Childrens' Views of Fun in Physical Activity Settings

Purpose: That children pursue physical activity for the sake of enjoyment or fun has been confirmed by a number of scholars (Ewing & Seefeldt, 1988; Gill, Gross, & Huddleston, 1983). For youth sport specifically, enjoyment is acknowledged as a key factor for continued involvement in sport (Weiss, Kimmel, & Smith, 2001). With the Scanlan and Lewthwaite's (1986) sport enjoyment model as its conceptual framework this study explores children's reports of their most fun and least fun physical activity experiences.

Methods: Thirty-nine children (24 males, 15 females) aged 7-12 years, were recruited from a summer activity program. Each child participated in a 20- to 30-minute semi-structured tape-recorded interview in which s/he communicated critical incidents that represented his/her most fun and least fun experiences in (1) the summer activity program, (2) physical education, and (3) his/her favorite sport. The use of the critical incident technique is advocated as an appropriate framework for “gathering concrete descriptions of behavior with either highly successful or highly unsuccessful outcomes” (Zalman & Bryant, 2002, p. 5). Constant comparative techniques were used to analyze responses gathered from the semi-structured interviews (LeCompte & Schensul, 1990).

Analysis/Results: With regard to the summer activity program the most frequently identified fun incidents were water-related (26 incidents), including swimming (18) and kayaking (8). The least fun incidents in this program related to experiences of injury or personal harm (8), low skill levels (6), environmental conditions, (4) and basketball. Eight children could not provide an incident related to least fun, articulating statements such as, “I enjoyed almost everything here.” Critical incidents reported for the most fun physical education experiences were: specific games (e.g. sharks and minnows, monkey ball) (7), basketball (7), field/fun day (6), and free time (5). Eight children could not report a least fun incident; however 14 different sport or activities were cited related to the least fun critical incidents in physical education. Fun incidents while participating in their favorite sports were related to winning contests or excelling in some way (17) and experiences with shared with friends and family members (10). The least fun critical incidents related to participation in their favorite sports were divided among: losing/poor performance (8), environmental conditions (5), drills/practice (10), and no incident to report (5).

Conclusions: Because fun and enjoyment are highly related to childrens' physical activity participation, this study sheds light on circumstances and conditions that could enhance or constrain childrens' physical activity.