Regular physical activity adapted to children's developmental stages plays a key role in their overall development, often highlighting benefits for the body such as increasing muscle strength, improving cardiovascular function and reducing the risk of obesity and disease. However, equally important is its positive impact on cognitive, emotional and social development, which contributes to a better quality of life in childhood and beyond. Children are more motivated to be physically active if they participate in activities that they enjoy and perceive as fun. One such activity is dance, which by its very nature contributes to children's holistic development and is very popular among them. Zumba® Kids is an adapted version of Zumba®, aimed at children aged 7 to 11 years, which combines dance steps, music and fun to promote a healthy lifestyle.
The survey was carried out at the Matije Valjavec Preddvor Primary School between March and June 2024 and involved 21 grade 4 pupils aged 9–10 years. The participants were divided into an experimental group (10 pupils), which participated in the Zumba® Kids programme, and a control group (11 pupils), which did not participate in the programme. The main aim of the master thesis was to investigate the effect of the Zumba® Kids programme on the coordination, endurance, flexibility and trunk strength of 4th grade female students.
The results of the analysis showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the improvement of any of the motor skills studied, which means that the Zumba® Kids programme had no statistically significant effect on the improvement of coordination, endurance, flexibility and trunk strength compared to the control group. In contrast to the findings of foreign studies which reported significant improvements in coordination and flexibility in children of similar age after dance programmes, our study did not achieve these results, which could be attributed to the too short duration of the programme.
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