To get kids active, let them choose

When given the chance to choose from a variety of toys, girls increased their physically active play time  by nearly 200 percent, according to a new pair of studies. “We wanted to see if providing children with choices or autonomy—the ability for the individual to decide how he or she wanted to be physically active—increased their intrinsic motivation to be physically active,” says James Roemmich, associate professor of pediatrics at the University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Results of the studies additionally show that when children are given the opportunity to master games—including exercise games such as those offered by Wii, physical play also increases. The first study, published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports, found that when there was only one toy to play with, boys engaged in 1.3 times longer active play than the girls. But when children were provided access to a choice of active toys, physically active play time increased by nearly 200 percent for girls, compared to an increase of just 42 percent for boys. “We were quite surprised to find such a significant difference between boys and girls,” says Roemmich. Previous studies in the field have consistently revealed that girls are less active than boys. “But giving girls a choice of physical activities made their level of physical play equal to that of boys,” says co-author Denise M. Feda, postdoctoral associate in the Division of Behavioral Medicine of the Department of Pediatrics, where the studies were conducted. “Girls may enjoy the cognitive task of choosing toys, evaluating them and selecting which to play with, whereas the selection process and thinking about the toys may be less appealing to boys,” the paper states. In the same study, average exercise intensity increased for both boys and girls when children were offered a choice of toys. Active toys involved in the study included mini hockey, bean bag toss combined with tic-tac-toe, mini indoor basketball, and jump rope. In the second study, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, the researchers looked more closely at how autonomy and mastery—a force that motivates a child to develop proficiency—increased intrinsic motivation for physical activity. That study revealed that a combination of autonomy and mastery were most powerful in increasing children’s physical activity time. The researchers wanted to know if the mastery component of exergames or Wii games would motivate children to increase play time, reducing the need for choice to motivate activity, explains Roemmich. “Indeed, we found that the combination of autonomy (choosing from several different games) and mastery (playing exergames) produced the greatest increases in physical activity time,” says Roemmich. However, he adds, increasing physical activity time isn’t the whole story. While the children played Wii games for twice as long as they played traditional versions of the same games, such as basketball, boxing, golf, and hockey, they expended only half the energy during Wii games. “In traditional games, children expend a lot of energy chasing after balls and pucks, while with exergames, they are just waiting for the game to reset,” says Roemmich. So what should parents do? “Focus on finding 3 to 5 active games that your children like and make them easily accessible around the home,” says Roemmich. These can be dance or yoga DVDs, exergames, or mini versions of basketball and hockey for in-home use. And, he says, exergames do have their place. “If an exergame displaces watching TV or playing a videogame, then even the lighter intensity physical activity is preferable.” Outside the home, parents should seek a variety of activities that could include formal or aerobic dancing, zumba, basketball, or martial arts. Roemmich suggests that parents seek out fitness centers and youth centers that promote autonomy and choice by not charging extra for such choice of programming. Researchers from Kent State University contributed to the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.