Here you can find resources and materials to help you stay fit and healthy at home or at school.

websites to help keep you active
 

joe wicks - the body coach tv
 

The Body Coach TV - The Body Coach TV is where Joe Wicks post weekly HIIT workouts and exercises sessions.  These sessions are ideal for children and parents to help burn fat and get fitter, stronger, healthier and lean.  Most of his workouts can be done anywhere with no equipment.

#PEwithJoe and The Body Coach (You Tube Channel)

Get involved and have fun!!

bbc supermovers
 

Introducing Super Movers!

The Premier League and BBC have teamed up to get the nation’s primary school children moving to warm up their brains ready to learn.

Working hand in hand with the Premier League Primary Stars resources, Super Movers offers teachers fun videos, ideas and incentives to inspire children to be more active throughout their day – all free and available online at www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers

Active children do better and get more from their school day. Famous faces from the worlds of football, children’s television and music feature in Super Movers content, designed to encourage children to move, activate their minds and enjoy learning.

Get ready to be a Super Mover school and supercharge your children's learning by visiting the Super Movers website!

team gb - tokyo olympics
 

Team GB and ParalympicsGB believe that staying active matters, now more than ever, both for physical and mental wellbeing. While we might not be heading to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this year, Travel to Tokyo, with funding from Sport England, is helping millions of 5 to 11-year-olds and their families from across the UK to get active together. Find out more here.

go noodle
 

Introducing GoNoodle: Good Energy at Home

With so many kids home from school, we want to keep Good Energy going! GoNoodle: Good Energy at Home is a free online resource for parents, caregivers, teachers, and kids. It offers free movement, yoga, and mindfulness videos, downloadable curricular activities, and off-screen home activities. These resources span a variety of abilities, interests, ages, and subjects.

Check it out - https://www.gonoodle.com/

the daily mile
 

The Daily Mile is a simple but ground-breaking initiative, encouraging primary schools and nurseries to take children outside running for 15 minutes each day. The aim of The Daily Mile is to improve the physical, emotional, social health and wellbeing of children in the United Kingdom and around the world – regardless of age or personal circumstances, to create healthy habits for life.

The Daily Mile team have adapted their guidance for schools so that it can also be used at home.

The aim is to produce the same benefits which come from 15 minutes or more of walking, running or jogging in the fresh air - doing it at whatever pace suits you best.

Use #DailyMileAtHome on social media or click here for more information.

top ya
 

The School Games Active Championships is a national activity campaign to help young people across the UK to #StayInWorkOut using the video-based platform powered by TopYa!. New challenges will be available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to engage with.

Primary and secondary-aged children can join the School Games Active Championships at any time with free active challenges being set via videos within a designated School Games version of the TopYa! Active app. All you need to do is download the app, register as a player and type in the Invite Code 23880.

Children practise the challenges, then submit their best video using a mobile device to receive personal coaching feedback from the TopYa! team of experienced virtual coaches. Points are earned for each video submitted, leading to climbing leaderboards and winning prizes!

The TopYa! Active app is committed to online safety and meets rigorous COPPA and GDPR safeguarding standards. No one can communicate within the app. All children can do to communicate with one another is give each other a virtual ‘high-five’, which functions like a social media ‘like’.

Video content is suitable for young people of all ages and abilities, with regular submissions from National Governing Bodies of Sport.

How do I get involved?

Children:

  1. Download the TopYa! Active app from the App Store or Google Play
  2. Create your Player (child) account
  3. When prompted to enter an Invite Code enter 23880 and then choose Primary or Secondary School League based on which type of school you attend

If you are under 13 years old, ask your parent or guardian set up the TopYa! Active account first, and then create player (child) accounts afterwards.

Teachers:

When downloading TopYa! Active for the first time from the App Store or Google Play:

  1. Create a new PLAYER account
  2. Enter invite code: 23880 during account creation
  3. Select BOTH the Primary School League and Secondary School League when prompted to join a Team or School Age Group
  4. Enter your actual birth date during signup

If you already have a TopYa! Active account:

  1. CREATE A NEW PLAYER ACCOUNT - PLEASE DO NOT USE YOUR EXISTING TOPYA ACCOUNT
  2. Follow the instructions above

Parents:

Create your own account, and then create your young person's account(s). Skip the invite process and simply tell them their username or let them use your device to submit challenges. (They need your permission to use the app if they are younger than 13). All activity on the app is COPPA and GDPR compliant, providing a safe online space for children to complete skill challenges, upload videos and get thoughtful virtual coaching feedback.

