22/06/2020
Sports leaders and charities have urged Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to ensure physical development and wellbeing is being prioritised.
The Government has been warned over a potential lost generation of young people who are denied the lifelong benefits of sport after it was revealed that the number of children meeting recommended activity levels has fallen sharply since lockdown began in March.
Joe Wicks, who has provided daily activity sessions for the last 13 weeks, with over 70 million views, has announced that he is stopping in favour of three online workouts a week.
With schools providing many children with their main daily opportunity to get active and now unlikely to reopen fully before September, it is important to remember that exercise is not only fundamental for physical health but for a child’s mental health and wellbeing also. If your school has decided against running PE lessons due to COVID-19 or put restrictions on normal lessons in place, then why not boost this by offering an exercise programme for children to do at home?
The Chief Medical Officer recommends that children complete an average of at least 60 minutes of activity every day and 47 percent of children achieved that figure in the most recent survey, published in December 2019. That same figure ranged from between just 14 and 22 percent during lockdown. Most worrying of all, approximately one in 10 children reported doing no daily activity at all during lockdown.
“A later return to school for many pupils will mean children will continue to miss out on the important contribution of PE and sport to their physical development and wellbeing,” said Ali Oliver, the chief executive of the Youth Sports Trust. “It will be vital that schools are encouraged and empowered to deliver these as part of their re-introduction curriculum if we want to ensure this generation of young people do not become the ‘lost generation’ who miss out on the life-changing benefits of sport.”
Maudesport has developed a series of workouts, games and activities that are fun and simple to do at home.
Why not provide them as homework? Simply send our webpage to parents or print off the activities for students to take home.
Exercise is an amazing tool to help us feel happier, more energised, and more optimistic, so we encourage people to keep moving and stay healthy and positive.
With the world missing its football fix, why not challenge pupils to a creative shooting contest? All you need is something to kick and something to aim for.
Relay races make for a fun activity that can be played both indoors and outside. Why not bring a little sports day home.
For as long as many of us can remember, jump rope has been a popular form of play. Children can gain a number of benefits from this old-school playground activity.
Bean bags are fun and versatile to have around. They can be used for several different games. Children can use their imagination and play bean bag games in many different ways as well.
The perfect activity for bringing mindfulness and exercise together. Maudesport has created some great yoga poses and activities for children to do at home.
Resistance bands are great for a full-body workout, indoors or outdoors. Even for little people!
With the advice to disinfect equipment between uses and to prevent students from sharing apparatus, you may find you need to increase your available stocks.
Here are some popular products to help you stock up and provide the option for students to borrow equipment to use at home.
