Possibilities of using physical activities to support the social relationships from the point of view of a university teacher

Abstract

The contribution deals with possibilities of development of social skills with pre-school children by means of physical activities. We work on the presumption that physical activities are a rich source of emotions and situations with a strong hub, so they provide considerable scope for developing social skills in a playful and entertaining way. Students of teaching disciplines are acquainted with this idea as part of their studies at Tomas Bata University in Zlin in practically oriented subjects. It is necessary for university teachers to develop not only a theoretical basis but also practical experience in this area.The contribution presents running results of the pedagogical experiment, which was aimed at testing the program of physical activities aimed at developing social skills in children. Running results suggest that well-chosen physical activities lead to development of social skills in children, particularly regarding respecting rules, regulation of emotions and the ability to cooperate. The text is an outcome of the IGA project run on Tomas Bata University in Zlín called Support of Social Relationships in Children’s Groups by Means of Physical Activities (IGA/FHS/2015/010). © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.