Getting active at home
Coronavirus and its impact can create worry and stress for many people. While you follow guidelines to stay at home, looking after your family and your physical and mental health is vital. Here are a few resources that might be useful.
You can also search #StayInWorkOut for loads of other daily online challenges and activities.
PHE Active at Home Booklet (PDF, 1.4 Mb)
The Active at Home booklet will help older adults undertake physical activity at home
For the kids
There are loads of great online videos, resources and tutorials to keep your kids active. Click on any of the images below to see how your children can stay active at home.

PE Lessons with Joe Wicks (live every weekday at 9am)

PE at home
Getting Outside
Physical activity
Whether you are self-isolating or staying at home for longer periods as advised by the government, it is essential to get enough movement and exercise in your day.
Advice from Sport England on keeping active:
Being active in a way that is right for you can improve your physical health, help manage stress and anxiety and just generally make you feel better.
You can still go outside for a walk, a run or a cycle, if you're well enough and follow the latest official advice on social distancing - which means staying more than two metres from others - and follow the advice on general hygiene. It's important that you stick stringently to the guidance.
Our advice is that if you're going outside to get fresh air and to get active, that you do it locally, staying close to your home and avoiding places where it may be hard to follow the guidelines.
Your mental health
Coronavirus and your wellbeing
You might be worried about coronavirus (COVID-19) and how it could affect your life. There are lots of things you can try that could help your wellbeing. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing/
Mental health helplines
Whether you're concerned about yourself or a loved one, these helplines and support groups can offer expert advice.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/
Children's mental health - explaining Coronavirus to children and young people:
Anxiety, Relaxation & Mindfulness Apps for Kids
- Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame: this app is for kids of all ages. This is a helpful and educational app that you can let your students use when they are struggling with a particular problem. There is also a parent's section, so you can use the app along with your students and guide them through the process.
- Settle Your Glitter: this is an effective emotional-regulation tool for kids. It allows them to note down their feelings and emotions and focus on their breathing. This is best for kids who struggle with hyperactivity or impulsivity.
- Mandala Memory: this is a card-flipping game which is appropriate for kids of all ages. The challenge is that the patterns look a lot like each other, which means that more focus and attention are needed in order to correctly match the cards.
- Super Stretch Yoga: it offers a kid-friendly guide to 12 different yoga poses. Each pose is introduced by a short animation and a live video of kids attempting to replicate the pose. Your students can even take pictures of themselves doing the poses and these pictures are automatically saved on your phone. Yoga is one of the most common ways to practice mindfulness, and with this app, your students can start this way of life at a young age.
- Breathing bubbles: this app is an emotional-regulation tool that helps kids release the tension and worries and focus on happy thoughts. This is most apt for kids who are going through a stressful situation or for kids who do not know how to label his emotions. The app lets kids name the emotion, determine its intensity, and then focus on a digital bubble that contains a user-created worry or joy.
- DreamyKid: the app includes kid-friendly guided visualizations, affirmations and meditations. Kids can listen to music that help in relaxation and falling asleep, and even focusing for school.
- Scape: it is an innovative app that makes ambient music by combining shapes, colors, textures, and backgrounds into a visual palette. Each shape contains musical elements designed to behave differently depending on where and when they are used. It allows your students to explore relationships between visual and sonic elements and experience tranquil and meditative listening moments.
- Ameka Love: Journey to Crystal Mountain: it is a storybook about a little girl on an adventure. The girl is in search for magical stones, dragons, and practices meditation. Its main lesson is for kids to be independent and for them to develop their self-management skills.
- 5 Minute Escapes: it is a simple app with visuals and relaxing music. You could use this during the first 5 minutes of your class just so you could keep your students focused throughout the rest of the class.
- Stop, Breathe, and Think: it is one of the most interactive meditation apps. Kids can earn stickers just by using the apps more frequently. This is more appropriate for young teens.
- Smiling Mind: it is an app for kids who often experience anxiety or stress. The app offers psychologist-developed mindfulness meditation activities. Each session starts with a few questions that will help the kids focus and bring their attention to the activity. The steps of meditation are simple and easy to follow. Consistent use could benefit the kids to the extent that they will be more focused in school.