What's the most effective way of encouraging children to participate fully in 30 minutes of physical activity a day?

A core part of the Department of Health’s “Childhood obesity: a plan for action” came from the discovery that one third of children in primary schools were either overweight or obese.

As a result the plan was launched for 30 minutes physical activity a day for children in primary schools, beyond the PE lessons.

Two points stood out in this report. First, obesity in young children is clearly harmful and costly. Second, a large number of studies have shown that regular physical activity does increase IQ.

However, as many schools have found, if one is going to encourage children who are already overweight to make use of the 30 minutes physical activity a day. It is essential that some of the activities are individual rather than team orientated and that the activities are varied.

With this in mind we’ve brought together a unique range of physical activity projects that do encourage children of all ages and all weights to engage in the activity.

From Resistance Parachutes to Airball games, Fitness Dice to Hoop Mazes, this range is dedicated to encourage all children to take part in the compulsory 30 minutes activity a day.

You can see a copy of our catalogue at http://www.files.schools.co.uk/hosting/NationalCurriculumPEandPhysicalDevelopmentintheEYFS.pdf