Walk On! programme promotes fitness activities for kids
Date: 22/03/2010 / Category: Indoor play for schools and groups
An annual programme in the US involved more children than ever in fitness activities for kids this year in an attempt to decrease child obesity levels.
Over 30,000 ten and 11 year olds from more than 280 Arizona schools enrolled in the Walk On! programme this year, the Arizona Republic reports.
"Since the programme began, we have had kids exercise for more than 78.6 million minutes and, over the five years, have had nearly 140,000 fifth-graders participate," Renee Hunt, a Walk On! team member with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, told the newspaper.
Teacher Katy Jordan said her students are now more interested in football, baseball, skateboarding and in-line skating since fitness activities for kids were made more of a priority.
She went on to say that she hopes the benefits of the Walk On! programme will be long-term and that the children will take away healthy habits that will stick with them for their lifetimes.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the Change4Life campaign is continuing to prove successful and the government claimed recently that it had helped to curb the increase in child obesity prevalence in the nation.
Posted by Lynne Woods
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