The initiative has been devised by staff from Stirling University to encourage more Scots to take part in sport and help transform the health of the nation.
Those behind the scheme also hope it will help produce more elite sportsmen and sportswomen in the future.
Scotland is currently in the grip of an obesity crisis, with the proportion of adults aged 16 to 64 classed as overweight increasing from 52% to 63% between 1995 and 2010.
Poor diet has been blamed for the upward trend, as well as increasing inactivity fuelled in the young population by the popularity of computer games.
The Scottish Government has already announced that every school pupil in Scotland should get at least two hours a week of physical education in primary school by 2014, with a similar commitment in the early years of secondary.
However, staff from Stirling University's School of Sport believe that, in order to enable future generations to have the confidence and skills to participate in sport, the basics of physical movement have to be learned from the age of three to five. They also believe it is important that physical activity is structured, to teach children skills they can build on in later life.
As a result, the School of Sport has developed a ten-week Fundamental Movement Skills qualification, which has been ratified by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
The qualification is now being tested in a pilot project at the nursery of the privately-run Beaconhurst School in Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, where child development officers have taken the course.
The staff are now introducing half an hour of structured physical activities for all nursery pupils every day of the week.
If successful, the university will roll out the qualification to staff from nurseries across North Lanarkshire, as well as other council areas.
Gail Niven, Stirling University's sports participation manager, who has been delivering the classes, said they had high hopes for the project.
"We saw a real need for people to have knowledge and experience of teaching fundamental movement skills, which can be applied to all physical activities later in life," she said.
"There is a problem with very young people not getting enough physical exercise, but there is also the issue of the quality of what they are learning even if they do have an opportunity for exercise.
"We have the small window of opportunity where we have to teach those skills. The neural pathways of the children are just beginning to set.
"You will never teach them the mature action of an overarm throw, but what you will put in place is the thought processes and the physical actions so it can be developed in primary school.
"That opens avenues and doors for them as they get older and it turns them on to physical activity and sport and it breaks down the barriers and gives them the confidence to participate in future."
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, welcomed the initiative. "We all know that the earlier we learn a skill, the easier it is, so it makes sense that youngsters are taught as early as possible the fundamental physical skills they will need for participation in a range of sports.
"Parents are likely to be very supportive of any work which will help their children be physically active as they grow up."
