Childhood Activity: What to Do, in Order

The physical activity recommended for children and young people. It builds bone during the only window when peak bone mass is being laid down, and habits formed here tend to persist.

Key takeaways

• Ages 5-18: an average of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day
• Under 5s who can walk: at least 180 minutes a day spread through the day
• Most useful single change: Include impact activities such as running, jumping and skipping.
• Commonest mistake: Framing activity as a weight intervention.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.

Do

• Include impact activities such as running, jumping and skipping
• Build activity into travel, such as walking or cycling to school
• Make it play rather than exercise for younger children
• Limit long unbroken periods of sitting

Do not

• Framing activity as a weight intervention
• Early single-sport specialisation, which raises overuse injury risk
• Long unbroken sedentary periods

The numbers behind the list

Here are the figures the checklist is drawn from.

If you change one thing

Include impact activities such as running, jumping and skipping. It heads the list. If you take nothing else from this page, take that.

Where to go next

• What Childhood Activity Is, and Why It Matters
• Childhood Activity: Separating Myth From Guidance
• Childhood Activity — the reference entry
• Childhood Rashes: What Published Guidance Supports
• What the Guidance Really Says About Child Mental Health

When to speak to a doctor

See a GP for joint pain that persists, limping, pain that wakes a child at night, swelling of a joint, or a child who is reluctant to use a limb. Night pain and persistent bone pain in children always warrant assessment. Seek urgent help for a hot swollen joint with fever.

Where this comes from

• UK Chief Medical Officers — Physical Activity Guidelines for children
• NHS — Physical activity guidelines for children

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.