Pupils at schools in New York are using computer games to keep fit in PE lessons.

The Nintendo Wii console, which allows users to play tennis, golf and other sports by interacting with a digital screen, has been moved into school gyms. The pilot scheme in five schools in the city is aimed at establishing whether the technology can get more children interested in sport.

"Anything that's going to help kids sweat and get moving can be a good strategy," Lori Rose Benson, head of the Department of Education's Office of Fitness and Health Education, said.

Ms Benson told The New York Post that she was personally not a "huge supporter" of the concept because of its expense and the limits it imposes on how many students can play at the same time.

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"But I also know that our students learn in lots of different ways and that we can engage students in physical activity through gaming and through interactive techniques," she said.

At one of the schools in the scheme in The Bronx, 25 children have been using the Wii after school for four hours each week. Large television screens and consoles donated by Nintendo allow players to simulate running races and sessions of yoga using a hand-held remote and the Wii Fit touch-sensitive floor pad that detects weight, balance and movement.

The pupils’ images and movements are projected on to the screen and the game instructs them how to adjust their technique and improve.

"It's exciting, because you actually lose weight without even knowing it," said Emmanuel Goua, 13. "It's a fun way to exercise."

Children said that the program also taught them a lot about their bodies and helped them to track any weight loss and changes in skill levels.

"It helps your arms and your biceps and everything," said Thalia Gutierrez, 13.

"I have muscles. I even got abs, too."

The cost of replicating the pilot may make the scheme prohibitive and officials at the Education Department said that any expansion would be funded by private sources.

The craze for the Wii and Wii Fit is not restricted to school children. One survey has estimated that a quarter of Americans over 50 play video games regularly and in the UK, where almost 2 million Wii Fit floor pads have been sold, some care homes for the elderly have introduced the console as part of their exercise regime.

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