Effect of Solitary and Group Purposeful-Movement Plays on Visual-Motor Skills in Girls Aged Eight Years

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of solitary and group purposeful movement plays on the visual-motor skills of eight-year-old girls. To this end, using a quasi-experimental method with multi-group pre-test and post-test design, 40 girls with a mean age of 8.53 years were randomly assigned to solitary play (n = 13), group play (n = 12), and control (n = 15) groups. The Test of Visual-Motor Skills was used to measure variables before and after the experimental period (eight weeks, 16 sessions of 60 minutes) and one month after the end of the period. The results showed that visual-spatial skills (p < 0.001), visual analysis skills (p < 0.001) and visual-motor integration and visual fixation (p < 0.001) increased significantly from the pre-test to the post-test and remained unchanged until the follow-up test (p < 0.05). Based on the comparisons of groups at the post-test and follow-up test, the score of visual-spatial skills (p < 0.01) and visual-motor integration and visual fixation (p < 0.01) in the solitary play condition were significantly higher than group play, while the score of visual analysis skills in the group play condition was significantly higher than solitary play (ps < 0.05). Based on the findings, solitary plays in an eight-week course are more effective in improving visual-spatial skills, visual-motor integration, and visual fixation than group play among eight-year-old girls, and in contrast, group plays are more effective in improving visual analysis skills than solitary plays.