This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of a combined exergaming and physical education (PE) program on children's motor skill competence (MSC) and health-related fitness (HRF) as compared to traditional PE. A total of 261 second- and third-grade children (127 boys; 8.25 ± 0.66 years for male; 8.29 ± 0.74 years for female; 73.6% non-Hispanic white) participated in the nine-month study from 2012 to 2013. Children were assigned to one of the two groups: (a) intervention group (125 min of alternating PE and exergaming weekly); and (b) comparison group (125-min weekly PE). MSC was assessed via product scores in two locomotor and two object control skills. HRF included the cardiorespiratory fitness, musculoskeletal fitness, and body mass index (BMI). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to analyze the effect of the combined exergaming⁻PE program on children's MSC and HRF. There were significant group by time interaction effects for BMI, p < 0.01, η² = 0.20; musculoskeletal fitness, p < 0.01, η² = 0.13; and object control skills (the comparison group demonstrating greater improvement), p = 0.01, η² = 0.03. The findings suggest that the combined exergaming program can have a positive effect on children's BMI and musculoskeletal fitness, indicating that exergaming can be an alternative school-based program to supplement traditional PE.
Keywords: active video games; cardiorespiratory fitness; locomotor skills; motor skill competence; musculoskeletal fitness; object control skills.