Promoting Physical Activity among Children: The “Great Live and Move Challenge”

Objective: The “Great Live and Move Challenge” (GLMC) is an intervention designed to promote physical activity (PA) in schools and the community among 6- to 11-year-old schoolchildren and their families.Method: This project, implemented in the Montpellier and Pays Coeur d’Hérault regions since 2013, encourages children to quantify their daily PA level by illustrating each 15 minutes of exercise by an “energy cube”. Based on collaboration between pilots, teachers and policymakers, this project is implemented over a 6-week period in schools, municipalities and recreation centres. “Great Challenge” events are organized to promote PA. The GLMC is also a theory-based intervention based on the tenets of the planned behaviour theory.Results: Since the 2014-2015 edition, 2,243 children have taken part in the GLMC and have accumulated 391,102 “energy cubes”. In addition, more than 30 “Great Challenge” events have been organized. Since its launch during the 2012-2013 school year, the numbers of children who have taken part in the GLMC have been multiplied by 5.58. The mean number of daily “energy cubes” accumulated by children has increased from 4.04 in the first year to 6.22 in 2014-2015.Conclusion: The “energy cube” can provide a measure of the commitment of children and their surrounding community in a comprehensive approach to PA promotion.