Follow these steps:

  1. Download the TopYa! Active app from the App Store or Google Play
  2. Create your Parent account
  3. When prompted to enter an Invite Code enter 23880 and then choose Primary or Secondary School League based on which type of school your child attends
  4. Then create your kid(s) account(s)
  5. Let them work on the activities on their own device or film and upload videos from your device on their behalf!

If you have any questions, please click: FAQs page.

the football association (fa)
 

The FA have created their own purpose-built 'at home' site full of resources to keep you busy. This includes colouring challenges, maths games, virtual classroom resources and more.

Specifically for primary-aged pupils, there's also the Superkicks app, which offers more challenges for young ones directly from FA coaches.

Find out more about how it works here.

THE LAWN TENNIS ASSOCIATION (LTA)
 

Using a set of resources created by the Lawn Tennis Association you can improve your tennis skills any time, any place, with their Home Activities hub.

It's full of activities for the whole family.  Their hub is divided into four areas, all of which are freely accessible and can be found here. ​​​​

Eating fit at home 

be sugar smart
NHS/Change for Life - Snack smart!
  • Half the sugar children are having comes from snacks and sugary drinks.
  • Too much sugar can lead to harmful fat building up inside and serious health problems, including painful tooth decay.
  • Fruit and vegetables are always the best choice, but if you're shopping for packaged snacks for your children, use this helpful tip: look for 100 calorie snacks, two a day max!
 
100 calorie snacks

Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Lower-fat, lower-sugar yogurt (some flavours include strawberry, raspberry, banana, apricot)
  • Fresh or tinned fruit salad
  • Chopped vegetables and lower-fat hummus
  • Plain rice cakes or crackers with lower-fat cheese
  • Sugar-free jelly
  • One crumpet
Did you know?

Half the sugar kids eat and drink each year comes from snacks and sugary drinks between meals – that's 10kg of sugar each year!

 
Smart swaps
  • After school, swap biscuits, sweets and chocolate muffins for healthier snacks like fruit and chopped veggies, plain rice cakes, toast with lower-fat spread or a fruited teacake. 

Please use this link for further NHS advice on food facts and sugar swaps:
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/food-facts/healthier-snacks-for-kids

jamie olivers keep cooking and carry on
 

Spending more time in the home and being more mindful of how we are using our food has been an interesting topic throughout the past few days for likely most of us.  During the past week we have had to think about the best use of what we have in our kitchen cupboards and it was Jamie Oliver’s Keep Cooking and Carry On programme that really hit the taste buds this week.

Jamie’s 5 show series started on Monday 23rd March and provided recipes that allowed you to easily swap in and out ingredients depending on what you have in your kitchen.  He also spoke about utilise your freezer and any foods you may have in the back of your cupboards so nothing goes to waste, including lots of tasty vegetarian recipes.

Jamie’s 5 Keep Cooking and Carry On programmes can be watched at your leisure through the C4 website and Facebook page.

To wet your appetite, here is a link to an episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z-WKvuYp6s 

eggs - a great healthy option
 

Let’s put the spotlight on Eggs…,,

One thing that is a very versatile tool in most of our kitchens are eggs.  Hopefully you have managed to get hold of some because they truly are magical forms of food when it comes to eating fit!

Eggs are low in calories (78 each) and are a very efficient food source, rich in protein and vitamins.  In fact, eggs contain lots of nutrients which aid bone health, brain development and boost the immune system.

Find out more about an egg and its amazing abilities through this short clip:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04tgww9

Here are 5 creative ways to make eggs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glncvhNXkH4

food portion sizes
 

Eating at home and preparing the right amount of food has been an interesting challenge whilst being at home.  Portion sizes in supermarkets, restaurants and what we are serving up at home has been shown to have increased over recent years and this could be contributing to the rise of those deemed to be an unhealthy weight.

But how much food do we and our young children actually need? 

Here is some help and guidance from the BBC:

All children are different and your child may need different amounts of food depending on how they’re feeling or what they’ve been doing on a particular day – for example, a child who’s been running around will need more food than one who isn’t feeling very well.

