The Motor skills At Playtime intervention improves children's locomotor skills: A feasibility study.

The study was a pilot with 46 children, so it had limited power to detect smaller effects, especially for ball skills. Children were assigned by classroom rather than individually, and more children were placed in MAP at the centers' request, which may have introduced differences between groups. The sample came from two Head Start centers serving families living in poverty in one urban Midwestern city, so results may not apply to other preschool settings. MAP was delivered by a non-motor expert with 6 hours of training and weekly 15-minute support, so the result may depend on that support level. Children could choose not to use the skill stations, and they used equipment for other play in 89.8% of sessions, so the actual practice dose varied. Classroom teachers gave unsolicited skill instruction in 33.9% of MAP sessions, so the intervention was not delivered in isolation. The paper does not report a single named primary outcome, so it is unclear which result should carry the main conclusion.

The supplied text does not include a conflict of interest declaration. The publication types list the study as supported by the N.I.H. and a non-U.S. government source.

Do not conclude that MAP improves ball skills or will work in every preschool. It was a small pilot, assignment was by classroom, and the group difference for ball skills was not significant.