Nature-based Physical Activity: A Semi-Experimental Study of the Effect of Gardening Activities on Children’s Perceptual-Motor development and drawing index

The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of nature-based physical activity with a focuse on gardening on visual-motor coordination and drawing indices of female 5-year-old children. For this purpose, 30 children from Isfahan without attending preschool were selected by available sampling method and randomly divided into two groups: 1) experimental groups (15 people) and 2) control group (15 people). After the pre-test, the experimental group trained in the nature-based physical activity protocol including eight session, 60-minute per sessions (twice a week). Then both groups participated in the post-test. Visual-motor and shape drawing were evaluated by the Bander Gestalt test. The data was analyzed using SPSS-24 software in two descriptive sections including (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (analysis of Variance for the effectiveness of nature-based physical activity). The results showed that nature-based physical activity exercises with gardening performance had a significant positive effect on visual-motor coordination and drawing indices of 5-year-old children. The difference between the experimental and the control groups showed that the children who were active in the nature environment significantly had better visual-motor coordination and drawing indices. In general, nature-based physical activity and gardening help children to develop their sensory-motor skills, including writing and drawing skills, to enter school.