Keeping active guidelines

Being active every day is important for the healthy growth and development of babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.

For this age group, physical activity of all intensities should be encouraged, including both light moving around and more energetic activity.

How to keep your baby active

Before your baby begins to crawl, you can keep them physically active by:

• encouraging them to grasp and reach for toys
• getting them to move their limbs, head and body around throughout the day
• supervised floor play, including tummy time

How to keep your infant or toddler active

Once your baby can move around themselves, encourage them to be as active as possible in a safe, supervised and nurturing play environment.

When your child can walk on their own, they should be physically active for at least 3 hours every day. You can spread this throughout the day, indoors or outdoors. This can include light activity and play like:

• getting up and walking around
• running
• jumping
• skipping

Ensure some of this time includes more active play, like:

• riding a bike
• going swimming
• using a climbing frame
• chasing
• ball games

These are all great ways of getting you toddler active.

Read more about activities you can do together.

Why it's important to keep all children under 5 active

Children under 5 should not be inactive for long periods, except of course when they're asleep. Watching TV, travelling by car, bus or train, or being strapped into a buggy for long periods of time are not good for a child's growth and development. There's an increasing amount of evidence that such behaviour can increase their risk of poor health.

Children under 5 who are overweight can improve their health by meeting the activity guidelines, even if their weight doesn't change. To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, they may need to do additional activity and make dietary changes.

If you think your child may be overweight and would like more advice, speak to your GP, midwife or health visitor.

It's important for children and young people to keep active and to grow up strong and healthy into adulthood by doing exercises that strengthen bones and muscles.

How much exercise children and young people need

To maintain a basic level of health, children and young people aged 5 to 18 need to do at least 60 minutes of aerobic activity every day. This includes activities like: 

• cycling
• walking
• skateboarding
• swimming

On 3 days a week, these activities should involve exercises for strong muscles and bones, including: 

• football
• gymnastics
• climbing
• dancing
• aerobics
• tennis

How to keep children and young people active

The best way to achieve 60 minutes of aerobic activity each day is to build it in to your daily routine. You could:

• walk or cycle to school
• do playground games at break times
• try activities or sports at weekends

Check your local leisure centres to find out what sports you can get involved in. There's something for everyone. You could think about trying something new.

Popular activities with young people include:

• dancing
• karate
• football
• swimming
• gymnastics

Schools often have activities in the evenings to help you keep active.

Read about the different types of exercise 

To stay healthy, adults aged 19 to 64 should try to be physically active every day. They should aim for one of the following:

• at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

• 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

• a mix of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity every week – for example, two 30-minute runs plus 30 minutes of fast walking equals 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

Read more about the different types of exercise 

To keep active over the age of 65 and improve your health, you need to do 2 types of physical activity. These are aerobic and strength exercise.

Try to be active every day and do one of the following:

• at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

• 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity every week and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

• a mix of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity every week – for example, two 30-minute runs, plus 30 minutes of fast walking, equates to 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, and strength exercises on 2 or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).

Read about the different types of activity and how you can get started