The Chief Medical Officer in the UK recommends certain amounts and types of physical activity for different ages. For children under the age of 18, how much physical activity they should be doing depends on what stage of childhood they are in.
The benefits of taking part in physical activity can be seen whether you do more or less activity than the guidelines recommend. Just moving more everyday helps our children to live happier, healthier lives. The biggest gains in health benefits are for those moving from inactive to beginning to take part in physical activity.
Also, the guidelines are not just about increasing physical activity but also reducing sedentary behaviour (time spent sitting, lying, reclining or leaning) across all age groups. To read more about sedentary behaviour and the health impacts take a look at our blog post about why being sedentary isn’t the same as being physically inactive.
The guidelines for children under the age of 5 are split into 3 groups:
Infants – Children under the age of 1
For this age group physical activity should be incorporated several times across the child’s day including interactive floor-based activities such as crawling. For those who are not yet mobile, it is recommended that 30 minutes of tummy time be spread across the hours they are awake each day. Physical activity for this group can also include reaching, grasping, rolling over and pulling and pushing themselves.
Toddlers – Children aged 1-2 years old
Toddlers should be spending at least 180 minutes (3 hours) being physically active, spread throughout the day, every day. These 3 hours should include a variety of activity. There are lots of activities that can counts towards this, including playing, walking, climbing, swimming, playground activities, object play, active games and much more.
Pre-schoolers – Children aged 3-4 years
Pre-schoolers should also be spending at least 180 minutes a day being physically active. However, for this age group, at least 60 minutes of this should be moderate or vigorous physical activity. This means when physical activity makes them breathe faster and feel warmer. The types of activities that can count towards this are the same as for the toddler age group.
Why?
In the under 5s physical activity has many physical benefits including helping to maintain health and weight, develop muscles and bones and even contribute to brain development and learning. Additionally, physical activity has even more benefits beyond these aspects such as improving sleep, and helping children build relationships and develop social skills.
Children aged 5-18 years
For children aged between 5 and 18 years the recommendations state that they should be doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. These 60 minutes should be moderate to vigorous, which means activities that noticeably increases heart rate and breathing rate. Activities that would count towards these 60 minutes could include, PE lessons, sports, active travel (such as walking or cycling to and from school), dancing, swimming and playing. It’s important to make sure that children take part in a range of activities to improve their skills and develop their confidence with being active.
While children are in school there is an expectation that they should be getting 30 minutes of their physical activity during the school day; therefore, this means they should be doing the other 30 minutes a day at home.
For this age range physical activity has lots of benefits for children, including improving their health and fitness, developing coordination, improving sleep, building confidence and social skills as well as increasing concentration and learning.
Are your children doing enough physical activity each day?