Playful Physical Activity for Executive Functions and School Readiness in Preschool Children

NCT07678294 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: PPA-EF-SR-202541034
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 48
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Executive functions, such as attention, inhibition, working memory, and planning, are important for early learning and school readiness in preschool children. This completed randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an 8-week cognitively enriched playful physical activity program could support executive functions and school readiness in preschool children compared with the regular physical education curriculum. Preschool children were assigned to either a playful physical activity intervention group or a control group receiving conventional physical education. The intervention included structured movement-based games designed to combine physical activity with cognitive challenges, including response inhibition, working memory, planning, rule following, and cooperative problem solving. Outcomes included measures of executive functions and school readiness domains, including mathematical, linguistic, and social competence.

Conditions

School Readiness; Executive Function (Cognition); Preschool Child Development

Keywords

Playful physical activity; Cognitively enriched physical activity; Executive functions; School readiness; Preschool children; Inhibitory control; Working memory; Planning; Cognitive-motor intervention; Early childhood education

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in School Readiness Scores From Baseline to Post-intervention

  School readiness was assessed using mathematical competence, linguistic competence, and social competence scores. Higher scores indicated better school readiness.

  Baseline and immediately after the 8-week intervention

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change in Go/No-Go Task Error Rate From Baseline to Post-intervention

  Baseline and immediately after the 8-week intervention

• Change in Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised Immediate Recall Score From Baseline to Post-intervention

  Baseline and immediately after the 8-week intervention

• Change in Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised Delayed Recall Score From Baseline to Post-intervention

  Baseline and immediately after the 8-week intervention

• Change in Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test Copy Score From Baseline to Post-intervention

  Baseline and immediately after the 8-week intervention

Study Arms (2)

Playful Physical Activities Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Preschool children assigned to this group received the 8-week Playful Physical Activities intervention.

Behavioral: Playful Physical Activities Intervention; Behavioral: Regular Physical Education Curriculum

Regular Physical Education Curriculum

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Preschool children assigned to this group received the regular physical education curriculum for 8 weeks.

Behavioral: Playful Physical Activities Intervention; Behavioral: Regular Physical Education Curriculum

Interventions

Playful Physical Activities Intervention BEHAVIORAL

The 8-week Playful Physical Activities intervention consisted of structured movement-based games integrating executive function challenges, including response inhibition, working memory, attention, planning, and cooperative problem-solving. Sessions were delivered three times per week for 60 minutes per session.

Also known as: PPA

Playful Physical Activities Intervention; Regular Physical Education Curriculum

Regular Physical Education Curriculum BEHAVIORAL

The control intervention consisted of the regular physical education curriculum delivered for 8 weeks, three times per week for 60 minutes per session. Sessions included traditional age-appropriate physical education activities without systematically embedded cognitive-motor executive function challenges.

Also known as: Conventional Physical Education

Playful Physical Activities Intervention; Regular Physical Education Curriculum

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 55 Months - 64 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Preschool children aged 55 to 64 months.
• Enrollment in one of the participating preschools.
• Ability to participate in age-appropriate physical activity sessions.
• Written informed consent provided by parents or legal guardians.

You may not qualify if:

• Motor or intellectual disabilities that could prevent participation in physical activity sessions.
• Diagnosed neurological, psychiatric, or developmental disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder.
• Uncorrected visual or auditory impairments that could affect test performance.
• Use of medication known to affect the central nervous system.
• Absence from post-intervention testing or failure to complete the study procedures.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Inonu University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Physical Activity, Sport and Health Research Unit UR18JS01, National Observatory of Sport

Tunis, 1003, Tunisia

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Outcome assessors were blinded to group allocation during baseline and post-intervention assessments. Participants, parents, teachers, and intervention providers were not blinded because of the nature of the physical activity intervention.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: This was a two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial. Preschool children were assigned to either an experimental group receiving an 8-week cognitively enriched Playful Physical Activities intervention or a control group receiving the regular physical education curriculum.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 25, 2026
• First Posted: July 1, 2026
• Study Start: April 7, 2025
• Primary Completion: May 23, 2025
• Study Completion: May 23, 2025
• Last Updated: July 2, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-06

Locations

TU (1)