Thousands of Children discover the ‘Joy of Moving’!

This summer thousands of children from across the country have learnt new ways to stay active and have fun thanks to the launch of the Joy of Moving Festivals. The national initiative has reached out to hundreds of schools.

The Joy of Moving Festivals are part of the Joy of Moving programme, a CSR project by Ferrero, delivered by EFL Trust through 30 Football Club Trusts across the UK and Northern Ireland.

According to research only 30% of boys and 25% of girls aged 5-7 meet the recommended quota of exercise each day. Such inactivity levels are leading to a variety of issues affecting both physical and mental health.

The Joy of Moving programme is designed to help children develop their physical, cognitive and social skills in a fun and educational way. The Festivals were developed by Foro Italico University in Rome and Professor Terry McMorris, from the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Chichester.

A spokesperson from Ferrero said:

“This summer we are excited to launch the Joy of Moving Festivals across the UK and help to educate more children about fun active play. To date, Ferrero has helped 15 million children to discover the Joy of Moving globally, and this year we are set to move more than 70,000 children in the UK and Ireland with our CSR project. We believe that it is important to lead a balanced and active lifestyle, particularly for children and hope that we inspire them to develop habits that will last a lifetime.’

30 Football Clubs, through their community trusts have delivered fun and engaging activities throughout the school day that are designed to help children to develop into healthy adults, not just by becoming fitter, but also to develop important life skills that will really help children flourish. The Joy of Moving Festivals help develop each child in four major areas: physical fitness, motor (bodily) coordination, cognitive functions and creativity (mental reasoning), and life skills.

The Joy of Moving Festival compliments the already successful delivery of Joy of Moving Move & Learn: a project for school children aged 9-10. Since 2014 , in partnership with 30 Football Club Community Organisation, over 200,000 children have learnt about the body, nutrition and the importance of exercise as well as enjoying physical exercise in the form of football, dodgeball or handball as part of either Joy of Moving Festivals or Move & Learn

Aiden Couch, Project Manager at EFL Trust said:

“The Joy of Moving Festivals are a wonderful addition to our partnership with Ferrero. They are a great initiative to get more kids across the country active and learning about a balanced lifestyle. We are delighted that our Joy of Moving Festivals have been so successful with schools across the country.”