News from the Health Improvement Commission

Ideas for being active, the importance of play and eating well

The Health Improvement commission has updated its Be Active at Home webpage, adding new resources to the old favourites! From active home school breaks to keeping moving during self-isolation there is something for everyone. See the link: Be Active @ Home | Health Improvement Commission

They also have updated their Eat well @ home page where they have collated healthy, affordable and accessible ideas to help families and individuals to discover recipes. The page also includes ways for parents to support their children to build healthy relationships with food and food refusal and fussiness Eat Well @ home | Health Improvement Commission

They are reminding everyone that play is an important form of exercise for children. Read their blog: The Power of Play. https://healthimprovement.gg/news/article/power-play

Alun Williams, Be Active lead for the Health Improvement Commission explains:

Play is really important for children. It is an excellent way to keep them active and is central to children’s physical health as well as their mental health and development. Returning to lockdown has meant life has changed dramatically for children and simple everyday activities present new challenges. However, play is a fun way of expressing feelings, getting active and doing things together as a family. We appreciate that different families are facing different issues at this time. So we have pulled together some simple ideas to help support children’s play during lockdown. Many of the activities need little or no equipment, we hope there will be something of use to everyone and they may even spark a memory from days gone by.The weather is clearly very different in this lockdown, compared to the sunny and warm conditions we had in spring last year. So whilst we can already see Guernsey’s natural desire to get out and active which is great, indoor play – den making, obstacle courses, balance games or dressing up may be more important this time around

Basically we agree with the statement by Play  England: Play isn’t just for learning; play for its own sake is a child’s right and what they’re driven to do.