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Joe Wicks has been turned into an animated character in a new project designed to keep children fit (Activate/PA)
An animated character of online fitness coach Joe Wicks has been launched in a bid keep children fit over the summer holidays.
The Body Coach’s new animated persona talks children through exercises including jogging, squats and burpees in five-minute clips, which will be released via his YouTube channel.
Wicks said the Government-backed Activate project aims to “make movement fun”.
Joe Wicks said the new programme is ‘designed to make movement fun’ (PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Ian West
In each clip Wicks’ character performs various exercises accompanied by new animated characters known as the Activators.
The first episode has been released on The Body Coach YouTube channel, with more episodes to be released each week over the school summer holidays.
The animated series was launched at Ripple Primary School in Barking, east London, on Monday.
Wicks and Health Secretary Wes Streeting met teachers and parents to discuss keeping children active.
“Activate is designed to make movement fun,” said Wicks.
He told the PA news agency: “We live in a world where it’s very easy to be sedentary, it’s very easy to rely on ultra-processed foods.
“So I think I’ve created something I personally think is different – it’s about using technology and disrupting that passive screen time, and actually saying ‘Come on kids, get up, let’s do it’.
“I just want more people to see it and give it a go, because I know when they do, I think they’re going to fall in love with it – the characters, the workouts and the music.
“It’s going to be a really genuine useful thing for parents, I think, to get their kids moving.
“Because sometimes, especially in the summer holidays, kids are reluctant to move, this is something I think can really help with that.”
Wicks went on: “Activity doesn’t have to be this perfect hour a day where you have an instructor or you’re in a gym, actually, five minutes can be enough.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told PA: “Activate is a really great project, and the Government’s proud to support it, because we want to get children, young people, more fit and active.
“One in five children are leaving primary school with obesity, so this is a really big challenge for us.
“And the truth is, if this was just a sort of boring government video it wouldn’t have nearly as much success and impact as I think Activate is going to have, where you’ve got the energy and dynamism of Joe Wicks combined with some of the best creative minds and talents in our country and around the world.
“I think it’s going to make it fun, I think it’s going to make it accessible and that is the key to getting children and young people fit and active – meeting them where they are, making it accessible, making it free and making it fun.”
Almost one in 10 children in reception year at school were obese, according to figures from the National Childhood Measurement Programme in England.
This rises to 22.1% of pupils in Year 6, according to the 2023/24 data.
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