New Change4Life campaign encourages physical activity in children

The government's Change4Life scheme has launched a new campaign aimed at encouraging children to do ten-minute bursts of moderate to vigorous activity.

Part of its partnership with Disney, the initiative breaks up the 60 minutes of physical activity that children need each day into smaller chunks, with popular Disney characters from Frozen, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Big Hero 6 to be used to promote the scheme.

An exclusive ten-minute shake-up film is also being made available to schools starring Ricky Wilson, frontman of the Kaiser Chiefs, who will guide children through a Disney-themed exercise programme.

This is the second year that Change4Life has partnered with Disney, with last year's campaign resulting in the nation's youngsters being active for an extra 104 million minutes of the summer.

Public health minister Jane Ellison said: "The ten-minute shake-up programme is great for introducing children to manageable, bite-size chunks of activity – and, best of all, it's fun."

A government-backed study published this week has offered evidence that physically active children are happier and more confident.