Hunting Relics: A Persuasive Exergame to Promote Collective Exercise in Young Children

Abstract

Child obesity and being overweight is a health problem of increasing occurrence. Sedentary lifestyles and lack of exercise affect young children’s motor skills development, hence their quality of life. This study presents the design and evaluation of Hunting Relics, a collaborative exergame to promote collective exertion in young children. The system runs on an interactive floor and was designed using an iterative user-centered methodology in combination with the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation to generate Behavior (COM-B) model. To evaluate the impact of our design choices, two deployment studies were conducted. Results show that Hunting Relics augments existing exercise routines, keeps young children engaged for the long term, and persuades them to discover new collaborative practices to support exercising. A discussion follows about how the COM-B model is a useful framework to design exergames for young children and the impact of Hunting Relics from an educational, technical, and clinical perspective.

Notes

¹ Children between 2 and 4 years of age.

² We define exercise or physical exercise as physical activity executed in a logic and chronologic form involving the repetition of a sequence of movements and aiming to enhance or maintain physical fitness (CONADE, 2012).

³ We define physical activity as any body movement that requires energy expenditure (CONADE, 2012).Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/hihc.

⁴ Young children between 2 and 6 years old attend the kindergarten.

⁵ Participants’ quotes were translated from Spanish to English, and we use the initial letter of the teacher’s name for identification. KG = kindergarten; PE = physical education; AT = art.

Additional information

Funding

We also thank CONACYT for the student fellowships. This work was also funded by the Microsoft Faculty Fellowship grant from the second author.

Notes on contributors

Franceli L. Cibrian

Franceli L. Cibrian is a PhD student in the Computer Science Department at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education. She has a background in Computer System Engineering. Her research interests are human–computer interaction and ubiquitous computing focusing on the design, development, and evaluation of interactive technology for children.

Monica Tentori

Monica Tentori is an associate professor in CICESE, where she investigates the human experience of ubiquitous computing to inform the design of ubiquitous environments that effectively enhance humans’ interactions with their world. Tentori was the first Latin American woman to receive the Microsoft Faculty Fellowship.

Ana I. Martínez-García

Ana I. Martínez-García is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE). She received a PhD in computer science from the University of Manchester, UK. Her research interests and experience include medical informatics, human–computer interaction, and exergames in support of education and therapies for young children and older adults.