Comparison of the effect of parent-centered and teacher-centered games on motor development and motor motivation in children aged 4 to 6 years

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of parent and teacher-centered play on motor development and motor motivation of 4- to 6-year-old children. The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population of this study was boys and girls aged 4-6 years in district one of Arak city. From the existing statistical population, 30 children (4 to 6 years old) were selected as a sample and after performing the pre-test stage by homogenization, they were divided into two groups of 15 parentscentered and teacher-centered. Then, the people in each group performed 3 sessions of 30 minutes per week for 4 weeks and a total of 12 sessions of play related to their group. Motor development and motor motivation of children were measured using the third Ulrich motor development test and children's motor motivation questionnaire, respectively. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the effects within the group and independent ttest was used to compare the effects of the groups. Paired t-test results showed that motor development and motor motivation in both parent-centered and teacher-centered groups increased significantly from pretest to posttest (P≤0.05). Also, the results of independent t-test to compare the two groups showed that the motor development and motor motivation of the parent group was significantly better than the teacher-centered group (P≤0.05). Therefore, it is suggested to use parent-centered games instead of teacher-centered games to improve motor development and also to improve children's motor motivation.