Nursery World - To the point: Making the first move

You would be forgiven for wondering what the new UK Physical Activity Guidelines for the Early Years are all about, because they were hardly noticed by the media when they were launched earlier in the summer.

The guidelines make a clear argument: 'there is emerging evidence that sedentary behaviour in the early years is associated with overweight and obesity as well as lower cognitive development.' Additionally, patterns for screen time (TV, computer games, etc) and being sedentary seem to be pretty stable over time. In other words, less active toddlers are likely to continue that way through their childhood and beyond.

If all children in the early years could be highly active for just an additional 40 minutes a day, their health would improve greatly. That means just 20 minutes in nursery, and 20 minutes at home - spread across the day - for children who are walking unaided (there are separate guidelines for babies). That sounds like a small enough change.

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