REGULAR PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND CHILD PSYCHOMOTOR DEVELOPMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE MOTOR, COGNITIVE, AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DOMAINS

Abstract

Childhood is a period of intense development of motor, cognitive and socio-emotional
capacities, in which movement plays a structuring role. This article aims to analyze, based on
the scientific literature, the influence of regular physical exercise on children’s psychomotor
development. It is a literature review, descriptive in nature and qualitative in approach,
conducted in the SciELO, PubMed, Virtual Health Library and Google Scholar databases, using
descriptors related to children’s physical exercise, psychomotor development and cognition,
and considering publications in Portuguese and English from 2010 to 2025. Of the 42 records
initially identified, nine sources made up the analyzed corpus, which comprises systematic
reviews, a narrative review, empirical studies, a conference paper and an institutional text. The
synthesis indicated a positive association between regular physical activity and the development
of motor skills, such as coordination, balance and spatial and temporal organization, as well as
cognitive functions, particularly executive functions, attention and language. Evidence of
benefits for mental health and socialization was also identified, along with positive effects of
regular physical activity programs on the academic performance of school-aged children.
However, part of the evidence comes from studies with limited methodological quality and
small samples. It is concluded that physical exercise, when age-appropriate and offered
regularly and playfully, is a relevant component of children’s integral development and should
be valued in school and family settings and in public policies, while more robust studies are
needed to deepen this evidence.