Mini-PlayLab model: A gamified approach to enhance motivation and fundamental movement skills

Background: Physical education (PE) plays a critical role in supporting children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. However, PE instruction in elementary schools often remains teacher-centred and provides limited opportunities for active participation. Although previous studies have demonstrated the positive effects of gamification on learning motivation and play-based movement activities on motor development, limited research has integrated these approaches within a structured pedagogical model that simultaneously addresses affective and psychomotor learning outcomes. Objectives: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the mini-PlayLab Learning Model, a structured instructional model integrating gamification and play-based movement learning, to improve elementary school students’ learning motivation and fundamental movement skills. Methods: A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design was employed involving 60 fifth-grade students, with 30 students assigned to the experimental group and 30 students to the control group. Data were collected using a Learning Motivation Questionnaire and a Fundamental Movement Skills Assessment. The intervention was implemented over eight weeks. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and effect size analysis. Results: After controlling for baseline differences using ANCOVA, the experimental group achieved significantly higher adjusted posttest scores than the control group for both learning motivation and fundamental movement skills (both p < 0.001). Large intervention effects were observed for learning motivation (partial η² = 0.25) and fundamental movement skills (partial η² = 0.29), indicating meaningful improvements in students’ affective and psychomotor learning outcomes following implementation of the mini-PlayLab learning model. Conclusion: The mini-PlayLab Learning Model is an effective instructional model for enhancing elementary school students’ learning motivation and fundamental movement skills. The findings contribute to Physical education pedagogy by providing empirical evidence for a structured instructional model that systematically integrates gamification and play-based movement learning to simultaneously support affective and psychomotor development.