CV&T photo by Rhonda Smyth

Kids love to play video games but most of them don’t get much exercise while playing them. But for the past three weeks students in Jodi Lahrmer’s physical education class at Estill Springs have gotten lots of exercise while playing a video game.
Lahrmer rented a program called C’Motion that is operated by game pads placed on the gym floor. Music plays while kids operate the game by stepping on arrows on the pads in a pattern they see on a large monitor.
“They get a lot of exercise but they also learn about timing and rhythm,” Lahrmer said.
The cost to rent the program was $2,600 and the children brought money from home to pay for it. “There was money available to pay for those children who couldn’t afford their part,” Lahrmer said.
Every class at the school played the game during gym class. They all wore pedometers that counted the number of steps they took during the class. The number of calories they burned was counted by the game.
“The fifth graders got really good at it. Some students have the game at home so they already knew how to work it,” Lahrmer said.
Lahrmer is in her second year as physical education teacher. Previously she taught fifth grade and is certified to teach all elementary grades..