Dragan Matavulj, Srđan Milosavljević, Predrag Lazarević, Aleksandar Ivanovski

Children at early school age spend multiple hours a day seated, and they need to be engaged physically. Even though almost everyone is familiar with the risks brought by lack of movement, the source of physical inactivity lies in the absence of habit to exercise regularly. Precisely these habits are acquired at the earliest age, childhood. And for physical activity to make a positive impact, familiarity with the developmental characteristics of the children engaged in the activity represents a significant element in the planning, programming and realization of recreational activities of early school age children. A major part of today’s population of early school age children is not physically active, so it is essential to come up with recreational activities that children have not been engaged in before in order to trigger their interest. It has been long known that play leads to the intellectual, moral and physical development of a child. An important characteristic of play is that it is its own purpose. A child socializes through play, learns to respect others and follow rules. Play enables a child to become more constructive, active, liberated from fear of consequences, increasingly engaged and involved. Some of the potential recreational activities that can be implemented in work with early school age children through play include modified games taken over from real aikido: Kneeling Aikidokas, Semicircular Grab, Pushing, and Rolling Race. Their introduction into the recreational activities of early school age children enlarges the range of activities they can realize

Keywords: recreation, children, real aikido, early school age

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