CHILDREN and families are being supported to stay active at home through play during the lockdown.

A series of online activities is being provided by JU:MP, a four-year Sport England programme set-up in the Bradford district to encourage children to be more physically active.

Led by Active Bradford, the scheme is one of 12 pilots across the country.

As part of its JU:MP@Home initiative, families can play more than 30 short games – at jumpathome.org.

“Many of the games are accompanied by videos of children demonstrating the activities in their own way,” said JU:MP programme director, Jan Burkhardt.

“Some of the games have been invented by children from as far away as India!

“Families can adapt the games for young people of different ages and abilities and we hope playing them will create some great memories of this time spent at home together.”

New activities are being added weekly and shared through JU:MP’s social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter, @JoinUsMovePlay.

And people with a game they’d like to share with other families through the website can win a prize by submitting a video to the JU:MP team. Email info@joinusmoveplay.org for more details.

JU:MP has also delivered more than 53,000 activity packs to homes across the district, many of which are unable to access the online resources.

Research has shown that nationally, the percentage of children doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day since the start of lockdown has increased from 29 to 45.

Pre-lockdown, it was estimated that more than 70 per cent of children in the Bradford area weren’t active enough to benefit their health.