We All Just Want to Have Fun! Get Your Game On...

It was a beautiful Friday morning. There was just enough time to get my workout in, shower, and get to campus for a meeting. My gear was on as I was ready for a longer run of the week. Gel packs, check! Shoes tied, check! Sun screen applied, check! New songs on the iPod, check! iPod charged….OMG! How could I forget to charge my iPod? My demeanor dramatically changed. My iPod was my savior from extreme boredom of exercise. The music entertains and engages me assisting in making exercise more enjoyable. Could I go so far as to say it makes exercise more fun when I should enjoy working out regardless of the entertainment provided? I actually tried to rationalize with my mind why I really needed to run that day. My eight mile run turned into three miles as I thought of running an additional five with little to engage me along the way. I realized my iPod truly did make exercise more fun. Exertainment, Exercise and Entertainment, at its finest. How many times have you gone to the gym to do cardio and not listened to music, watched television, read a magazine, or talked to a friend? Probably not often. My point is that we all want to enjoy the activity at hand; and if we do, we are more likely to continue doing it.


Research suggests that the most important element in a child’s life is having fun. Studies also demonstrate children will more likely remain engaged or continue an activity if they consider it enjoyable. If this is the case, it is our job to figure out how to make physical activity more enjoyable. What worked 30 years ago may not be as successful with this generation. What works now may not work five years from now. We need to continue to educate ourselves on appropriate, modern tools that children may find enjoyable and motivating in which they will develop a desire to voluntarily want to be physically active. Active gaming is an appropriate and modern tool that the current generation relates too and undeniable enjoys.

Dr. Ernie Medina, a medical doctor at Beaver Medical Group in California, presented at a conference and posted two pictures: One of an adult running on a treadmill and another of an adult running on a mat while playing a Jackie Chan video game. The tag line said, “Bottom Line...The Heart Doesn’t Care!” I think this really puts physical activity into perspective.

If children will voluntarily choose to participate in an active game opposed to a more sedentary behavior, why not suggest this is a positive behavior? When implemented appropriately in physical education, active gaming can be a fun, healthy, active learning experience – a recipe for successful teaching and learning experiences in the PE classroom.