisition. Therefore, during the preschool stage, focusing on and cultivating children’s fundamental movement skills, especially object control abilities, is of great significance for their effective development of future aquatic competence.
PMID:41717617 | PMC:PMC12913400 | DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1706377
