Promoting Gross motor skills among toddlers in childcare settings. The Active Beginnings Pilot RCT.

The purpose of this project is to develop a motor skill development resource for toddlers aged 1-3 years. The expected outcomes will be an evidence-based resource that meets the needs and wants of the community partner, Big Fat Smile. After development, educators will be trained in the area of toddler motor development for improved pedagogy and practice. Then, the toddlers will receive instruction in how to develop these motor skills, resulting in increased learning and motor skill development. Participants will comprise toddlers aged 1-3 years from four Big Fat Smile Community Pre-schools: Stewart Street, Kenny Street, Warrawong, and Barrack Heights. Two services will be randomised to the intervention group and two to the control group. The control group will receive the training and the resource at the end of the intervention. Toddlers will be asked to participate in a gross motor skills development intervention program. Pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments of gross motor skills will be conducted using the Gross motor sub-scale of the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development. Assessments will be conducted in Intervention and control groups. The intervention will last for 9 weeks in which toddlers will be better instructed by educators in how to develop these motor skills, resulting in increased learning and motor skill development. During the intervention, a process evaluation will be done to assess feasibility and accessibility. This will involve the research assistant observing the number of sessions that were implemented and gathering feedback from the educators through informal discussions and an interview their thoughts regarding the resource and its implementation. The educators will develop confidence in this area through working together with UOW researchers, enabling them to repeat this process when refining resources in the future (sustainability). Educators will receive training through a group session, coordinated by the centre director. This session will be attended by all Educators. There will be one session of two hours training. The training will be instructed by Chief Investigator Tony Okely. The toddler intervention duration and frequency will be a daily session of 10 minutes for the 9 week program.