Research has provided inadequate scientific basis for incorporating fundamental motor skills into the curriculum. More knowledge on how children acquire motor skills is imperative. Motor development of a child is generally viewed as an inherent sequential process of motor unfolding, while skill acquisition is the process mediated through practice, training, and the associated learning mechanisms. The development of motor skills in infants and children is largely the result of growth and maturation. Three major factors that should be considered by the practitioner teaching physical skills are the state of the learner, the nature of the skill, and the methods of instruction. Sex differences are not apparent in the rate of acquisition of basic skills. There is also little evidence to show that the rate of skill acquisition is any slower or faster in young children as compared to more mature learners. It is important to the success of learning to maintain an optimal arousal level throughout the acquisition level. Skills described as continuous are generally learned more rapidly than discrete skills. The best methods of instruction that can be employed by the practitioner are those based on a complete knowledge of the nature of the learner, the nature of the skill, and the quality and amount of practice given. Knowledge of results also qualifies as a most important factor in skill acquisition. Practitioners and researchers are doing a better job now than in the past. Efforts should be concentrated not on producing more highly skilled youthful athletes but on producing a larger number of adequately skilled children. (SK)