Summary of the Project

The project “Walk Around the Earth” addresses the alarming problem of physical inactivity among children, which escalated during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The Project Coordinator has invited 9 partners from Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Serbia, and Cyprus to jointly develop an initiative aimed at increasing children’s motivation to become physically active and adopt healthy lifestyle habits as an alternative to the increasingly sedentary way of life.

The project will create virtual routes accompanied by engaging content (interesting facts related to each route on topics such as ecology, general knowledge, social and EU themes). Participants, primarily students from partner institutions, will be invited to take part in a series of challenges by forming teams and completing designated routes through walking, running, cycling, or skating, at any time and place they choose. A mobile app, developed as part of the project, will enable participants to track their results in real time, view the virtual route map, see their current position, and access a scoreboard displaying both individual and team results. Participants will also be encouraged to form inclusive teams that represent a diversity of social backgrounds, genders, and physical and mental (dis)abilities, thereby promoting equal opportunities and raising awareness of an inclusive society. In this way, the project’s main objective will be fulfilled: to motivate students, as well as other interested stakeholders, to engage in physical activity by combining it with digital technologies (mobile app, activity tracking) and learning opportunities (educational content in the app), making movement both attractive and enjoyable.