Understanding Physical Activity

In order to design and prototype a physical, interactive and skill building product for children I first wanted to understand the needs for physical skills and what they are.

Physical
I quickly learnt that our target demographic (3-5 years), is known as the 'Golden Age' of motor development. It is during these years that important skills like running, jumping, throwing and catching are developed.
Motor skills can be divided into three types: locomotor (e.g running, hopping, jumping), object control (e.g throwing, catching, kicking), and stability and balance. The golden age is when children improve the most in these skills, it is also through physical activity that children gain and improve motor and locomotor skills.
There are slight differences in motor development between boys and girls. Research shows that boys tend to be better at object control skills (e.g throwing, catching) while girls usually have better locomotor skills (e.g hopping, galloping). (Child Health & Exercise Medicine Program, 2011) 

By increasing physical activity in children when they're young you can encourage long term benefits i.e.
- Improve their health (Reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes)
- Improve their grades (Boost brain function)
- Maintain a healthy body weight
- Improve their fitness (Strengthen muscles and improved bone density)
- Increase social activity (Improve self esteem)
- Fine tune motor and locomotor skills (Visual tracking and balance) (ParticipACTION, 2013).

Whilst researching physical skills I came across a great initiative in Canada called "Participaction". They encourage parents to promote physical activity in their children and communities by sending the message of "Unplug and Play".  They demonstrate that physical inactivity costs Canadian taxpayers approximately $6.8 million a year, or 3.7% of health care costs per year. I would love to find some localised statistics regarding these facts! This research may be slightly off topic it is directional information from a marketing/"kickstarter video" perspective. This kind of factual perspective is what could lead a schools decision to purchase a product if they're considering how to make a healthy start initiative in their community.

I would like to do some further research into physical activity and how they improve social skills. That being said I shall title my next topic for research: "Interactive Games & Social Skills".

**Katie**