Stay Active & Have Fun with these new resources by Active Leeds

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to protect the most vulnerable, the Government has put in place the biggest public health measures during peacetime. As a result, Active Leeds has designed a resource pack to encourage children, young people and families (especially vulnerable families) living in the 1% deprived neighbourhoods to be more physically active whilst promoting mental health and wellbeing. These toolkits provide opportunities for children, young people and families to take part in fun and enjoyable activities indoors and outdoors whilst reducing their sedentary behaviour.

Active Leeds toolkits:

• Under 8’s toolkit is called Ready Set Rainbow this resource has the capacity to engage with young children due to the creation of 3 colourful and vibrant characters called – Ray the sunshine, Hydro the water droplet and Cirrus the cloud. The children complete one of each type of activity and create a rainbow, which can then be recorded on their wall chart. There are also some short films of activities cards on the Active Leeds You Tube channel.

• The over 8’s Active Leeds toolkit is called Get Active Stay Active is resource has a slightly more mature design to the activity cards to engage with an older audience. These activity cards provide young people with the opportunity to take part in casual activities indoors and outdoors. We have anticipated that there will be some C&YP who don’t want to take part in physical activity therefore we have created some activity cards to stimulate an active mind such as – colouring, crosswords, word searches and stop the difference cards.

Families, who were previously reliant on the support that school and extra-curricular sessions provide, are now left to fend for themselves to think about how they can engage their children in physical activity. A vacuum has opened up which will have a disproportionate impact on the vulnerable and those living in unstable households. The crisis has in itself created the need for an offer to families to help them engage their children in exercise as well as positive activities and challenges that stimulate and engage the body and minds of young people.

To get involved in activities you will requires little or no equipment at all. If you haven’t got any of the equipment available you can use alternative equipment in your house – for example you may need a ball (if you haven’t got a ball use a pair of socks, pillows, blankets, cushions and music).

There will be hard copies available for vulnerable families who don’t have access to the internet.