Exercise and how to stay active

The NHS advises that children between 5 and 18 need aerobic exercises to strengthen muscles and bones. They should have around 1 hour of moderate intensity exercise each day, which develops movement skills, bones and muscles. These should ideally be varied in type and intensity and make you breathe faster and feel warmer.

The hour of exercise doesn’t have to be in one go and in our current situation, spreading it out through the day will probably benefit children more.

Exercise has also been associated with helping children’s wellbeing by improving their control over anxiety, this is especially important during this challenging time.

Here are a few links that are available on the internet to encourage exercise within the home.

www.youtube.com Joe Wicks has a PE lesson every morning at 9am on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/fun-exercises-to-do-at-home-with-kids this is for younger children but has ideas that can be adapted for older children.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers Educational short movement songs suitable for KS1 and KS2 covering a range of learning throughout the curriculum.

https://www.gonoodle.com/ Songs to dance move to, mindfulness videos, yoga.

www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga A range of yoga videos for children.

www.facebook.com search for Oti Mabuse Kids dance classes.

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/activities/indoor-activities

Alongside exercise, getting enough Vitamin D is also important to keep our teeth, bones and muscles healthy. The NHS website gives advice on how to safely expose our skin to enough vitamin D but also protect ourselves from the sun’s rays.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin-d-from-sunlight/