Activity (7-11 Years)

Activity 1 - Being active is important for health.

Ask the children the following types of question to get them thinking about being active:

• How have you been active today?
• What activities do you usually do?

Write some of the children’s answers on the board and discuss them with the class. Continue with questions about how they feel whilst they are active and after they have been active.

• How do you feel when you are active? Do you feel out of breath, warmer/cooler, more/less tired and/or sweaty?
• How do you feel after you have been active?

Continue the questioning:

• Why do you think you feel like this when you are active? (Because you are moving more. Because you are using energy.)

Introduce the children to the 3 different types of physical activity:

• active living, e.g. walking, gardening;
• active recreation, e.g. play, dance, cycling;
• organised sport, e.g. school sport, competitions.

Ask the children to keep an activity diary, looking at the 3 different types of activity. Use the Being active worksheet.

Get the children to compare their activity charts with each other.

• How could they improve?
• What steps could be taken?

Create a class activity chart on the wall.

Discuss why being active is important using the Get Active presentation. Talk to the class about their favourite activities and why they like them.

Use the Benefits of activity worksheet to get children to think about why we need to be active and discuss the answers with the class, e.g. to help us to have: strong bones; strong muscles; a healthy heart.

Ask the children if they can think of any other benefits of being active, such as to help us to feel happy; help us make new friends; provide new experiences.

Get the children to discuss some ways of warming up and cooling down for some of the sports they have said they will try.

Activity 2 - Children should be active for 60 minutes a day.

Tell the children that it is recommended that they should be physically active for 60 minutes every day. Use the Being healthy Eatwell Guide poster to help.

Discuss how the 60 minutes per day recommendation can be made up by lots of different types of activity throughout the day. Use the Activity clock worksheet to get students to think of the ways they get 60 minutes of activity throughout the day. If the children have not filled up the whole clock, get them to think of other activities that they could fit into their day.

Use the My activity diary worksheet and get children to discuss whether they meet the recommendations over a week and if not how they can do in the future. Get pupils to plan a week of activity for a friend using lots of different activities.

Discuss with the class the difference between vigorous and moderate exercise. Using the Activity and energy cards, ask the children if they can put the cards into the right groups depending on whether the activity is moderate or vigorous. You can discuss their answers by drawing two columns on the board headed moderate and vigorous and list the examples below.

Further activities

• Get children to complete the Activity skills worksheet.
• Develop a display in school of the different types of activity that the children do each day, children can add their ideas from the Activity clock worksheet and the Benefits of activity worksheet.
• Drinking plenty when being active is also important – as we might need to drink more when the weather is warm/hot, or if we are active. Use the Hydration and activity presentation to discuss the issues with children.
• Organise a Nutrition Olympics event in your school. Get everyone involved! To take part in different events, children must first answer a nutrition question correctly. Then they can take part in different fun games and activities, e.g. watermelon weight lifting! What other games can the children devise? You could also organise a healthy picnic with parents/carers at the same time.

Reviewed November 2023