Final answer:
Motor skill development is crucial alongside body growth for improved motor performance in middle childhood. This development facilitates better balance, agility, coordination, and the ability to learn complex physical activities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Along with body growth, motor skill development plays a vital role in improved motor performance in middle childhood. During this developmental stage, children experience significant advancements in agility, balance, and endurance, which are crucial to their physical abilities. The growth in muscle strength and coordination from ages six to ten years enables children to execute movements more gracefully and learn new physical activities such as riding a bicycle without training wheels, jumping rope, playing sports, and engaging in fine motor tasks.
The cerebellum, an integral part of the nervous system, contributes significantly to the procedural learning necessary for these motor skills. As children actively participate in peer-group activities, they hone their motor skills through practice and repetition, which is essential for their physical development in middle childhood.