Pro’s

• Interactive
• simple and easy to use
• printable rewards
• child friendly
• 91% of households have access to the internet in the UK
• free of charge
• accessed on phones, tablets and laptops (can be accessed on the go)
• parent can set restrictions

 

Con’s

• 9% of the UK don’t have access to the Internet
• Parents my not want their children using certain technology or being exposed to the internet at a young age
• Parent would have to monitor the child while using the website to check they don’t browse on other sites

 

The con’s list isn’t huge as the website itself is very safe for children, there will be no way that a child can interact with another profile making this site child friendly. The website itself will just be for tracking the amount of exercise they have done each day and rewarding them for hitting targets. It’s basically a digital, more interactive and fun version of a wall chart (example below).

 

I have decided that creating an animation to be put on the reward website will be a great way of promoting the scheme but also a fun way for kids to see how the website works.

I have been looking at other promotional videos for kids  and these are the ones I found really effective:

 

The bright and bold colours in this video really caught my eye and I believe kids will be more intrigued to watch the animation because of the colours. I also like the up beat song that is included. Although this isn’t a promotional video, it gave me ideas for the colours and types of images to include in my video.

 

This video caught my eye as it was different the images being drawn on a whiteboard to explain what the video is about. I think this is very effective and even though the words and explanations are a bit too complexed for the age range that I am going for, It has still given me some ideas for the set up of the animation that I will be making. I will also be having a voice over included in the animation.

 

There aren’t many existing digital products that help decrease child obesity; the BBC brought out an IWonder site that helps parents to find the best exercise for their children. The website has a questionnaire for parents to complete on “Which activity would suit my pre-schooler?”, it also gives a list of small things that can be done by parents to help their child exercise more. Including going outdoors, ditching the car and other simple things like this. There is also a section on why children need exercise, which is a good way to teach parents why they should be encouraging physical activity within their child’s life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c99j6

I do think the BBC’s website is good for information , however there isn’t much interaction and its more parent based, whereas I want to make my product more child friendly so they can use it too.

Another digital product that I found was an app called “Sworkit Kids – Workout Trainer”. As more and more young children are getting smart phones and tablets, this is another way that children can exercise. They simply download the app and it gives a child friendly workout that they can do whenever and wherever. A child can also customize a workout to whatever they want. It has 3 different sections (Strength, Ability and Flexibility and Balance) that the child can choose from and they can also decide how many minutes they want to do the exercise for, from 5 to 60 minutes. The good thing about this app is that it includes child friendly exercises, including hop scotch, skipping rops and star jumps, these are the types of exercises that appeal to children as they are fun and lively to do.

http://lifehacker.com/sworkit-kids-gets-your-kids-moving-with-randomly-genera-1741485626

This app is a good idea although not all children have access to it and some parents may not want their children having that type of technology at that age. I will take this into consideration when creating my product and not only will I make it child friendly and interactive. I will also makes sure it is something that everyone has access to.

Children are meant to complete 60 minutes of physical activity a day however not even half of the child population do this. This is quite shocking and clearly something needs o change.

They are systems like PE (Physical Education) already in place to help increase exercise in children, however is this enough?

The PLAY (Promoting Lifestyle Activity for Youth) program, which encourages the accumulation of 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily beyond school time and during regular school hours outside of PE classes, has been shown to increase the physical activity levels of children, especially girls. Children can increase their physical activity levels in many other ways during school and nonschool hours, including active transportation, unorganized outdoor free play, personal fitness and recreational activities, and organized sports. Parents of children in organized sports should be encouraged to stimulate their children to be physically active on days when they are not participating in these sports and not rely solely on the sports to provide all their away-from-school physical activity. This should include participation in physical activities with the entire family. Communities designed with green spaces and biking trails help provide families the means to enjoy such active lifestyles.

Although there are already ideas set in place to help increase physical activity in children, I believe that my idea will work well and also give the motivation needed to complete more exercise.

Children are more motivated when they are getting a reward at the end of a task. This is why I have decided to create a reward system website that children and parents can both use to help keep track of their exercise. This will track the amount of exercise they do everyday and every week.

Albert Bandura says in his social learning theory that, “positive (or negative) reinforcement will have key link to child’s behaviour”.

I will be creating a questionnaire for parents on what they think the best rewards would be for children to keep them motivated to do physical activity.

I have chosen to create a website for this idea as I believe it is a quick and easy way that both children and parents will be able to use.

Many parents and teachers use star charts and things like this to reward children for good work or good behaviour, so adapting this method in to rewarding for physical activity means I already know that it will work.