Background: Preschool children who are at risk have been shown to demonstrate developmental delays in their fundamental motor skills. The body of research on motor skill development of children indicates that these children, when provided with motor skill instruction, significantly improved their locomotor and object control (OC) skill performances. Purpose: The purpose of this study and the primary research question was to examine the influence of two eight-week motor skill interventions (SKIP -- successful kinesthetic instruction for preschoolers and SKIP-PI -- SKIP-parent involvement) on the OC competence of preschoolers identified as disadvantaged. Participants and setting: Seventy-two children (36 girls and 36 boys) from two Head Start centers participated in this study. Both centers were the part of the same child development council and had the same standard Head Start curriculum. Data collection: Random assignment of children to intervention group in school A (SKIP or SKIP-PI) was performed. Random assignment of children to the comparison group in school B also occurred. Baseline measures of the test of gross motor development-2 (TGMD-2) were completed at the pretest. During the eight-week intervention the children received their regular Head Start program in addition to the SKIP and SKIP-PI conditions that took place during the school day. The comparison group received the regular Head Start program with no additional motor instruction. After completing the eight-week intervention all groups were tested on the TGMD-2 at the posttest and again one month after the intervention at a retention test. All data collection procedures were videotaped and analyzed by a trained researcher. Data analysis: Descriptive statistics were performed to ascertain baseline measures of OC performance. Two 3 group (SKIP, SKIP-PI, comparison) x 2 time (pretest, posttest) or (posttest, retention test) x 2 gender (girls, boys) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeat measures were conducted to examine the influence of the interventions on OC performance and whether any differences occurred by gender. The statistic of interest was a group x time interaction and the group x time x gender interaction for 'pretest to posttest' and 'posttest to retention test' separately. Follow-up tests were performed if necessary by Statistical Analysis Software to identify where the differences lie. For posttest and retention test, 3 group (SKIP, SKIP-PI, comparison) x 2 gender (girls, boys) ANOVA was conducted to examine the group main effect, the gender main effect and the group by gender interaction. Findings: The findings indicated the SKIP and the SKIP-PI groups were significantly different from the comparison group (p .017), but both groups were not significantly different in OC skills from pretest to posttest. The results also indicated the SKIP (p = .00) and the SKIP-PI (p = .01) were significantly different from the comparison group over time, but, both groups were not significantly different from posttest to retention test. Conclusions: Overall, these findings show that young children who are disadvantaged demonstrate delays in their motor skills prior to intervention. If high quality structured motor skill intervention in the form of SKIP is provided, they can gain significant improvements in their OC skill development. (author abstract)