Hi-tech tracker boosts young children's active play

The school used a €5,000 grant from the It’s Great Out There Coalition, which promotes outdoor activity in Europe, to buy 85 activity trackers for its Year 1 and 2 children to wear over the summer term.

The trackers by Finnish company ReimaGO are used by nurseries and schools in Finland.

They measure the intensity and duration of children's movement, motivate them to be more active and support active play.

Children wore the ReimaGO trackers every school day during the three month period.

The trackers, which were placed in pockets or worn on wristbands, recorded an average of two hours and 50 minutes of activity per day among children at Rosendale.

Children’s most active time was between 12 noon and 1pm, and the highest daily level they reached was four-and- a quarter hours as they got closer to the end of the study.

Movement sensors on the trackers were able to track the duration and intensity of physical activity.

The data was then turned into ‘energy’ for a virtual character in a game on an app. The more children move the better they do in playing the game, which encourages them to be more active.