There are a number of things parents and carers can do to help children pay attention to their feelings of fullness and hunger:

  1. Encourage your child to eat slowly. It can take our brains a while to register what we’ve eaten, so if you’re having more than one course, leave a break before offering pudding.
  2. Have regular meals at set times and allow two or three snacks between meals rather than having food available all day.
  3. Never make your child finish everything on their plate – it may make them uncomfortably full and put them off food in future.
  4. Some researchers have found that children will eat the right amount if they are allowed to serve themselves – although that may need some supervision for little ones!
  5. Remember that children’s stomachs are smaller than adults (and younger children’s are smaller than their older siblings), so don’t expect the whole family to eat the same amount.
  6. The best plan is for the parent or carer to decide the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ they have food, and for the child to determine ‘how much’. If there’s a choice of healthy foods on offer, most children won’t over-eat.
smart snacking
 

Some top tips for smart snacking:

Establish a routine and plan your meals

Try to establish a normal routine by sticking to set meal times. This can help you to manage hunger and prevent snacking on less healthy foods. Plan healthy meals for the week in advance and make a shopping list. Planning your meals should help you to eat more healthily as well as reducing food waste.
You may find it useful to use the Eatwell 
Guide when planning healthy meals: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/528193/Eatwell_guide_colour.pdf

Avoid snacking on less healthy food

If you are making regular trips to the kitchen and snacking on less healthy food because you are bored, try stocking up on healthy snacks, such as fruit & veg, nuts, seeds, rice cakes, yoghurt).

When we see junk food, such as chocolate, biscuits or crisps, it can be tempting to eat it, so you could try hiding the junk food away and making healthier snacks more visible. You can also try waiting until you are hungry before visiting the kitchen.

Are you eating enough?

At-risk groups who have been advised to stay at home are likely to have a greater risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition is a serious condition where people do not get enough nutrients from their diet. This is more common in older people and it can increase the risk of infection as well as delaying recovery. Some tips for avoiding malnutrition include:

  • Eat a good source of protein every day (e.g. fish, meat, eggs, nuts, beans, tofu).
  • Consume 2 or 3 portions of dairy every day (e.g. milk, cheese, yoghurt or dairy alternatives such as soya milk).
  • Include starchy foods at every meal (e.g. bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals).
  • Eat a minimum of five portions of fruit and veg every day
  • If you eat fish, aim for two portions a week and try to include oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring and
  • Drink 6 to 8 cups/glasses of fluid every day.
healthy cupcakes
 

Healthy Cupcakes!

Hopefully now we have begun to settle into some home routines we may have some more time to trying out some recipes that are quick, simple, fun and healthy!

There are a number of famous faces that have begun to pop-up offering us some home cooking tips and I would like to share one offering from Tracey Neville as part of the Vitality at Home health advice.

New mum and former Vitality Roses coach Tracey Neville has given us her super quick egg cupcake recipe.  This is a super-quick home cooking video that uses minimal ingredients and ideal if you are looking to whip up a healthy snack from scratch between managing your home schooling.  Here’s the full details:

Tracey Neville’s Egg Cupcakes

Timings

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Makes 6 cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 6 x eggs
  • Choice of chopped vegetables (Tracey likes broccoli, peppers and onion)
  • Handful of grated cheese for flavouring
  • Milk
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Prep any filling you want to include in your egg cupcakes – you can use bell peppers, onions, chopped broccoli or even cheese and ham
  • Prep your muffin tin by rubbing a dash of oil around the tin
  • Crack your eggs into a jug and whisk together; add a splash of milk and season to taste
  • Spoon your veggie mix into the muffin tin
  • Pour your egg mixture on top of your veggies
  • Pop in the oven for 20 minutes on 180C/350F

Why not follow along with Tracey’s whilst having a go yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R-JbafO0hE

 

controlling the cravings
 

 

Something that I’m sure we all find difficult to manage is the temptation to snack whilst in front of the TV.  Delving into those cupboards and biscuit tins between tv shows can be all too tempting but controlling the cravings is very important if we are going to look after our health.

So with that in mind, here are some top tips and advice from the BBC to help us try to kick those unhealthy snacking habits: