Now, I read this headline and thought "well, how can you not let them have that much exercise"
I think it's really important that kids have lots of exercise and are allowed to run around a lot during the day. I think that we would have a problem only letting our son run around for an hour a day - he hardly sits down unless he's eating or doing some sort of craft activity. Most childrens' activities are, by their very nature, active, therefore the children are getting lots of exercise - after all, at nursery age it's fun to be running around.
According to this study:
"Mr Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said: "Half an hour of physical activity should be a daily event for pre-school children."
They need the exercise to build their strength and dexterity for later in life. Young children have all sorts of falls and bumps without really hurting themselves because they are so flexible and active. This means they can "bounce" or "bend" so that the fall doesn't affect them so much. It's important that we encourage them to continue to be active so that they maintain this later in life.
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I've come across this recently talking about how not only do they need more exercise, but less structured play to encourage their creativity.
They need playtime - not just structured activities with toys that do predefined things, or structured "classes" that they attend. Give them a pile of paper and boxes and see what they come up with - children of all ages will create something, even if it is just a tower or a pile of little bits of paper, they'll find something to do, and it's that imagination that we need to nurture.
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