Graphic design students from the University of Canberra teamed up with third and fourth graders from Giralang Primary School to create a "report card" aimed at helping students reach healthy fitness levels and body weight.

The Physical Activity and Lifestyle Management (PALM) card system works by measuring students on cardiovascular endurance, body fat, elastic leg strength and other muscle strength.

The results of students in grades three and upwards would be tested at the beginning and end of each year and compared with the rest of the class and country.

University of Canberra professor of public health Tom Cochrane, who co-authored research on the project, said the initiative was only in the planning stage and he was meeting with ACT government ministers early next year to discuss trialling it in Canberra schools.

"It's divided into two parts: an information section designed to be easily understood by children which explains the amount of exercise they should get and how to eat healthily - and a report card," Professor Cochrane said.

"The report card gets sent to parents and gives progression pathways through the primary school years, so they can think 'what is a reasonable expectation for a child at that age?'"

The most recent ACT Health Minister's report found eight out of 10 primary school and 88 per cent of high school students in the ACT are not doing enough exercise.

While childhood obesity rates have remained relatively stable in recent years, research conducted by Canberra University's Health Research Institute and Robert de Castella's charity SmartStart for Kids found they could be slashed if families made small changes such as 15 minutes of exercise and cutting one small chocolate bar from their diet each day.

The PALM project was based on the ideal measurements gathered from the SmartStart for Kids data.

It was led by the UC's Health Research Institute and Cross-Cultural Design Lab.

Primary school students took part in several workshops over the past year which urged them to think about their own health and fill in questionnaires created by graphic designers to assist them with developing the PALM cards.

University of Canberra assistant professor of graphic design and founder of the Cross-Cultural Design Lab, Dr Lisa Scharoun, said involving the children in the process helped university students design a card that would be easily understood and embraced.

The winning report card, as voted by the pupils, was created by UC student Leesa Morely and will be trialled in schools next year if the ACT government gets on board with the idea.

An ACT government spokesperson said there were no plans to support this style of testing at this stage and the government was focusing on its Healthy Weight Initiate, a long term program which involves a number of activities to prevent and address the consequences of overweight and obesity.

"The ACT Government talks to a range of stakeholders about ideas and initiatives to keep children healthy and active," they said.

"It's great to see the students at Giralang Primary focusing their efforts to stay healthy and active."