Locomotor skills are an important part of children's motor development because they support participation in physical activity and readiness for later learning. In many early childhood education settings, movement activities are still delivered through conventional instruction with limited use of interactive learning media. This study investigated whether an Augmented Reality (AR)-based movement learning model could improve the locomotor skills of children aged 5-6 years. A quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest control group design was conducted involving 60 children from three kindergartens in Makassar, Indonesia. Thirty children participated in the AR-MoveKids program, while thirty others received conventional movement learning. The intervention was carried out three times a week for eight weeks. Locomotor performance was measured using the locomotor subtest of the Test of Gross Motor Development-Third Edition (TGMD-3). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, independent-sample t-tests, and effect size analysis. The independent-sample t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups after the intervention (t(58) = -13.148, p < .001), with the experimental group achieving a mean posttest score that was 13.233 points higher than the control group. These findings indicate that integrating Augmented Reality into movement learning provides a practical and engaging approach to significantly improving locomotor development in early childhood education.
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