University experts come up with dynamic videos to help lockdown kids stay fit and healthy
Lauren Toal (left) and Professor Pauline HorneA pioneering exercise programme for kids has been launched in North Wales amid fears the Covid-19 lockdown could lead to a huge increase in childhood obesity.
黑料不打烊鈥檚 new bilingual is now available free online and is proven to get four to 11-year-olds moving 鈥� studies show over half a mile in a 20-minute spell.
According to health experts, a third of children are already overweight when they start at primary school and there is mounting concern that the coronavirus restrictions could make matters even worse.
The latest version of the innovative programme, created by the university team and local experts, teaches children how to perform a wide range of key moves in martial arts, dance, football and gymnastics.
Dynamic Dudes was designed to accompany the University鈥檚 award-winning Food Dudes programme, initially developed by the late Professor Fergus Lowe, Professor Pauline Horne and their team from the 1990s to enable kids to enjoy eating their greens - 1.6 million worldwide have taken part so far.
It has now been updated and given a modern vibe, featuring locally recruited school pupils and is now ready to come to the rescue with its family friendly movement routines that are perfect for indoors.
Professor Pauline Horne, of the University鈥檚 School of Psychology, created the Dynamic Dudes concept and has led the team's development of the new series, available via the newly created
She said: 鈥淲e were already facing a childhood obesity epidemic, a worldwide public health challenge, and though the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 crisis are vital, prolonged lockdown could lead to children taking even less exercise and eating even more unhealthy foods.
鈥淒ynamic Dudes really works and has been proven to meet daily in-school activity targets recommended by the Chief Medical Officers UK.
鈥淲e know that 30 per cent of children who start at primary school are already overweight but our research carried out at schools in the West Midlands and in Wales shows that Dynamic Dudes increases fitness and daily activity and has a protective effect on waist size.
鈥淭he children would wear pedometers that showed that their activity in school increased by an average of 800 steps a day - about the same as a half a mile run.鈥�
As well as being trialled by schools across the UK, Dynamic Dudes has been showcased to an international conference at Zagreb in Croatia in 2017.
Lauren Toal, Research Project Support Officer at the University鈥檚 Centre for Activity and Eating Research and a key member of Professor Horne鈥檚 team, said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e created the Dynamic Dudes series in Welsh and English and it is now.
鈥淲e just thought we had this fantastic new resource designed for use in school classrooms but right now families are having to spend most of the day indoors which must be really difficult for parents as well as frustrating for their kids.
鈥淭here are 36 fast-paced and fun videos which have been developed with the help of experts in a range of sports and recreational activities, recruited from the University and local community, and the idea is to teach children key movement skills in dance, martial arts, gymnastics and football that are challenging but also safe for primary school age children to perform.鈥�
The videos, which feature young people mostly from the local area, are at three levels of difficulty, Beginner, Advanced and Peak Power.
They feature the Dynamic Dudes Razz, Rocco, Charlie and Tom modelling moves in Martial Arts, Gymnastics, Football and Dance to give children a healthy burst of activity that also meets the Chief Medical Officers UK daily activity guidelines for the school day.
Professor Horne said: 鈥淲e've had a huge amount of help from other experts at the University and local community who have been amazingly generous with their expertise and time.
鈥淭his is especially true of filmmaker Mathew Owen, from the University's School of Music and Media, whose superb filming, special effects and all round video production skills have been vital to the success of the project.
鈥淢athew is bilingual, extremely patient and highly skilled at coaxing excellent performances from young child actors.
鈥淗is media skills and Welsh language ability have been invaluable throughout the Project while Dr Laura Timmis also helped recruit children, teach them the Dudes' moves, and support them throughout filming.
鈥淭he moves selected by experts for presentation in the videos are those that can be performed in the confines of school classrooms so they鈥檙e also ideal for children to perform in their homes during lockdown.
鈥淲e are particularly keen to give access to families living in high-rise flats who must be feeling extremely frustrated and alone at the moment.鈥�
Lauren, who has a Masters in Science in Psychology from 黑料不打烊 and is currently doing a part-time PhD, came to the University from Newry, in Northern Ireland, on a scholarship and plays Gaelic Football as well as football for local women鈥檚 side Bethesda.
She added: 鈥淭he videos can be accessed easily via the website at any time and on any device including mobile phones so you can watch them at home when it suits you.
鈥淭he aim is not only to increase fitness but also to teach children new fundamental movement skills in a range of sports and recreational activities to inspire them to be active both now and in later life.
鈥淭hey are perfect for the current situation because they are designed to be performed in the confined space of a classroom but just as easily in the home. They鈥檙e also fun and energetic and mums and dads can join in too.鈥�
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Publication date: 7 May 2020