ABSTRACT
Technological advances have enabled new forms of physical activity by means of “exergames” (EXGs), which are “a combination of physical exercise with games” (Sinclair et al., 2007). This new form of physical activity can be considered a technology with great potential for encouraging the practice of physical activities, especially among children and adolescents (Biddiss and Irwin, 2010). A very successful game that uses dance is the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which combines music, rhythm and physical exercises (Höysniemi, 2006). Epstein (2007) observed that the use of DDR motivates children to be more active, when compared with the interactive bicycle game. More recently, the Just Dance game has been spread among Nintendo Wii players, which consists of reproducing the movements shown on screen using a controller with a motion sensor that is picked up by the console (Nintendo, 2009). Some studies have shown that in the short term, the use of active videogames increased the levels of physical activity in children, thereby increasing their energy expenditure (Mhurchu et al., 2008; Bailey and McInnis, 2011) and that the use of active videogames provided energy expenditure similar to other physical activities such as: fast walking, jumping, running and climbing stairs (Maddison et al., 2007). Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine what is the physical activity intensity that the Just Dance Kids game offers to children 6–9 years old.
