Tutkimukset Physical activity across the life course Skill-based games
Skill-based games

Skill-based games for recess and physical education
Supporting teachers to maximize enjoyable skill-based games and exercises with moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity
Project aims to develop skill-based games and exercises for 11−14 year old schoolchildren to be used in physical education classes and recess. To have beneficial effects also for health, the games must have at least moderate level intensity.
As overweight and obesity are great concerns all over the world, the preventive actions should start at relatively early age and reach to the maximum number of children. Therefore, the school environment was chosen as the main target. To support the new skill based physical education curricula, the games and exercises are targeted to different skills for developing basic movement skills.
During the project, games and exercises will be merged to ten minutes blocks and tested for moderate to vigorous physical activity by objective measurements. Teachers or sport coaches can plan the lesson easily for target skill and be sure that children will be physically active at sufficient intensity level. Teachers and children will also be involved in the development process, as their feedback is critical. One aspect of choosing the game is how children rate them. To involve all children, the action must be fun. Therefore, we aim for the exercises and games to be enjoyable for children and therefore support their activity during the class.
The exercises and games will also be filmed, so the physical education teachers can easily understand the material. Supportive written material will also be included to highlight the importance of physical activity and health in children and adolescents. All the materials will be available publicly.
Contact information

Jouni Kallio
Researcher Research on physical activity and health +358407440947 jouni.kallio@jamk.fi

Janne Kulmala
Specialist Research on physical activity and health +358400248132 janne.kulmala@jamk.fi

Tuija Tammelin
Principal Researcher Research on physical activity and health +358400247998 tuija.tammelin@jamk.fi

Funding: European Commission through Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Programme
Duration: 2019-2022
Partners: University of Tartu (Estonia), Vilnius University (Lithuania), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)