Not just child’s play
Not all games are alike when it comes to how many calories kids burn playing them. And not all are equally enjoyable to play. A study in the Journal of Pediatrics measured both energy expenditure and enjoyment in 30 schoolyard games. The findings offer a menu of games that could be played during gym and recess to address childhood obesity. Researchers at Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital Boston and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst collaborated on the project. They selected the 30 games through focus groups with physical education teachers and then tested them on 28 third-graders in a large gymnasium. “There’s a big push for more formal physical education in schools, but this game-type activity is also important,” says Voula Osganian, director of the Clinical Research Program at Children’s, associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and senior investigator on the study. “With nutrition and diet, we have the ability to...