A baton was passed from one generation to another at Campbell Primary School on Friday as 20,000 children from 825 classrooms in 55 ACT Primary Schools marked the end of the Active Kids Challenge.
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As the Physical Activity Foundation's eight-week program encouraging kids to get 60 minutes of exercise each day came to an end, parents prepared to integrate 30-minute workouts into their days for the ACT government's Active Workplace Challenge.
Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra's Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Dick Telford said the psychological benefits are just as crucial as the physical ones.
"The way we move affects the way we think, and the way we think affects the way we move."
Professor Telford is also a former Australian Rules footballer, cricket player and coach, a leading Australian sport scientist and distance running coach to many Olympians, including Australia's only marathon medallist.
"We talk about kids being physically literate, which means kids who have a good awareness of not just how to be physically active and where to be physically active, but the importance of remaining active throughout their whole lives," he said.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr agreed. "Research shows that children who are physically active perform better in the classroom," he said.
The ACT Chief Health Officer's Report 2014 found that between 2011 and 2012, 63 per cent of adults and about a quarter of children aged five to 17 were overweight or obese in the ACT and these figures have been increasing.
Keeping up the habit of exercising for an hour a day is needed to curb these numbers, Physical Activity Foundation chief executive Lucille Bailie said. And she's adamant the kids are determined to keep it up.
"Physical activity competes with numeracy and literacy and all the other performance measures schools need to achieve, but we've made it as easy as possible distil it down."
Now it's mum and dad's turn to join in.
"The 2015 Active Workplace Challenge is an initiative we're delivering via the Healthier Work Program and it targets adults in the workplace, where sedentary behaviour is common," Ms Bailie said.
She has some simple suggestions for 10-minute turnarounds, such as having standing meetings, standing up at work desks for 10 minutes or going to the rest-room on a higher floor.
To register for the 2015 Active Workplace Challenge, visit healthierwork.act.gov.au.
