Physical Activity is good for the heart, the head and the soul. The benefits of strong, healthy, physically active children are well documented.

Benefits for children

• Increases self esteem
• Helps kids handle stress
• Builds and maintains healthy bones, muscles and joints
• Helps control weight
• Develops positive lifestyles that lead to healthy productive lives

Benefits for schools

• Students will be more excited about learning and will learn important lessons for life.
• A classroom that moves is fun for your students and for you.
• Physical activity helps with classroom management.
• Physical activity increases punctuality and attendance.
• In motion schools reported fewer discipline problems.
• Kids who get active breaks are more focused and ready to learn.

Facts & stats

• Over half of 5 to 17-year-olds in Canada are not active enough for optimal growth and development.
• 33% of 7 to 13-year-old males in Canada are overweight; another 10% are considered obese.
• 27% and 9% of young females in Canada are overweight and obese respectively.
• The most popular physical activities among Canadian young people are walking for exercise, bicycling, swimming, jogging/running, and basketball.
• School children are less active on weekends than during the week.
• Physical activity decreases with increasing age or school grade.
• In one study, children in grades 4-6 were 40% less active than those in grades 1-3.
• On average, young Canadians spend between 13 and 14 hours a week watching TV.
• There is evidence to suggest that obesity is related to physical inactivity.

Canada’s Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth

Active Healthy Kids Canada has issued its third annual report card on physical activity for children and youth.  Once again, we've scored a D. To learn more visit Active Healthy Kids Canada.

The report card shows that:

• 91% of Canadian children and youth are still not getting the recommended 90 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day.  Interestingly, nearly all parents report that their children are very physically active.
• Canadian children aged 10 to 16 are spending 6 hours per day in front of a screen.
• The number of obese children and youth has increased 35.7% from 2003 to 2006.

Visit Active Healthy Kids Canada to download the significant body of research reviewed for the report card.